Is there a way to say in Sheet Music notation a chord with part of it quiet, and part of it loud?
For example, a normal Am. What if it was loud, but the C is quiet?
Or a C♯ chord: C♯ and G♯ quiet, but E♯ loud?
I need it to be a single chord with the same duration at each pitch. The reason I need to do this is because I want the voice and accompaniment to be played by one person. And the bit I want is more effective when the accompaniment varies in volume. The volumes need to be precise.
In this example score you will see some of the note heads are normal size and others are slightly smaller. Footnotes under the score indicate the large note heads should "emerge" as clear melody notes.
Obviously the example shows broken chords, but you could use large/small note heads on simultaneous chords.
A limitation is you can't be specific about dynamics, such as large notes are forte and small notes are pianissimo. But maybe it would work for your purpose.
If you really want to treat the chord as separate voices, use multiple staves (three notes chords would then become single notes on three staves) and then you can indicate the dynamics with the usual level of detail.
If all the melody notes where the top of the chords, you might try setting the stem directions up and the lower notes stems to down and then apply the dynamics separately above and below the staff.
It depends on the logic behind the pitches being brought out. As Michael mentions in the comments, often writing the two lines in separate voices will make it clear to an informed performer:
But it becomes impossible to discern if they're the same rhythm:
In which case I think you would need some other means of clarification, and it would really be up to you to determine what is the most concise and efficient way of getting your point across. This is especially true if the pitches being brought out aren't part of a larger melodic line. If you're just trying to create a particular atmosphere and want random pitches of different chords brought out, you'll have to devise your own system.
I am not necessarily suggesting this particular way, but here is one method of getting this point across:
I'll be curious to see what others say.
I would notate it thus:
The accents should IMO be quite unambiguous. The small notes might be confused for cue notes from other voices, though, what would be the point of that?
For single instances of unequally loud chords, a strategically placed sforzato sign might do the trick. But the preferred solution is to notate the emphasized note in a larger size (or more probably, notate the unemphasized notes in smaller type). A good example can be found here: the second of the six études ("For finger independence") consists entirely of unequally-stressed chords.
