For years composers have recognized that messages can be coded into music. One method for doing this is to include strings of notes, the names of which spell out words. Examples: "cabbage", "bag", "aged", "babe", "bag a Bagdad cabbage".

The limiting factor here is that there are only a few words that contain only the letters 'a' through 'g' (the only letters that name musical notes).

This is a list of words, taken from the dictionary file that's included with Mac OSX, which are composed of only the letters 'a' through 'g'. It would be interesting to see a composition that could be fully interpreted as either Music or English.
A
a
aa
Ab
aba
abac
abaca
abaff
abb
Abba
Abe
abed
acca
accede
ace
ad
Ada
Adad
adad
adage
add
Adda
adda
added
Ade
ade
adead
ae
aface
affa
aga
Agade
Agag
age
aged
agee
B
b
ba
baa
Bab
baba
babe
bac
bacaba
bacca
baccae
bad
Badaga
bade
badge
bae
baff
bag
baga
Bagdad
baggage
bagged
be
bead
beaded
bebed
bed
bedad
bedded
bedead
bedeaf
Bee
bee
beedged
beef
beg
begad
C
c
ca
cab
caba
cabbage
cabda
Caca
cad
cade
cadge
caeca
caffa
cag
cage
caged
ce
cede
cee
D
d
da
dab
dabb
dabba
dace
dad
Dada
dada
dade
dae
daff
dag
dagaba
dagga
de
dead
deaf
Deb
deb
debadge
decad
decade
dee
deed
deedeed
deface
deg
degged
E
e
ea
ebb
ecad
Ecca
Ed
Edda
edea
edge
edged
efface
egad
Egba
egg
F
f
fa
Faba
Fabaceae
facade
face
faced
fad
fade
faded
fadge
fae
faff
fag
Fagaceae
fage
fe
fed
fee
feed
G
g
Ga
ga
gab
Gabe
gabgab
Gad
gad
Gadaba
gadbee
gadded
gade
gadge
gaff
gaffe
gag
gage
gagee
Ge
ge
Ged
ged
Gee
gee
gegg
geggee

On a side note, in Germany at one time the letter 'b' denoted b-flat and the letter 'h' was used for b-natural. This allowed Bach to work his own name into some of his compositions.

There is a way to get rid of this limiting factor of only 7 letters. We could make it possible to encode almost the entire alphabet, and therefore any message, in song form, by adding accidentals, extra musical symbols, to the basic 7 notes. The two most common accidentals are sharps ("#") and flats ("b").

So the first 7 notes, A B C D E F G, could represent the respective letters A B C D E F and G. Then, A# B# C# D# E# F# G# could represent H I J K L M and N. And so on: Ab Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb could represent O P Q R S T U. And if you really wanted to finish it off, you could use a double sharp ("x"), a less common accidental, for the last five letters. So Ax Bx Cx Dx Ex would be V W X Y Z.

Here's the complete new alphabet:

A=A
B=B
C=C
D=D
E=E
F=F
G=G
A#=H
B#=I
C#=J
D#=K
E#=L
F#=M
G#=N
Ab=O
Bb=P
Cb=Q
Db=R
Eb=S
Fb=T
Gb=U
Ax=V
Bx=W
Cx=X
Dx=Y
Ex=Z

This does complicate things, though, and creates a much more atonal(read: out of key) piece of music. For example, for the musically inclined out there, try playing this series of notes on your piano or keyboard. Yes, peel yourself off the computer seat. Heck, you can even use GarageBand or Cakewalk for the intrinsically lazy:

C# Ab A# A G# G# Eb E B A Eb Fb B# A G# B A C A#

Doesn't sound too musical, does it? I don't think even Bach himself would work that into a composition for self flattery. This gives us a much broader vocabulary, though. It would make a good code as long as it was only used in the written form.

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