Questions tagged [notation]
For questions about visual representation of music and its uses. 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.
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Itentifying a chord with seeming multiple suspended notes
I cannot figure out what would be the name for the chord containing these notes:
D,E,G in the key of C Major.
Also, does a sus2/4 exist. For example, Csus2/4 being C,D,F,G?
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2
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How to convert Sibelius score to MusiXTeX?
I want to create images of bars of notated music for use in video. Is there a way to write the score on Sibelius and then export this to some Python library in order to better create the images for ...
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Eighth-note missing from score?
In this version of sheet music "The Rain" by Joe Hisaishi, how should I read this line?
It seems that voice y in measure 42 is missing one eighth note (between eighth note B in treble clef ...
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Piano what is this symbol name and meaning? [duplicate]
What is this symbol name and meaning (symbol above the red line) - the line travel from Bass clef through Treble clef, then go back to Bass clef?
It seems that this symbol is not listed in musical ...
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Why not use only octave clefs?
There are a lot of clefs: G, F, and many C clefs. And it is not trivial to read some clef is you are familiar with another one. I think music comprehension would be made easier if we only used one ...
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Transposing Piano Accompaniment for Vocalist - When to Change Clefs
I have been transposing some voice + piano accompaniment music originally written for a mezzo-soprano or alto into a key for a tenor down (usually by a third or a fourth) and have found the resulting ...
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Notating Sheet Music with Strict Tempo for Accompaniment but Rubato for Vocalist
I have some sheet music for vocal + piano accompaniment where I want to notate that the vocalist should feel out the rhythms and phrases and sing expressively while the pianist maintains a steady ...
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How to notate 3 quarters framed by eighths?
Context: I recently transcribed a Piano solo piece in MuseScore 4. It was based on a different person's transcription that used ♩ = 70 as tempo marking. My transcription initially used the same tempo. ...
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What does this diagonal line in the drums sheet music mean?
As the title says, what does the indicated line in the figure mean in a drum sheet music?
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Duration of a note in Moldau score
Let's consider the piano version of Moldau/Vltava from Smetana, the first two measures for example:
What should be the duration of the blue circled notes, as expressed in units of an eighth note:
...
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There are 2 square brackets around 2 notes in this trombone part. What does it mean? [closed]
In this trombone part there is square brackets and slide numbers on these notes. What does this indicate?
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Skip Beat in a Measure
Can we skip some/a beat(s) in a measure in music notation?
In the picure, I want to skip that quarter rest so we can play directly the next c note?
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Why are 6/5 chords written in different ways? [duplicate]
Sometimes the 6th of a 6/5 chord is displaced to the right and other times the 5th is displaced to the left. Why?
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Regarding the music notation symbol "simili"
I have been researching the music notation symbol "simili" after coming across it in the piano score for Debussy's "Passepied" from the "Suite bergamasque".
The score ...
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Spacing in tuplets (in sheet-music)
I am trying to understand whether it's okay to have different spaces within tuplets in case if I have other voices, or should I aim somehow to have even spaces in tuplets?
Here is an example:
For me ...
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Theoretically Correct vs Practical Notation
My music theory studies ended 20 years ago, but I am busy with some notation by combining piano accompaniment with vocals for solo piano, for personal use.
So, in 4/4 time, music theory dictates that ...
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Rachmaninoff C# minor prelude: towards the end, staff lines are joined together, and there are two end markings
I'm studying Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor and towards the end, the staff lines are joined together, with two ending lines.
Do I need four hands? :)
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Changing the time signature so all notes fit in one bar
I'm currently making sheet music for a song that isn't mine and I know it's in 4/4 but as the song progresses, there's no way I can fit all notes in that time signature, so I'm changing it to 6/4, 7/4,...
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Can there be five flutes in (a score for) a symphonic orchestra?
If I were to write a score for a symphonic orchestra, could I include five separate staves for five separate flutes (each one having its own unique part throughout the score) or is it forbidden in ...
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How do I enter these triplets into MuseScore?
I'm a total beginner with all things music theory, so I figured I'd ask.
I'm trying to enter this into MuseScore, but the triplets in the last two bars are confusing me. If I try to enter them I get ...
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Slight emphasis on a note (soft accent)
The attached image is the first couple of bars from the James Bond theme – No Time to Die:
The notes in yellow sound to me like they are played with a slight accent/emphasis, and I'm trying to find ...
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What do these letters and punctuation (d .s, :l, .s,) mean on this sheet music? [duplicate]
I’m trying to understand the letters and punctuation in an old piece of music (from around 1910). It’s a piece for ukulele and I’m assuming it’s a fingerpicking pattern, however it doesn’t use letters ...
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How to play tremolo on violin
I found an orchestral score in 3/4 time that instructs the first and second violins to play tremolos:
First violins should play those notes as quavers so do the second violins play semiquavers? I ...
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How do you represent different instrument of the same section alternating a part?
I've composed a passage with an upper tonic pedal point in the flutes. Problem is that the pedal point lasts 51 bars in an adagio tempo(roughly 2 minutes), and nobody would be able to play a ...
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Is this a tenor clef?
My wind band is playing Saint-Saens' Pas Redouble, using the Josneau arrangement published by Evette & Schaeffer. It's on IMSLP. The bassoon part is mostly in bass clef, but occasionally uses a ...
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Secondary brackets in the string section
In an orchestral score, each section of the orchestra gets a thick square margin bracket, e.g. the woodwind section.
