Introduction

The staff is the most foundation of any Labanotation score. Some aspects of movement can be expressed outside the staff, but those are all supplemental to the ideas expressed inside the staff. The staff is where the action is.

In Labanotation there is a generic staff, and then several specialized variations. All the different staves behave essentially the same, but the specialized staves can make it easier to do certain things, like describe hand gestures, or a long sequence of actions by the same person.

The bulk of this chapter is taken up with describing the generic staff. It's the most flexible, because all of its visual characteristics are optional; so you can literally have a complete, functional staff that has no part of it written down. Then, depending on how complex your score needs to be, you can write more and more staff elements, until you have a staff that provides the structure you want.

The last parts of this chapter describe the two specialized staves - the person staff and the hand staff. These are less flexible than the generic staff, but that lack of flexibility is actually a strength, because it makes the most common uses of Labanotation much more readable. There's no movement you can notate with the specialized staves that you can't notate with the generic staff; but often when reading a complex series of movements the most useful thing to have is a sense of structure and predictable order to the notation.

The person staff, for example, offers a kind of structure that makes it easier to read and write relatively longer, more complex movements by people. You'd probably want to use the person staff to write down a complete performance lasting more than a few seconds.

The hand staff provides a framework for finger movements, that might otherwise be hard to follow if crammed together within the structure of the person staff.

Each of these staves have their own strengths and weaknesses, and everyone writing Labanotation scores has their own tastes about when and how each staff can be most effective. It's up to you to decide how to use them in your own compositions.

Prerequisite: The Ad Lib Line

In order to explain the staff over the course of this chapter, I'll have to give examples of how to string movement notation along it. To avoid sprinkling too much information about movement symbols outside of their own chapters, the current chapter will rely on the ad lib line. As you can see in the chapter on the ad lib line, this symbol occurs all over the place in Labanotation, and can be used in many different ways, even as parts of the internal structure of other Labanotation symbols.

The current chapter only considers the case when the ad lib line is used with a body part symbol to indicate gesture. In this case, the ad lib line tells the performer to do the movement in whatever way they want, that they feel is in keeping with the artistic direction of the rest of the score. The ad lib line essentially means, "use your best judgment; the thing described by this ad lib sign isn't the most important thing happening at this part of the score."

Used in this way, the ad lib symbol on its own is just a wavy vertical line.

Fig. 1

As you'll see very soon in this chapter, time is read upwards along the Labanotation staff. So an ad lib movement that should last more time can be written with a longer wavy line.

Fig. 2

You can extend the ad lib line as far up as you want, to take up as much time as you want.

As used in this chapter, the ad lib line indicates that you want the performer to move a certain body part for a certain amount of time, but that the precise way they should move that body part is not the most important part of the score, and is left up to their judgment.

Depending on the time indications on the staff (as described later in this chapter), the above construction would indicate moving the arm for a certain amount of time, in whatever way the performer felt would be in keeping with the goals of the rest of the score.

OK. Now you know enough to understand all the examples in the staff chapter.

The Generic Staff

Vertical Structure

Reading From Bottom To Top

The Labanotation staff represents the passage of time during a given performance. Preliminary information and the initial movements of the performance are written at the bottom of the staff. Subsequent movements are written above, indicating that they are performed later than the movements written lower down. The final movements of the performance are written at the top of the staff.

Beginning And Ending

The bottom of the staff is the start of the performance. The top of the staff is the end of the performance. Other symbols and text may appear below the bottom of the staff and above the top of the staff to provide important information such as the performer's starting position. In order to make sure the start and end of the performance is expressed unambiguously, simply use a double horizontal line at the bottom and top of the staff.

Beats, Measures, And Time Signatures

In Labanotation, evenly spaced beats and measures are written into the staff in order to provide rhythmic structure. The precise way the rhythmic structure is represented in Labanotation is intended to make it easier to connect a particular choreographic score with a particular musical accompaniment. Since music is written in the form of beats and measures, Labanotation adopts this same form. This way, it's easy to identify exactly when a given movement should occur relative to the music.

If you like, and especially if it will help map your movement score to a music score, you can number the beats and measures, and give a time signature.

If used, beat numbers appear to the left of the staff; measure numbers appear to the left of beat numbers, and are written larger; and a time signature may appear to the left of the measure numbers, and slightly below the line of the measure where that time signature takes effect. In fig. 7 the time signature indicates 6/8 time. That time signature will start at the beginning of the first beat, and will remain in effect for all measures above it, until it is explicitly changed. To change the time signature, just indicate the new time signature to the left and slightly below the measure number it will apply to.

