Questions tagged [notation]
For questions about understanding notation and the use of it. If the question is about a specific type of notation like tablature, that should also be tagged. Questions about how to input specific notation are best served with the engraving tag.
4
votes
1answer
24 views
What does a small slash through a line on the staff mean?
The slash mark is shown multiple times in the piece, and it’s not just shown on the top line. The slash goes between notes and on any of the staff lines. I just want to know what it signifies.
1
vote
1answer
40 views
Is 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a timing notation commonly used and understood?
I've found "1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a" notation often used to describe ballroom step timing, but I've not found any authoritative source for it. It even looks like a recent invention for the ...
14
votes
1answer
2k views
What do these symbols mean?
This is part of Hasse's "Mea Tormenta, Properate".
I think the one on the second staff is some sort of repeat sign, from the research I've been able to do, but I have no idea what the one on the ...
3
votes
3answers
82 views
Do I change the key signature or add accidentals for a section in a different key?
I am composing a piano piece that starts out in G# minor (which is the set key) and later on I have a section that goes into E major. For that section, do I simply just change the key signature, or ...
4
votes
3answers
57 views
5/7b in figured bass
What does 5/7b mean in figured bass?
If it is just a 7th chord in root position, then why is it not just 7b?
In other places in the same score, 7 or 7b are used to denote a 7th chord.
Here is the ...
6
votes
2answers
67 views
Would an accidental in a mordant still be effective for the whole measure?
This is from Bach's Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue:
This would obviously be played D, C#, D. Let's say that there was a C on the same octave later in that measure. Would the C be sharp?
7
votes
3answers
341 views
Accidentals and ties
There are two specific situations I'm interested in.
note with accidental tied into next bar (G♯ say, in key C) and in the next bar the ♯ is repeated on the note at the end of the tie. ...
3
votes
2answers
54 views
Figured bass and ties
How does one play figured bass when the bass line contains ties?
For example, here are the first three measures of Vivaldi's "Filiae maestae Jerusalem" (sheet music source).
Do I understand ...
8
votes
1answer
662 views
Why use cross notes in sheet music for hip hop tracks?
This is an excerpt from the sheet music for a song by Eminem. What do the cross notes mean, and what is their purpose? Why not use normal notes? (I see this frequently in hip-hop sheet music.)
5
votes
2answers
82 views
What is the point of repeating the same dynamic mark?
See this video
The audio is the orchestral version of Shosty 7, but the video shows a two piano arrangement, which is what the question is about. If you look at 1:06:...
4
votes
2answers
77 views
Notation for strumming piano strings
At this piece of mine, I have the pianist (at an upright piano, with the front lid removed) at a certain point holding down a chord with his left hand and with his right hand strumming the strings of ...
3
votes
1answer
76 views
Quintuplet over 3/16th
For quintuplets over 4/16th notes I can use 16th note quintuplet. For quintuplets over 2/16th notes I can use 32nd note quintuplet.
Is there any notation for quintuplets over 3/16th notes?
Imagine ...
3
votes
3answers
73 views
Rhythm non-standard notation
I have read this paragraph a couple of times, but I haven't really had a light bulb moment.
My interpretation is that the upper example wants one to play
In bar 1: four beats of ones own choosing
...
3
votes
4answers
98 views
Are there any simple ways to improve the sound quality of songs I made in MuseScore?
I have composed several tracks using MuseScore. I exported these as MIDIs and played them on my phone to my friend. His comment was: "It sounds like the music from an old computer game like Super ...
8
votes
2answers
89 views
Piano Pedal Notation P, Pw, with and without *
I'm transcribing a piano reduction of Suppé's Light Cavalry into MuseScore.
This particular score has pedal notation P. *, Pw. *, and then some parts where there's no *. I'm assuming (perhaps ...
2
votes
0answers
25 views
How do you play the triplets in Chopin's prelude no 4 in e minor? [duplicate]
I'm learning Chopin's prelude no 4 in e minor and have a question about the sheet music:
In the first and seventh measure in the picture, there is a 3 under the c and e respectively. Previously I ...