Within these, thin square secondary brackets are used to group instruments in the ...
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Sharp getting erased without notation in Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor
On the sixth measure of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor there is a second chord that appears to be D#-E-D#. I didn't think that this sounded quite right, and in all the videos I've watched it's ...
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What does the marking "Tempo" mean in the middle of a piece of music?
In Hubert Parry's (1848-1918) choral work "There is an Old Belief", there is a marking in a few places that just reads "Tempo". The first time it happens after a ritard, following ...
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How to write overlapping lines when using 4 parts
Here is an example of what I want to do. This is not a chorale hymn! But lets just use the naming conventions since I want 4 lines. The "Soprano" and "Alto" are providing an ...
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Which two pedals to use for the marking "due pedale"?
In the piano piece "Rumänisches Charakterstück, Op.44" on page 8 there is the marking pp along with "due Pedale".
Which two pedals out of the three available are meant to be used ...
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Same note on two staves in a piano score
These are bars 56–59 in Patrik Pietschmann's arrangement of Hans Zimmer's "Interstellar Main Theme"
How does one deal with the Es that appear in both staves?
The first two bars I can play ...
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Unknown Notation with a sharp, curved line
I was looking at a piece of music when I came across the symbol pictured below (the sharp, curved line between the tenuto and accent).
Can anyone help me identify it?
For reference, the piece that I ...
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When using a chromatic mediant chord in a minor piece which accidental do you use?
If I am in D minor and want to write a Bbm chromatic mediant chord, will I have to write the Db, even though in surrounding bars I have the usual C# for the raised LT?
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How to play a measure with no chord notation above it?
When a measure doesn't have any chord notation above it, but its preceding measure has a chord notation, should I keep the keys of the previous measure chord pressed when playing the measure which has ...
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Idiomatic guitar notation; notating L.V. passages?
I'm conflicted. I have this passage (note: tuning = DADGBE, D2 notated as D2):
First, this is incorrect, as I'm not including the three beat rest in the third bar for the second-from-the-top voice, ...
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Piano Notation "T"?
I'm no high-end performer so probably won't matter but just curious what is this 'T'?
Second image has some notes of the first page, I supose the little schematic of the structure clarifies the T.
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Is there any standard notation to "spell" tied notes? [duplicate]
I have written a piece of music in 9/8 time (slip jig time?) where the last note on the bass clef is a note 9 beats long. It can be spelled in eight different ways (some of them are ridiculous):
Whole ...
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Arban's Trumpet Studies Scales Exercise 16 - 32nd and 64th notes
I've been practicing Arban's Trumpet Studies book and have a question.
In Scale Studies (pg 64) exercise #16 contains 16th, 32nd, and 64th notes. See Wikipedia for images of notes.
My question is, Why ...
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Lilypond: How to avoid overshooting melisma in last stanzas [incl. MWE and output]
I am trying to create some sheet music with lyrics. Some features of the music are:
There are repeat sections in the music with alternative endings.
The music starts on the chorus.
There are more ...
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2
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Placement of reminder/courtesy accidentals
I recently downloaded Camille Saint-Saëns' lovely Valse nonchalante—the Durand First Edition (1898)—from IMSLP. All the upper-staff reminder accidentals are placed above the staff. I don't remember ...
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What are the rules i need to follow when writing for the piano?
Okay so i recently discovered writing in 4 part harmony and now i'm really confused, i saw people say that you don't need to follow the same rules for piano. But, are there any rules or guidelines for ...
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Lilypond: transpose a sequence to modes with different intervallic structure
I am looking for a Lilypond function to transpose sequences of notes between modes that have different intervallic structure (e. g. from major to harmonic minor). My assumption is that the modes have ...
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Unrecognized signs near piano chords [duplicate]
What does the 1. and 2. prefix before the chord mean (what special meaning 1.G or 2.G has over a regular G chord?)
What does the 3 lines (marked in green arrow) mean?
What does the 2 lines (marked ...
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Should I tie across beats 2 and 3 in 3/4?
I know that 3/4 is strong-weak-weak. I've also heard that when it comes to rests, if I have a quarter note on 1, I should then have two quarter rests rather than a half rest.
But how about the ...
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Lilypond tremolo and tuplets
I am inputting a score and struggling with repeated triplets.
In the snippet
A is visually what is in the manuscript
B is my understanding of the musical intention
C is as close as I can get in ...
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Notate Double Sharp as ♯♯(Sharp Sharp)?
According to this site, a Double Sharp can be notated as ♯♯. But is there any score that contains this notation?
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Is there a notation for borrowing a beat from the next measure?
First off, just to be clear, this is a purely historical/theoretical question. In the example I'm going to give, I think it would universally be considered clearer just to write it in 4/4, maybe with ...
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meaning of the small circle at the end of the decrescendo?
Came across this variety of decrescendo in a vocal piece our choir is working on. 3 in the 13-page piece, all in the space of 3 bars, early in the piece, 2 of which are shown here. My choral director ...
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Tremolo notation for Sixteenth note triplets
I'm wondering if there's a tremolo notation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremolo) for a repeated Sixteenth note triplets like this one for example:
I've only seen the notation for regular rhythm ...
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Why did Shostakovich use such long note values for such fast notes?
I've loved Shostakovich's 8th quartet for ages but only just now looked at the score. I imagined the second movement would be a sea of black notes given its breakneck pace and was shocked to see that ...
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