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.
1,400
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1answer
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Pizzicato notation
I'm trying to figure out what (if any) norms apply to notation for pizzicato. As explained here, we have:
Do we not have any symbols used to indicate right-hand pizzicato? I have only seen it ...
5
votes
1answer
57 views
Upside-down up-bow
I have a piece here, that uses upside-down up-bows, that I have never seen before. Since I know other editions of the same opus, I can tell that they have the meaning of a normal down-bow. Does anyone ...
10
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7answers
1k views
Writing music by hand?
How do you write music by hand -- without using a ruler -- and not make it look like ugly chickenscratch?
Are there exercises for writing note heads, stems and beams while making them look relatively ...
21
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1answer
2k views
What does a long arrow pointing up and down mean in an organ score?
What is the meaning of this symbol (long vertical arrow) in old organ notation?
4
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4answers
98 views
Diminished 7th notation, match the key or key signature?
I'm planning on using a diminished 7th to modulate out of Eb minor and into Eb major. I'm thinking of using this diminished 7th or one of its enharmonic equivalents:
This chord could then resolve to ...
2
votes
2answers
80 views
Notating Sound Effects on a Score?
I'vw composed a piece of music that contains various sound effects, most notably movie trailer-style "braaaam" horn sounds, and large, synthetic drum hits that don't fall within the drum part.
For the ...
2
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3answers
116 views
What is notation for holding a note full value?
I'm a Jazz Trumpet Player. When playing written music, the lead/conductor sometimes asks for us to mark on the music to remember to hold a note for the full value.
So, consider music is in 4/4 time. ...
6
votes
2answers
128 views
Is 5/4 simple or compound?
I have seen 3 major ways of subdividing the quarter notes in 5/4. 1 is treating it as a simple meter and 2 others treat it as an irregular compound(or technically speaking, complex) meter. I have seen ...
9
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7answers
1k views
Anacruses, Bar Lines, and Line Breaks
I am an amateur composer.
Page layout is important to me; I like the line breaks to be significant punctuation to the score.
i.e. the end of: sections, parts, phrases, lines of verse/lyrics, are ...
25
votes
1answer
4k views
Two voices for a solo singer written in a sheet music
I was reading the score for Mozart’s insertion aria for his own opera Idomeneo “Non Temer Amato Bene”, K. 490. In it, Idomeneo’s son Idamante (scored for soprano; trouser role) expresses his undying ...
8
votes
1answer
162 views
Slurred half circle symbol
As an organist-amateur I recently bought "An Easy Bach Organ Album". In BWV 691 there's a symbol which looks like a half of a circle, or a small letter c. Moreover, the symbol is connected with the ...
20
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9answers
6k views
Why did we never simplify key signatures?
I understand that the key signature indicates what are the exact notes represented on the staff lines and spaces and thus tells us the diatonic scale in which the music is composed, which in turns ...
2
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2answers
64 views
What is this chord in Haydn's Symphony No. 94?
Can anyone tell me what chord is in bar 115 of the attached image, and how it relates to the key of F minor (just edited, accidentally said F# minor at first) (which is also the subsequent chord)?
It ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
Enter Chord with top and bottom modifiers in Musescore
I have a few old printouts of music pieces, which I am trying to enter into Musescore. (The paper prints are old and won't survive much longer with any use.) While everything is going fine, I'm ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Mistake with Whole/Half step intervals problem
I took a beginner music theory class and there was a quiz on reading music notation.
H W H W H W W W W W
I got 8 of them right. I got the 4th and 10th bar wrong. I wrote it's a whole step (W) for ...
1
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2answers
60 views
Odd looking notation from a MIDI editor
I've created a few bars in a MIDI editor and the sound is as I want (the instrument is intended to be a violin) but the notation looks very odd - despite the fact that the end sound at 120bpm is what ...
2
votes
3answers
91 views
Chord symbols don't match tabs
Im trying to learn Pure imagination on guitar following the tabs. Im going well, but I realised that when I see the fret board numbering with words above them like Fmaj7, Am and C, following the fret ...
4
votes
3answers
109 views
What do these notation marks mean?
So recently I have got this piece for a classical guitar (probably originally for some kind of lute) - Chaconne by Anonymous from Schwerin
It's full of mysterious parentheses, and I have failed to ...
1
vote
2answers
40 views
Repetition sign at the end of a sequence using endings
I have the following 7 measure sequence:
To play it I go 1,2,3,4,5 repetition sign 2,3 use 2nd ending so 6,7. But at this point there is another repetition sign (the one at the end of the sequence) ...
3
votes
3answers
92 views
Time Signature Dilemma, should I change the time signature for my Scherzo?
When I started writing my Scherzo in D, I initially thought of having the time signature be 3/4 since that is a very typical time signature for a scherzo, especially earlier scherzos that are closer ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views
Notation for Eastern European pan flute
Years ago composed a piece of chamber music that included an Eastern European-style pan flute (Romanian or Hungarian, I don't recall which). It was a large one, with a 3-octave range from G3 (the one ...
11
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4answers
1k views
Why is there a key signature change in Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata (2nd movement)?
I have listened to the Hammerklavier Sonata many times, sometimes while following the score, and I have noticed that, in the second movement, there is a change in the key signature for just a little. ...
4
votes
3answers
146 views
In percussion notation, how does one interpret a slurred tremolo?
My question is about tied/slurred tremolos in percussion music notation.
I've had my bongo drums for almost half my life, and am just now deciding to buy a book and learn how to play Afro-Cuban ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
What does the 1.-5. notation mean at the top right corner?
What is the 1.-5. notation in the top right corner telling me to do?
