Klavarskribo
music notation system

Klavarskribo (sometimes shortened to klavar) is a music notation system that was introduced in 1931 by the Dutchman Cornelis Pot (1885–1977). The name means "keyboard writing" in Esperanto. It differs from conventional music notation in a number of ways and is intended to be easily readable.
History
Cornelis Pot came from a family of shipbuilders and was managing director of Smit Slikkerveer, a factory which made dynamos for ships. He had also a passion for music and wanted to others to be able to enjoy music by playing and by singing. He studied alternative music notations and from them developed his idea of Klavarskribo. He expected the music world to embrace his invention but was disappointed when that proved not to be the case. Having the financial means, Pot was able by himself to start and publish written courses and have music transcribed.
In the 1930s the number of klavar users grew enormously and much sheet music was transcribed and published in the klavar notation. During World War II these activities stopped, but afterwards Pot started with a new élan.
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This entry incorporates text from “Klavarskribo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.