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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barlines in proportional notation disappear
Some time ago, I reached out to the lil mailing list seeking assistance with creating a Csound to LilyPond converter. The goal was to improve the readability and presentation of Csound scores using ...
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Does "poco a poco accel. fino al misura 25" sound like proper Italian tempo mark?
Is ""poco a poco accel. fino al misura 25" correct tempo mark in Italian for "step by step accelerate until measure 25"?
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Both instruments in unison or only the first-voice one?
Here are a few first measures of "Pomp and Circumstance, March 1"'s score:
What puzzles me is that in both the oboe and clarinet staves, we can clearly see two instruments indicated, yet ...
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Am I Doing It Wrong? Why Can't I Use Multiple 5-Line Staves to Represent Guitar's Open Strings?
As a rock songwriter with interest in theory, I sometimes score my music to engage with it differently. I’d open MuseScore, create 3 treble clef staves—one for the voice and two for the guitars—and a ...
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What does "S.D." mean, and why does it have only one staff line?
As you can see in the picture, the fourth line is marked S.D. with a few notes.
What is the meaning of S.D.? And what are these notes (Do, Re, Mi…?) and how are they to be played?
I know it is for ...
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Mozart Notated Staccatos - Continuing After Notation Ends?
In Mozart's "Don Giovanni" there are many phrases notated as staccato which, after 2-3 measures, no longer have the staccato notation to the end of the phrase. (Ex. Dover full score p.393 ...
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4
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Why do clef octave changes use '8' and '15'? [duplicate]
I found this list of octave clefs on Wikipedia. Here, there's a series of octave clefs listed as using 8 and 15 to alter the clef by one or two octaves respectively.
My understanding of music theory ...
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What does a diamond note head mean in a bass part when it’s the only note on the staff?
My amateur orchestra is playing Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. The bass part has a number of notes with diamond heads. I’m not sure how to interpret them (and neither is our conductor who plays viola). ...
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What does this sharp sign with an arrow mean?
I've seen this symbol (that looks like a sharp sign with an arrow sticking out of it) in some meme videos, but I don't know what it means:
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Should I provide fingering for a piano music sheet?
I am typesetting a piano piece and am wondering if I should provide fingering instructions. First I thought that it could be helpful, but I'm not sure if this is considered normal by professional ...
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What is “Lacrimosa” in music?
What is the mood / emotion most closely associated with the Italian term “Lacrimosa” used in music notation?
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(24-EDO) Microtonal chord symbols for these chords
I came across some interesting chords recently in a series talking about 19-EDO but I found that a lot of them work quite well in 24-EDO as well, and they are shown below. I can get behind everything ...
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Garbled Lilypond Output
I divided the notes of my score into 6 variables respectively called: \partOne, \partTwo, \partThree, \partFour, \partFive and \partSix. Each variable contains 20 measures of music. Then I call the ...
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How to notate parallel tuplets
Suppose I have a 4/4 bar for piano, and in the right hand I want to play a quintuplet over 1, 2 and 3, and I want to play a quadruplet over 2, 3 and 4.
What is the proper way to notate this?
The ...
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1
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How to write cross staff beams in Noteflight?
In the middle section of Symphony No 5 by Beethoven, I see some cross staff beams (marked in red):
Can you please tell me how to write them in Noteflight? I have no idea as a Noteflight user. Thank ...
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What does this notation mean above the staff? [duplicate]
I'm learning piano and music theory. Today I came across this notation - a bracket line spanning across the width of the staff, and a number on the left. Could someone please tell me what it means? ...
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What does this T-with-a-bar-in-the-middle accidental mean?
I've never seen it before, and I found it on this video. I know it's an accidental, though.
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How many symphonic instruments in the same group to specify
In a symphonic orchestra, or any other, how many of the same instruments do I specify in the score, if they play the same score?
For example, for violins, there is just one line. What about the ...
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Contemporary Music note group Notation
I am writing an article about Stockhausen's Plus-Minus and I wanted to take this chance to write some snippets in LilyPond. Is there anyone willing to help me to transcribe this image?
This is what I ...
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Repeat sign without a match
In Fernando Sor's Op 44 No 7, what is the purpose of the repeat sign indicated by the arrow?
There isn't a matching sign before the end of the piece, so how am I supposed to interpret it? (The picture ...
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Interpreting the repeat signs in Handel's passacaglia (HWV 432)
In the urtext edition (page 84 of the pdf) that I found on IMSLP it looks as if the first period is repeated and then... the rest of the piece, without that first period, is played twice? That doesn't ...
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How to identify voice of whole note
I've got a chord of whole notes and have no idea which voice they're in.
There are other chords in the sheet music that I looked at to try to figure out the voice, but this hasn't been conclusive. At ...
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What does this chord symbol mean?
I came across this while studying harmony and couldn't figure out what its trying to say. It comes from Bach's Partita in A Minor for Flute, BWV 1013, measure 2.
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Baritone clefs, difference between these two
I am using the Clefs app from the Google Play store.
I would like to know, why are there two baritone clefs and what is the difference between them?
If they are different, then why haven't they been ...
