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.
1,332
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Guitar String Ringing
My guitar string is ringing after the intended note duration and I am having a hard time muting the open strings. It is like the LET RING technique of guitar. So when do you know if you should ring ...
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1answer
53 views
Question about note stopping [on hold]
When I play one note in piano, and play another after that, the latter makes the first silent. Does a particular note stops when another note is played , especially in piano?
3
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1answer
36 views
How to condense an SATB choir section with mixed dynamics, voices & hairpins
The score I’m working on has a four-part SATB choir, thus:
For space-conservation reasons I usually condense my choir parts down to a SA/TB grand staff. But this choir section has different dynamics ...
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2answers
78 views
Note durations in instruments [on hold]
I am so confused about note durations in guitar. I know what note duration is. In guitar, if i play the low E string, it vibrates for a long time(sustain). I have no problem with the fretted notes ...
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0answers
27 views
Piano Notation - Hold previous note and add the next one [duplicate]
What's the correct notation for adding notes one finger at a time until the whole chord is played? On each eighth note, the next note is played by a new finger, but all the previous notes are held. So ...
2
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1answer
257 views
What do these two notes together (same pitch, stems in opposite directions) mean in a piano score? [duplicate]
How should the two As be played with the left hand? Why is the second A even necessary?
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2answers
54 views
2 notes played at the same time [duplicate]
I want to create a notation for 2 different notes being played at the same time (half and quarter notes) in which the half note is played at first and the quarter is played at the second half of that ...
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1answer
51 views
What does this 3 means in staff notation? [duplicate]
Does anyone know what does this 3 means in staff notation as shown below in the image, why there is more than 3 bits.
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2answers
45 views
Musescore issue: Bar going across the page
I am using Musescore 3.2.3 and I'm trying to analyze Beethoven's Pathetique sonata by first writing it down, and then analyzing the harmony. But, I have a slight issue. The bar is going right across ...
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0answers
40 views
quaver and semi quaver played on the same beat, how? [duplicate]
in bar 6 why is quaver added on top of the semiquaver on the same beat, is it enough just to play the semi quaver notes. Also what is Gioco style?
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4answers
2k views
Why is it that I have to play this note on the piano as A sharp?
I watched a Synthesia video of this music paper, and on the Synthesia is played that note as a A sharp, but I see no sign of playing an A sharp.
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2answers
43 views
In the standard octave numbering scheme, is the interval between C[N] and C-flat[N] a diminished prime or a diminished octave?
In other words, does the flat modify C[N] or does it modify the next C up, i.e., C[N+1]?
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3answers
651 views
Notation: grace note played on the beat with a chord
I want to write a four note chord in which three notes are held but one note is played and released very quickly. The extra note is played on the beat with the rest of the chord so is not an ...
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0answers
36 views
How to mark up/edit short versions of pep band songs?
Question
My band recently printed a brand new pep band flip book and we are required to make edits to the songs so that they are shorter. Since the books are nice and new I am curious as to if their ...
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2answers
113 views
How do i play a quaver and semi quaver together?
I Wanted to know how a semi quaver and quaver notes are played in same beat?
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3answers
58 views
How to indicate divisi with specific uneven players
My prior understanding was that when writing divisi with strings, the number you specified with “a[x]” indicated the number of players per divisi section; i.e., “div. a8” = 8 players on this line, etc....
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2answers
140 views
What is this music symbol and how do I play it? [duplicate]
I have been playing the piano for 8 years and today I was reading the Katchaturian Toccata and I discovered a symbol, which can be seen below. I am mystified and searched for “Music symbols” but didn’...
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1answer
27 views
What is the usual number of staff/stave per Letter/A4 sheet?
There is a lot of blank sheet staff generators and PDFs for printing ranging from 6 to 22 per A4/Letter (portrait orientation).
My songbook has 6-9, I feel comfortable writing notes with printed 12 ...
2
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2answers
46 views
When to use note beaming over/under rests?
I’ve seen plenty of questions here asking how to create beams over/under rests (generic example pictured below), but I don’t see any addressing my much more basic question: Is there any general rule ...
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2answers
48 views
Dotted quarter rest vs. eighth note rest + quarter rest
Is it ever appropriate to use a dotted quarter rest vs. an eighth note rest along with a quarter rest?
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2answers
75 views
Will an accidental in piano sheet count for second voice as well?
I got this passage where the first voice got a sharp on the F (top staff).
It's written for Piano, so there are not really actual voices, it's basically just written in two voices for clarity. My ...
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0answers
39 views
Shopping advice: upgrade Finale, or buy Dorico? [closed]
I'm dusting off my old notation software, and find myself in the dilemma of whether to upgrade my Finale 2012 into the 2019 version, or discard it and go for Dorico; the new hot and cool software.
...
3
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2answers
46 views
Difference between these three sextuplets notation
Could anybody please explain the difference in how to play the lower voices in the following examples, and how they would be played timing-wise, between these three ways of writing a sextuplet? The ...
3
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2answers
177 views
How should I notate an intermediate dynamic between mp and mf?
I know this is a question that’s been asked before, but I haven’t found an answer that suits my needs.
Consider the following example [edit: new excerpt, to include all swells and to remove other ...
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3answers
105 views
Più, meno, poco & molto: How to write incremental dynamics?
I’m a self-taught amateur composer, and whilst the standard dynamics of ppp to fff go a long way, over time I’ve wanted to use some additional instructions to indicate incremental dynamics between ...
7
votes
2answers
182 views
What do these triangles above and below the staff mean?
The image above is taken from sheet music of The Dreamy Fish by Erik Satie, I'm not completely sure what those triangles mean. Looking them up, they look closest to sforzando symbol,
but that one ...
12
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1answer
956 views
Which note goes on which side of the stem?
