Philippe is entirely correct here. The fact that a symbol has somewhat different meanings in different contexts does not mean that it is actually multiple visually identical symbols. Otherwise Unicode would be re-encoding the Latin alphabet many, many times over.
During most of Bach's career, the prevailing tuning system was meantone. He wrote the Well-Tempered Clavier to explore the possibilities afforded by a new tuning system called well temperament. In the modern era, his work has typically been played in 12-tone equal temperament. That does not mean that the ♯ that Bach used in his score for the Well-Tempered Clavier was not the same symbol as the ♯ in his other scores, or that they somehow invisibly became yet another symbol when the score is opened on the music desk of a modern Steinway. On Sat, May 26, 2018 at 2:58 PM, Philippe Verdy <[email protected]> wrote: > Even flat notes or rythmic and pause symbols in Western musical notations > have different contextual meaning depending on musical keys at start of > scores, and other notations or symbols added above the score. So their > interpretation are also variable according to context, just like tuning in > a Arabic musical score, which is also keyed and annotated differently. > These keys can also change within the same partition score. > So both the E12 vs. E24 systems (which are not incompatible) may also be > used in Western and Arabic music notations. The score keys will give the > interpretation. > Tone marks taken isolately mean absolutely nothing in both systems outside > the keyed scores in which they are inserted, except that they are just > glyphs, which may be used to mean something else (e.g. a note in a comics > artwork could be used to denote someone whistling, without actually > encoding any specific tone, or rythmic). > > > 2018-05-17 17:48 GMT+02:00 Hans Åberg via Unicode <[email protected]>: > >> >> >> > On 17 May 2018, at 16:47, Garth Wallace via Unicode < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > On Thu, May 17, 2018 at 12:41 AM Hans Åberg <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > > On 17 May 2018, at 08:47, Garth Wallace via Unicode < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > > >> > >> On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 12:42 AM, Hans Åberg via Unicode < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> > >> >> > >> It would be best to encode the SMuFL symbols, which is rather >> comprehensive and include those: >> > >> https://www.smufl what should be unified.org >> > >> http://www.smufl.org/version/latest/ >> > >> ... >> > >> >> > >> These are otherwise originally the same, but has since drifted. So >> whether to unify them or having them separate might be best to see what >> SMuFL does, as they are experts on the issue. >> > >> >> > > SMuFL's standards on unification are not the same as Unicode's. For >> one thing, they re-encode Latin letters and Arabic digits multiple times >> for various different uses (such as numbers used in tuplets and those used >> in time signatures). >> > >> > The reason is probably because it is intended for use with music >> engraving, and they should then be rendered differently. >> > >> > Exactly. But Unicode would consider these a matter for font switching >> in rich text. >> >> One original principle was ensure different encodings, so if the practise >> in music engraving is to keep them different, they might be encoded >> differently. >> >> > > There are duplicates all over the place, like how the half-sharp >> symbol is encoded at U+E282 as "accidentalQuarterToneSharpStein", at >> U+E422 as "accidentalWyschnegradsky3TwelfthsSharp", at U+ED35 as >> "accidentalQuarterToneSharpArabic", and at U+E444 as >> "accidentalKomaSharp". They are graphically identical, and the first three >> even all mean the same thing, a quarter tone sharp! >> > >> > But the tuning system is different, E24 and Pythagorean. Some Latin and >> Greek uppercase letters are exactly the same but have different encodings. >> > >> > Tuning systems are not scripts. >> >> That seems obvious. As I pointed out above, the Arabic glyphs were >> originally taken from Western ones, but have a different musical meaning, >> also when played using E12, as some do. >> >> >> >> >