In fig. 7, the first measure is in 6/8 time; the second measure is in 4/4 time. Subsequent measures would continue to be in 4/4 time, until you write a new time signature to replace it.

The Duration Of Beats

If you don't specify how long a beat lasts, then the only information known about the duration of the beats in your score is that they are all equal to each other. The actual amount of time taken by a single beat is up to the performers or the director.

If your score should be performed alongside a specific piece of music, you can specify the duration of a beat on your Labanotation staff, relative to a note in the musical score. For example, you might specify that a single beat in the Labanotation score takes the same amount of time to perform as a quarter note in the musical score.

As illustrated in fig. 9, the information about beat duration can be placed sideways, or even below the staff, so long as there is no ambiguity about which part of the Labanotation score has beats that map to the specified note duration.

As with key signatures, it's also possible to use this sign beside a later measure, to show that beats now have a different duration.

If you want, you can also specify the number of beats per minute.

In fig. 11, each beat corresponds to a quarter note, the score is intended to be performed at 100 beats per minute.

Indicating Musical Cuts

If you intend to use only part of a musical score to accompany a performance, you may want your Labanotation score to indicate which measures of music have been cut; in other words you may want the measure numbers in your Labanotation score to correspond to the measure numbers in your musical score, even if there are gaps in the musical score. There are two ways to indicate this:

Fig. 12

Partial Measure At The Start

If you want to start the performance in the middle of a measure, just include the necessary beat marks between the initial double horizontal lines and the first measure.

Performer's Initial Position

If you want to specify the position of the person's body at the start of the performance, you can extend the staff below the initial double horizontal lines, and specify the body position there.

Notice the difference between fig. 13 and fig. 14. In fig. 13 the 'extra' space came above the double horizontal line, indicating that it was part of the performance. In fig. 14 the 'extra' space came below the double horizontal line, indicating that it was not part of the performance. That's because in fig. 14 the extra space is used to indicate a situation that should already be in effect by the time the performance begins. All the information about the performer's starting position, since it's specified below the start of the performance, is understood to take no time at all. The performer is understood to already be in the starting position when the performance opens.

Scaling For Clarity

The distance between beat marks on the Labanotation staff is arbitrary. A greater distance only means you have more room to draw the symbols you'll need. Pick the smallest distance that lets you express yourself without undo clutter.

Fig. 15

Horizontal Structure

Columns Show Simultaneous Movements

A single vertical column of symbols represents a series of movements that occur in sequence. To have more than one body part or prop move at the same time, you must use additional columns of symbols. In music notation, this is the equivalent of marking notes in different rows of the staff to produce a chord. In Labanotation, the 'notes' of our chords sit side by side instead of one above the other. Here is an example of two sequences of movement that are performed at the same time.

Fig. 16

Let's break down what's happening in fig. 16.

Fig. 16a

In fig. 16a the left and right arm gesture during the first beat.

Fig. 16b

In fig. 16b the left and right elbow gesture during the second beat.

You Can Use As Many Columns As You Want

Depending on the intricacy of the movement you want to describe, you may want to include any number of simultaneous movements. To do this, simply increase the number of columns in your staff, making sure that each column has the same width as the others.

Fig. 17

In fig. 17 we see the same gestures as we saw in fig. 16, only this time all four gestures are performed simultaneously.

Lines Delineating Columns Are Optional And May Have Any Style

You can organize your staff however you please. The vertical lines between columns exist solely to help you clarify that organization to the reader. There are no restrictions on the type of lines used, and there is no requirement to use vertical lines at all. The only exception is that you should make sure your staff won't be confused with any of the special staves that will be covered later on. Remember that even though the lines may not be there, the columns themselves still have equal widths.

Fig. 18

Specifying Default Body Parts And Props For A Column

Ordinarily, you must specify a body part or prop with each gesture you notate. But if you specify a body part or prop below the staff, lined up with the column you want it to apply to, then all gestures made in that column will default to that body part or staff.

fig. 19

Multiple Staves

Staves May Be Connected For Clarity

Timing Is Identical For All Staves

The metrical structure of each staff is locked to all the others. If the beat mark for beat 4 appears two inches from the bottom of one staff, it also appears two inches from the bottom of all the others. There is absolutely no variation in this aspect of the system. It is so regular that you may choose to place your beat counts and other numbers all the way to the left, and use the same set of numbers for all the staves

One Staff May Have Wider Columns Than Another

in "objects, props", there are cases where the prop staff has wider columns than the person staffs.