When writing music in sheet music form, I know that when writing harmonic intervals of a second, one of the two notes is on the opposite side of the notehead. My trouble is determining which note to ...
8
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1answer
249 views
Please help me identify the bold slashes between staves
Bold slashes are between every staff. I thought it may be pauses but it cannot be, wouldn't work.
Maybe they are decoration, I don't know.
3
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2answers
54 views
Why’s there a rest over this note in “The Easy Winners” by Joplin?
Looking through “The Easy Winners” by Scott Joplin (sheet music), the eighth measure confuses me:
In the right hand, there is a pair of half notes tied to notes in the previous measure, played at the ...
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0answers
39 views
Unknown Notation - Dotted Half notes connected by three Bars [duplicate]
My question is similar to the one posed here, Unknown notation - thick horizontal bars between notes, but this notation is not exactly the same. In the beginning bars of An der schönen blauen Donau - ...
4
votes
3answers
244 views
Questions on how to write sordino directions
I’ve decided to tweak my scores by adding more sordino directions so that players can prepare their instruments in advance, but I’m not entirely clear on what to write and where to write it, so I have ...
10
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3answers
835 views
Is it best to use a tie when using 8th notes off the beat?
I am notating my bongos in 4/4 and if you look at the last two bars, they are almost the same. Can you please help me by telling me if the 3rd or 4th bar would be more correct? It seems silly using a ...
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2answers
38 views
Numbers under a note (guitar) [duplicate]
Hi I am a guitar beginner, can someone help me to understand what does that number (3 under notes) mean?
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2answers
911 views
Chord with lyrics - What does it mean if there is an empty space instead of a Chord?
I have a problem understand what to play on those chords here.
As you can see from my markings I actually play the Am in the first line twice because I kinda feel weird having it only "ring" to the ...
5
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2answers
492 views
Weird acciaccatura (?) notation in Chopin's polonaise
I am not sure how to interpret the particular notation in Chopin's Op.53 Polonaise:
Here, we have a single (smaller font) Eb (just before the trill). I should interpret it as a grace note, but then ...
5
votes
2answers
167 views
What's the meaning of a half note with a flag?
In Carcassi's Arpeggio exercises (for guitar) there are passages like this:
Do these half notes are connected with eighth notes? What does the half notes with flag means?
BTW, how to include these ...
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2answers
61 views
Rules for naming borrowed chords in roman numeral analysis
I don't seem to find an extensive resource on how to name out of scale chords in roman numeral analysis.
E.g. let's look at this piece from "All imperfect things" of Michael Nyman:
I'm stuck on M5 ...
3
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3answers
80 views
Smaller notes notation in Chopin's Polonaise Op. 53
I encountered a notation in the Chopin's Polonaise, Op. 53 that I have not seen before: smaller font notes not explicitly following the time signature.
While it is pretty obvious how it is played (...
2
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2answers
62 views
Weird symbol in score for harp
In this score for harp, there's this weird symbol: (outlined in red)
I have no idea what it means, is it some kind of glissando?
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3answers
123 views
Guitar chord notation with numbers
I play moderate level guitar in church. In relation to the numbering system for musical notes, I have seen in songs showing the chord changes, there would be an E2 or an A2 chord along with an E or A ...
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3answers
1k views
How should I write this passage to make it the most readable?
Been writing something and was wondering how I should notate these measures to ensure readability.
These three ideas are floating around in my head but if anyone else has input please send it my way.
2
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1answer
134 views
What are the horizontal lines in this renaissance piece?
In one of the scores of Byrd's Ave verum corpus on CPDL, one notices horizontal lines :
What do they mean? Are it a kind of phrasing marks?
Were they added by the editor?
Edit
The Misa de Notre ...
2
votes
5answers
87 views
What is a notational error in this measure if there is one(common time)?
What is a notational error in this measure? It is in common time and bass clef.
I was thinking that the dotted half note is the problem, but I am not sure how to change it exactly. Maybe to a quarter ...
14
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4answers
2k views
What does this double-treble double-bass staff mean?
Half-way through Rachma.’s Prelude in C#m there is this connected set of double clefs. Can anyone tell me what to do? It was a single set of bass and treble clefs for half the song.
I thought maybe ...
4
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3answers
913 views
Is the beaming of this score following a vocal practice or it is just outdated and obscuring the beat?
The source is c.1770...
https://imslp.org/wiki/Scots_Songs_for_Voice_and_Harpsichord_(Bremner%2C_Robert)
...first book.
I can see that the beaming matches the words of the vocal part. But it ...
6
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1answer
122 views
What does an isolated horizontal dash mean in figured bass notation
Here you see a fragment from Francesco Geminiani's Guida Armonica (ca. 1752), a sort of 'dictionary' or catalogue of figured bass snippets. My question is, what do the isolated horizontal dashes mean ...
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0answers
25 views
Song Cycle Texts, all at the beginning or placed individually before each song?
Following the recommendation that the text for a song be provided separately as part of the front matter of a vocal composition, what is the best way to handle the texts for a song cycle if each text ...
18
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1answer
3k views
What is this 4 sharp symbol and what does it mean?
I came across this symbol (unfortunately not in context—I was looking through some engraving font glyphs) that looks like a sharp with a 4 above it:
What is this symbol called and what does it mean? ...
2
votes
1answer
50 views
When are the historical landmarks in the evolution of the bass (F) clef?
I found this image on the web showing the evolution of the bass (F) clef but there's no date or source for each instance.
Can anyone provide the approximate date of these changes?
2
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3answers
83 views
Duplicate / unison notes in piano sheets [duplicate]
From time to time I see some unison / duplicate notes in piano sheets like this one:
Is there a reason why you would write it like that, or would you actually play it any different?
Isn't it ...
