From its beginnings in ancient China, Egypt, and Greece, notations for music have been concerned with pitch, melody, rhythm, and actions for making sounds, with pitch being the dominant parameter represented. This is equally true of modern developments in the West where notations act more as mnemonics for musical behaviour than as metaphors for sounds. It is argued that new notational forms for 20th century avant‐garde music are qualitatively not much different, and transcriptions of music from cultures outside the Western traditions rely heavily on these traditions. An experimental approach is postulated for developing notations for sung sounds from a variety of cultures which function more as metaphors than mnemonics. An empirical basis for their validity is argued from research data in studies of cross‐modal integration and from acoustic analysis identifying possible perceptual hierarchies of acoustic parameters. It is postulated that in some cultures studied musical pitch may not be a predominant feature in the musical vocal behaviour examined. Finally, tentative suggestions are proffered indicating what metaphoric notations might look like when applied to some vocal sounds from a variety of cultures. The issues involved range widely over psycho‐acoustics, perception, musical practices, and the acoustics of voice.