The Same Staff May Represent Multiple People Or Props

The Same Person Or Prop May Have Multiple Staves

Staves May Have Any Order From Left To Right

The Person Staff

Introduction

The person staff follows the same rules as the generic staff, but adds a few simple constraints that make it easier to notate the movements of a person - and to read that notation afterwards.

Clearly, a person can move in very complicated ways, as well as in very simple ways. A number of the rules governing the person staff are actually variable, so that the staff itself can expand and contract according to your needs. For simple movements, a simple form of the person staff can be used; for complicated movements, a broader form of the person staff can be used.

The Basic Form

The person staff is recognized by three evenly spaced vertical lines. Between each of these lines are a flexible number of columns that you may according to the various rules described below. Outside the three lines are more columns available for movement symbols, as many as you need in order to express your movement.

Fig. X

Those three evenly spaced vertical lines are the signature quality of the person staff. To avoid confusion, you should not use generic staves that have the same form as the person staff.

All the other characteristics of the generic staff may be used with the person staff: doubled horizontal lines for starting and stopping; beat marks; measure marks; etc.

fig x

In the person staff, all the columns to the right of the center line are used to describe movements of the right side of the person's body (and sometimes related props); while the columns to the left of the center line are used to describe movements of the left side of the person's body (and sometimes related props). This is one of the great appeals of the person staff - its structure to some extent mirrors that of the human body.

fig x

The exact correspondence of columns to body parts in the person staff will be described over the course of the rest of this section.

Support Columns

The person staff uses the columns on either side of the center line as supports. All standing, walking, leaping, and floorwork use the support columns to express those movements.

By default, if nothing else is specified, there are only two support columns, and all movements given in those columns operate on the legs, unless some other body part is specified.

Fig x

If, while notating, you have a need for additional support columns, you can add them temporarily using a horizontal staple.

Fig. h

In the above diagram, the two central columns are still used for leg steps. Like before, no body part needs to be stated in those columns, if legs are moving. The greyed out area between the staples can be used for another weight-bearing body part or prop (such as a crutch). There is no default body part for that new support column, so you have to specify a body part for each step taken in that column.

You can also use the staple beneath the staff, to indicate that the additional column will be used as a support column for the full length of that staff.

Fig. g

In the above diagram, as before, the two center columns again default to leg stepping, and don't require any stated body part for leg steps. The support columns created by the staples, however, have no default body part, and so one must be stated for every step notated in those columns.

Remember that the support columns to the left of the center line are always used for body parts on the left side of the body, while support columns to the right of the center line are always used for body parts on the right side of the body.

In some cases, you may want to support the body on the head or torso, in such a way that there is no right or left division available to choose from. In that case, it's acceptable to choose one of the center-most support columns, and specify the support there.

fig. t

It's possible that you may want to diagram a movement in which several supports have no left or right bias, or in which the particular type of movement makes a left and right distinction irrelevant, or more difficult to diagram. In this case, you may split the central line apart, into an area encompassing four columns in total. This is called the floorwork segment of the person staff.

fig. df

The floorwork segment behaves identically to the case of creating temporary additional support columns via the use of staples, with two exceptions. Within the floorwork segment:

• the two center columns no longer default to the legs; you must specify a body part in each of the four columns
• each of the four columns within the floorwork segment may be used for any body part, regardless of whether it that body part is on the left or right side of the body.

There is no agreed-upon method of specifying beat marks or measure marks within the floorwork segment; but here are a couple of suggestions.

fig. fddf

Gesture Columns With Default Uses

Beyond the support columns, but still within the outer vertical lines of the person staff, you may have either one or two gesture columns.

fig. r43

Whether you have one gesture column or two, the one adjacent to the outer vertical line of the staff defaults to leg gestures, as if the leg body-part symbol had been written beneath that column.

The column between the support columns and the leg gesture column, if you choose to include it in your staff, is not used for any particular limb. Instead it is reserved for symbols that modify either the leg gesture column or the neighboring support column. As you'll see later on in this text, there are many ways to use symbols on one column to modify the meanings of symbols on another; but if the overall performance you're notating doesn't require this extra column, you should leave it out of your staff.

Regardless of the structure you've chosen for the staff up to this point, the first outer column that is adjacent to the two outer vertical lines of the staff, is for movements of the body as a whole.

fig. 33

Additional Columns And Areas

Prop Columns Within The Person Staff

The Hand Staff