3
votes
1answer
47 views
How to transition between notes in Bansuri
Ok, at this point, I am teaching myself Bansuri (A Scale) by playing simple tunes 10-15 min a day (totally swamped nowadays)
Playing Om Jai Jagdish Hare it quite straightforward (plus I am familiar ...
2
votes
2answers
90 views
Why is there a natural symbol on the second note? [duplicate]
Just begining to learn to read musical scores. I don't understand why there is a natural on the second note of the 9th measure, since there is no previous sharp or flat?
I assume the natural in the ...
8
votes
2answers
407 views
Rests in pickup measure (anacrusis)
Which of the following examples is correct?
I know that in regular measures you can use the whole rest to indicate a complete measure of rest in any time signature, but does that also apply to a ...
2
votes
1answer
56 views
GuitarPro Notes Displaying One Octave Too Low
I have been using the software GuitarPro, and the file I am working in has suddenly begin displaying the notes one octave too low. In short, it acts as if 8va is on, even though it isn't.
Everything ...
3
votes
0answers
52 views
What is a good app, software or other efficient method to type out staff notations? [closed]
I’m asking for suggestions and recommendations from music theory educators who often need to prepare music lesson notes and set tests that will require a lot of staff notation images, for e.g. an ...
7
votes
0answers
64 views
Baroque notation question
Here's a snippet from a 1624 facsimile of Juan Arañés' "Libro Segundo de Tonos y Villancicos".
This is a rather syncopated, lively song, with a time signature of C3.
Note values seem to be ...
1
vote
1answer
38 views
The metre/rhythm of classical guitar piece “Recuerdos de la Alhambra”
In all sheets I can find the famous piece "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" for classical guitar (see these search results) is written in 3/4. But in some way I hear it most of the time as a 4/4 with a 2/4; ...
24
votes
7answers
3k views
Is it true that cut time means “play twice as fast as written”?
I was just reading an e-book and saw this sentence which really confused me:
"Played twice as fast as written" - This isn't what cut time actually means right, or are there situations where cut time ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
Grace notes at beginning of “A Media Luz”
I'm trying to transcribe some part of "A media luz" from this video.
Here it is what I did:
I'm wondering if there is an alternative way to notate the first four notes. Could I use graces notes or ...
5
votes
1answer
111 views
What are the notes on this instrument? [duplicate]
I happen to have what I believe is called a bansuri. It seems to be of Chinese or Indian origin from what I can find out on Google, but I don't seem to be able to find note equivalents for it in a ...
3
votes
4answers
125 views
How does the staff work above/below the main lines?
With a G clef the pattern seems to be A B C D E F G repeated. Does it repeat for all octaves above/below the main lines as well? Is it the same pattern of semitones added recursively or how does it ...
13
votes
2answers
825 views
What does this 'x' mean on the stem of the voice's note, above the notehead?
I was looking at the score for Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire (On Youtube), and on the voice staff none of the notes are connected with each other and they have this x or * on their stem:
What ...
7
votes
2answers
801 views
What's the name for when you write multiple voices on same staff? And are there any cons?
When I transcribe music for piano I always use the grand staff and notate the left hand (which often is the bass voice) on the lower staff, everything else on the upper one. When I do it for a guitar ...
1
vote
2answers
88 views
Guiro part notation using cross notes
Here's a picture of a Guiro part in drum notation:
In a Guiro part, what does it mean when there are cross notes? I've seen other Guiro parts elsewhere that use the same line placement but with ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Should these notes be played as a chord or one after another?
A fairly basic sight reading question coming up... Are these notes (highlighted) intended to be played as a single chord or one after the other? They are so close together that they could be played as ...
1
vote
3answers
96 views
Quick conversion between concert pitch and written notes
I've always been intrigued/annoyed/interested by the nature of transposing instruments, and specifically, recently I've been getting into discussions with my saxophonist friends. Lately, I've found ...
4
votes
1answer
117 views
Is it common to combine multiple voices in one piano staff, even if they don't fit the time signature?
I'm a beginner/intermediate sheet reader and struggling a bit with a current piano piece ("He sleeps" from Pretty Woman). The only arrangement I could find uses a notation which makes it hard to ...
