KLAVAR! is a software program that allows to read and compose music following an easy-to-read notation.

The notation is called "Klavarscribo" the esperanto name that Cornelis Pot, its Dutch inventor, gave to it in the early 1930s.

The shorter name 'Klavar' is also widely used for the notation.

Why Do We Need Klavarskribo ?

In the video clip indicated below, Cornelis Pot himself gives one of the reasons why Klavarskribo is so effective in reading music.

Although the stress is usually put on the obvious absence of obscure signs of the traditional notation, like sharps and flats, the clip gives us another very important suggestion.

Mr Pot himself highlights the fact that, with Klavarskribo, the player's mind has an easier task. Indeed, the traditional notation forces the players to read a stave where 'the time flows horizontally', whereas, in their minds, the playing of the notes clearly 'flows vertically'.

The Klavar(skribo) notation eliminates the need of this conversion in our mind.

Let's try be true to ourselves. Anyone who has tried to sight-read the piano with the traditional notation knows that even the most accomplished performers probably do not actually 'read' the staff.

While studying a new piece of music, our minds dedicate a lot of power to 'decipher' the notation, in order to map all the symbols on the stave to actions for our hands and fingers.

In Klavarskribo, this process has already been done and the result is already on the stave.

And with an enormous library of music available, including all the works of classic composers and many modern ones, for all types of music, what can be easier?

The Klavarskribo notation was invented in 1931 by Mr Pot. The clip showing his idea is taken from a short movie produced in 1974.

We thank the Klavarskribo Foundation of The Netherlands for the permission to publish the video on our website.

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