16
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5answers
2k views
Basic Accidental Question
Example: You have d major scale but you make a c flat accidental, does it just naturalize c back to its basic form or make it an enharmonic b? Ive tried searching on google but found nothing. It's ...
18
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5answers
3k views
What's an “add” chord?
The name implies that you are adding a note, but we already notate that explicitly in the chord name and quality.
We say Cm7, not Cm add 7. If we want a 9th, we can go Cm9, but is Cm add 9 correct ...
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0answers
37 views
Key signatures with Quarter Tones [duplicate]
I know how to write the key signatures for any note within the 12-note chromatic scale. I know this doesn't come up very often, but what are some ways to write out key signatures for passages of music ...
3
votes
2answers
113 views
Difference between appoggiatura, acciaccatura and grace note
I seem to get easily confused between the 3 terms. Is an appoggiatura a grace note? How can I distinguish each of them in a music score?
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3answers
563 views
How to play this rhythm in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata? as a 4/3 polyrythm or as 6/16?
First of all, I apologize if I do not get it right with the terminology.
In this sonata of Beethoven in bar 6, there is the 3/8 being played and then at the 4rth 3/8 part, the melody enters above - ...
6
votes
2answers
127 views
Hi-hat Sheet notation
Would someone help me out with the hi-hat notation here?:
My theory's a little rusty, I'm thinking it is a foot close of the hi-hat and not a closed strike? I only started learning 6 months ago so it'...
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1answer
82 views
how to write 32nd notes and rests [closed]
Hi can someone please tell me if I have written either of these correctly? If not please can someone correct me. Thank you!
EDIT: In case the question was not clear to anybody let me rephrase:
Can ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views
Does the voicing of a chord affect the name it's been given? If not, what does?
So I came across a YouTube video where the guy kept referring to a chord as Cm♭6 (C minor flat 6th). However, it seems to me that with a little rearranging this could also be written as a simple ...
4
votes
2answers
113 views
What does this V-Shaped Slur denote?
It looks like a regular slur, but at an obtuse angle. This example is from Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1, where it connects an F natural to an E. I have only seen this a couple of times, so I'm just ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
How to find the the guitar notes in the staff notation if it starts from other than key of C
I can identify the open string in the key of C, but i don't know how to identify the open string if it starts from other than key of C,Can someone help me, I have shown below the music sheets
Where ...
5
votes
4answers
231 views
Weird notation… Would anyone know?
So i found this weird notation that keeps popping up in this sheet... Would you know what that is ?
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Correct chord name for Am(maj7)add9?
Given the chord notes A-C-E-G#-B, what is the correct chord name assuming the song is in the key of Am? It is an E/Am polychord and the dissonance between the C and the B is the sound I'm seeking, ...
6
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3answers
124 views
What is this notation in Debussy's “Engulfed Cathedral”?
In light of the recent portato question at What do the dots and lines underneath these chords mean?, what did Debussy mean by the tied portato on the third quarter note of the second measure of ...
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2answers
1k views
2
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1answer
50 views
Difference between Martele & accent
I’m studying string articulations and I’m having trouble finding the difference between these off the bow articulations. Why should a composer choose to use martele in a situtuation instead of ...
3
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3answers
1k views
What is an “07” chord?
What chord does "D#07" refer to? I'd guess it's a kind of D# or D#7?
/Em C /D /Em / /
Baby, I've been waiting, I've been waiting night and day.
Em ...
3
votes
2answers
86 views
How to notate a seventh chord without a fifth?
I read that when you take away the fifth in a seventh chord it's still considered a seventh chord. But how would you differentiate between a seventh chord with a fifth and without one? Like is there a ...
13
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8answers
3k views
What is more proper notation in piano sheet music to denote that the left hand should be louder?
Sorry if this is a stupid question. In this passage I'm notating, the right hand has accentuating chords and the left hand carries the melody. I wonder whether I need to denote that (and if so, ...
3
votes
3answers
339 views
When to use 8va in musical notation?
I want to know after how many ledger lines should you start notating music with the 8va symbol. I have read that the flute often has music written on ledger lines. So up to how many ledger lines can a ...
4
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4answers
212 views
What is an altered chord?
A chord can be altered in many ways, but not all alterations make a chord an "altered" chord. Which alterations actually make a chord an altered chord? Do altered chords have special notation?
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2answers
2k views
What does /r mean in a score?
Does anyone know what the "/r" in this score might mean?
Thank you so much...
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4answers
109 views
How to determine the downbeats of a time signature?
From what I understand of time signatures, the top number indicates the number of beats, except for compound or odd beats. Like 4/4 has 4 crotchet beats, while 6/8 has two groups of 3 quaver beats, so ...
4
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2answers
72 views
Translate muted bass string from tablature to staff notation
I am arranging a piece for a choir, and as a starting point for the bass I am looking at bass-guitar tabs. I figured out how to translate the tabs to staff notation, except muted strings. I do not ...
3
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1answer
53 views
Force bar numbers below the staff and chord names above in LilyPond
In the documentation for the bar number engraver, it's quite clear that the bar numbers were only ever intended to go above the staff. How do I override that behavior? It would make a part I'm ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
Display time signature as single number above the staff
Sometimes, when a piece of music has a frequently-changing time signature, the time signature is printed above the staff. In the following example, only the numerator is printed (the denominator is 4 ...
3
votes
1answer
41 views
How to make unpitched percussion and a pitched instrument share a staff in LilyPond?
For parts where the percussionist switches from vibraphone to maracas, for example, is there a way to combine the two on the same staff? IIRC, LilyPond treats normal staves and percussion staffs ...
