This derives from Les Blank's query on the "Ploughboy" thread. Sol-fa is a system of writing notes using the ordinary alphabet and some punctuation, called properly "Tonic Sol-Fa", invented last century, the most famous brand being that of Curwen. The notes of the scale (made famous by Julie Andrews) are shortened to drmfsltd' --the tick (I use a single quote) indicating the octave; and a low tick (I use a comma) for the low octave. That gives you 3 to play with. Length of note can be indicated by a system of dots and dashes. I don't bother with them most of the time, mainly using just the letters, as a sort of shorthanded way of showing a tune -- to differentiate, e.g., between two tunes with the same title, like "Highland Laddie" (dr mm fr m/mr rdr mr r etc.) versus (sf/md ms lsfm r sf/md mfs ltd's ms etc.). The tune of the Ploughboy could be represented by: s/ ms dm l, s,d/ t,r fm mr- s/ ms dm l, s,d/ t,r ft, d--m/ rf, f,f, f,m,- m/ rf, f,f, m,- m/ rf,f,f, f,m,- s,/ dr mfe s--sf/ (repeat first strain). The system can be really accurate, in that whole choral works have been issued in this format. Try it!