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Lilypond lead sheet chord symbol notation
I am working with a collection of Lilypond files generated from the Weimer Jazz Database, and I've been trying to understand the rules for chord symbol notation. I've found a useful resource ...
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Meaning of a stem extending to both sides of a notehead
A piano part of a big band arrangement uses notation where chords are marked and stems extend to both sides of noteheads:
My guess is that this is marking the highest note of the chord to play, as ...
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2
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Meaning of :/: with a 2 above
I don't fully understand this symbol. I know it means to repeat the bar, but how many times? Normally I'm used to the one slash and two dots in a bar, which I know means to repeat.
Can anyone help ...
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Clarification about the little x
I read through many comments and think I generally understand the idea of a little x. So I am now seeing one in a piece of music (More, Quincy Jones, transcribed by Boris Myagkov, for alto sax) which ...
2
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1
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113
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Notes extending for longer than time signature allows for [duplicate]
I can't seem to find an answer for this on the internet, so I'll try asking here. I've come across a measure that lasts for five beats when the time signature is 4/4 and
should only last for four ...
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Measure numbers in alternating time signature with dotted barlines
A piece has an alternating 7/8 and 8/8 pattern a la this answer's second example, notated as 7+8/8 with dotted barlines between.
For the purpose of numbering, does the full 15-beat pattern count as ...
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Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody 2, unusual markings?
Disclaimer: I'm a musician but not a pianist. My hobby is to study musical scores of other instruments just to learn a little more about them and how they work.
I came across some unusual markings for ...
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When do I notate the midpoint of a measure?
Is it necessary to notate measures in such a way as to always delineate the third count in 4/4 time or the fourth count in 6/4 or 6/8 time, in other words to show the midpoint of the measure?
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What is the correct rest grouping in 6/4 time?
From an ABRSM test paper (G5)
The last rest is incorrect according to the answer. However to me it divides the dotted minim beat into 2+1 for compound time and appears correct.
What is wrong with it ...
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Splitting the beat in two when beaming a fast phrase in a slow piece
I have a slowish piece for cello (with piano) that has sections of 6-tuplets and various other groups of very short notes where the phrasing implies a double-time feel, so it's much easier to count if ...
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8th note value on TuxGuitar
I am studying Les Claypool's bass style, and for this, I am making a single gp5 file with some of his most iconic bass riffs to study. So I got them all together and don't need to open a file for each ...
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1
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How to write hendecatuplets (11) and icosiduplets (22) on Noteflight?
I found these icosiduplets and hendecatuplets in Chopin's Nocturne Opus 9 Number 1:
I wanted to use such tuplets in my own music. How to write them in Noteflight?
Thank you!
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Is it okay to change the key signature in the middle of a bar?
In music notation, is it okay to change the key signature within a measure? Or should I split the meter into two for that?
For example, I have the following four quarter notes in one measure with:
𝄞 ♭...
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Notes tied to rests?
This is the end of Leo Brouwer's study 4 from the "Estudios Sencillos":
Some notes here are tied to rests, or so it seems. What did Brouwer want the performer to do?
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Dotted quarter or tied notes
I know in 4/4 you are supposed to clearly indicate beats 1 and 3 in the measure, but does this apply to beat 2 as well? I am transcribing a song on piano and don't know which version of this measure ...
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What does l.v. with a dashed line following it mean?
In the image above, I see the l.v. symbol with a dashed line following it.
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How to play the "Ped" symbol when there's no corresponding release symbol
I know what this symbol means, but I would like to know if I have to press the pedal as soon as I see the symbol and keep pressing it until I see the another "Ped", and then repeat.
I don't ...
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How to annotate violin bowing over a triplet
I am new (6 months) to both violin and music; forgive the simple question. My understanding of general bowing is:
Without a slur, bow direction alternates with each note
With a slur, maintain the ...
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Can I create separate variables for duration and pitch in LilyPond and combine them?
How would I go about defining two separate variables where one can be mapped onto the other to produce some typical output? For instance:
durations = {
4 8 8 2
}
pitches = {
e' g' f' a'
}
\score {
...
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What's this curved line after this note?
It's not a slur because it doesn't connect to any other notes, so what is it?
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How can I make a standard notation for all beatbox sounds?
I'm working on a beatbox site, and I can use the old school notation for beatbox, like "K" for KSnare, "B" for kick, and "Peh" for peh snare.
This is my website
but the ...
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Teach beginner staff notation
I'll be teaching an adult musical beginner piano. I've never taught [music] before though I've taught programming and math for decades.
[And I don't remember too well how I learnt!]
I am asking ...
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What does a vertical square bracket and number indicate on a piano score? [duplicate]
Does it indicate to play the A# and C# with the same finger (a horizontal style thumb?). I’m not sure that’s possible!
Does the notation have a name?
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Notation: horizontal arrow protruding from note in violin part?
I've found some notation I'm not familiar with in the violin part for the musical Tuck Everlasting. It's a horizontal arrow that starts at the stem of a note and points rightward along the staff:
I ...
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Placement of articulation on middle of three voices
I have a drum part that looks like this (instruments shown are cymbal, tambourine, tom, and kick):
Whether splitting the upper voice this way is even standard in the first place I'm not sure, but it ...
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