0
votes
0answers
69 views
A repeat barline in the middle of a tie
How would I play a tie when a barline is in the middle of it? Here is an example:
In the picture, there is a tie, which has a repeat sign in the middle. When I play the repeat inside of the repeat, ...
3
votes
2answers
168 views
Understanding ties
I'm rather new to playing the piano and reading sheet music. Because of this fact I want make sure that I understand this correctly and have been doing it right.
Does the tie in the second measure ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
Is there a naming convention for open chords?
I am studying a guitar piece where an F# minor chord is spelled as F# / C# / A (R / P5 / m3) over strings 5, 3 and 2.
I found out that chords spanning over more than a octave are called open chords (...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
What does this wavy downward arrow preceding a piano chord mean?
I started to play this piece today, & I came across this symbol (wavy arrow pointing downwards in treble clef). I have never seen it before in any piece, nor did I read about it in music theory so ...
0
votes
2answers
97 views
How to read rhythm when note stems and beams are used to indicate fingering [closed]
In Georg Anton Benda's keyboard sonatas there are many examples of beaming used NOT to show rhythm but to show which hand to use. This was how my problem with the notation was explained to me by an ...
2
votes
2answers
82 views
What does ben tenuto il basso mean?
In the second theme of the recapitulation of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata where the bass line goes into the treble clef and the bass register becomes part of the melody, I see the marking ben tenuto ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Sibelius Time Signature notes before line
I attach a picture where I have a time signature of 2/4. As you see in the first notes there are the equivalent of 1/4 group of notes then a bar line and then the normal bars with 2/4 begin. Why are ...
4
votes
1answer
96 views
was the 12/16 measure usual in the time of Bach?
We met today this work by Bach with this strange time - strange to me as I've never met before this meter. Of course it is possible ... but I ask if someone knows another composition with this meter, ...
4
votes
1answer
62 views
Is it OK to use 3rd/4th line C clef for euphonium?
If I write a Euphonium part that implies more melodic stuff that is more high in the register, can I use a 3rd or 4th line C clef for this Euphonium instead of using the bass clef or should I always ...
15
votes
3answers
2k views
What does a straight horizontal line above a few notes, after a changed tempo mean?
The piece is for playing guitar using plectrum:
I am guessing the horizontal line represents the stretch of notes to be played at the changed tempo, and begin playing at the initial tempo after that.
0
votes
1answer
43 views
App for playing music from notation [closed]
I'm looking for an app (hopefully an Android one) which takes notation in text (such as cdefg; the exact syntax shouldn't matter) as input and plays the music that it represents. I haven't been able ...
3
votes
3answers
344 views
Understanding note stems as written in Mozart's K.331 Andante Grazioso
I have difficulties in interpreting two peculiar notes in Mozart's K.331 Andante Grazioso. I hope you can help in improving my performance.
First question is about the D note evidenced with the arrow:...
0
votes
3answers
127 views
What is the scale of A # Minor / B flat minor? What does it look like in tab? [closed]
What is the Guitar chord - lead scale of A# Minor / B flat minor? I'd like to see what this scale looks like in tablature.
How do I play it?
3
votes
1answer
102 views
Turn above an X symbol in Chopin’s prelude in E minor
I am a self-taught pianist and thought I would pick this piece up relatively easily and quickly, but being self-taught I often run into unknown signs, symbols, and other things like that, that give me ...
2
votes
1answer
49 views
Are these Bansuri Notes all on the Low Octave (to me they are on Low and Middle)
As a newbie I am trying to play these notes of O RE PIYA
http://sargamnote.blogspot.com/
To my ear, all the notes belong in the Low and Middle Octave of this beginner Bansuri Fingering Chart (as ...
2
votes
2answers
109 views
Alto saxophone fingering for notes written below the staff
I am a beginner on the alto saxophone. I understand the fingering for playing notes on the staff but I do not understand the fingering for playing notes below the staff. Sometimes there are two extra ...
2
votes
4answers
102 views
Arpeggio Markings for Chord symbols
Is it common to denote a chord symbol with an arpeggio marking? How else would you indicate that the chord is to be played arpeggio?
