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Soune (old English for “to sound”, or Sound + Line) 

Soune: [soune] A creative graphic notation for music and music theatre

Already for years, Miika Hyytiäinen has worked on Soune graphic notation to write and communicate embodied, intuitive, colourful and emotional music.

The first version of the Soune graphic notation was created by Hyytiäinen in 2013 for the opera “La Fig- ure de la Terre”. Already here, the need was crowing directly from the needs of the musical dramaturgy. The opera consists of two musical poles: a scientific worldview of the Enlightenment, described by Baroque music quotes on the one hand, and embodied life associated with quotes from Nordic folk music. Later on, Hyytiäinen and some of his students used this notation in dozens of pieces for different notation, including strings, winds and even small mixed orchestras. Although no research has been done on the efficiency of reading Soune, it is generally considered quick to read and especially learn by heart after the short learning period.

In December 2023, Soune is presented in Graphème – Volume 3, a publication for experimental music scores, published by Smallest functional unit.

On her article about piece Emote and Soune notation (Politisches Lachen und 24 Emotionen, Field Notes), Celeste Dittberner writes: “Die grafische Notationstechnik Soune, an der der Komponist seit Jahren arbeitet, transzendiert durch ihre visuelle Komponenete die Grenzen traditioneller Notation und bietet Raum für humorvolle, tiefgründige und gleichzeitig körperliche Erlebnisse auf der Bühne.”