Modern notation: innovation or tradition?

The article is devoted to the problem of fixing a composer's idea in musical text, which is very relevant for modern musical practice. Particular attention was been paid to the using innovative and traditional forms of recording academic music. The historical continuity in the use of non-deterministic notation (symbols, graphic and letter designations) is explored, and current trends in modern practice aimed at expanding the possibilities of musical notation are identified. In the course of the comparative textual analysis of musical materials from different historical periods the authors came to the conclusion that alternative methods of recording music, which have entered into the practice in the second half of the 20th-21st centuries, largely revive the experience of past eras. The research of the techniques of recording music has shown that modern composers are expanding the arsenal of musical notations, introducing previously unused signs into circulation.