Most complex “block” of sheet music notation

Wondering how complex a single piece of sheet music can get, and what it looks like. For example, on the guitar, theoretically you could define the following:

I don't have the music software to write the notation at the moment, but a chord might look like:

enter image description here

I'm wondering if you also took into account the following, how complex you can make it look while still being readable and realistic:

Those are just some ideas to add to the complexity of the sheet music. But basically I'm wondering how complex sheet music can get when it tries to encode every feature possible.

By "complex" I just mean the visible look of the notation, rather than how hard it is to play. Doesn't matter the instrument, just whatever results in some of the more complex notations you can construct.

You might find the musicologist Don Byrd's work to be of interest: Extremes of Conventional Music Notation; More Counterexamples in Conventional Music Notation; Gallery of Interesting Music Notation.

– Michael Seifert
Sep 10 '18 at 13:10

For pure aesthetic delight, see: reddit.com/r/sheetmusicporn

– Kilian Foth
Sep 10 '18 at 15:02

Something that typically comes up in these discussions (but probably doesn't count as it was written as a joke) is "Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz" by John Stump.

– R.M.
Sep 10 '18 at 15:16

Oh wow hahaha..

– Lance Pollard
Sep 10 '18 at 15:21

Please explain ' bend to/from another chord'. Chords are not usually bent to or from another. A note played on a string often is.

– Tim
Oct 7 '18 at 8:09

2 Answers
2

It's interesting you use the word "complex." I was hesitant to answer for fear that this question was too opinion-based (and it might still be), but your use of this term made the answer very clear: consider the music (and notation) of the New Complexity movement.

To quote directly from an opening line of the Wikipedia article:

Though often atonal, highly abstract, and dissonant in sound, New Complexity music is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex musical notation. (emphasis my own)

Take, for example, this excerpt from Brian Ferneyhough's "Unity Capsule," which only involves two instruments (played by one performer!):

enter image description here

Ferneyhough is one of the leaders of the New Complexity movement, and any score of his you find will be among the most complex out there.

Not even as many as that! Unity Capsule is for solo flute. The lower line is for "voice" -- breathing-instructions, I guess, I can't read that pic of the score.

– Rosie F
Sep 10 '18 at 13:18

@RosieF Oh, I didn't realize that; thanks!

– Richard
Sep 10 '18 at 13:20

Among other things, the sheet music might indicate

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