Questions tagged [sheet-music]
Musical notation in written or printed form. Questions asking people to find or transcribe (make) sheet music for a particular song are off-topic.
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Help with interpreting notation in Chopin's nocturne op. 9 no. 2
What are the following notations in Chopin's nocturne op. 9 no. 2:
Tilde sign with accidentals:
tr~~~
Striked note's flag:
Small notes. (I know what mean single small notes right before a normal ...
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1answer
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What's the difference between a 7 chord and a +7 chord?
I've come across music that has a "G+7(♭9)". At first I thought this was just an odd way of writing G7(♭9), however there IS a G7(♭9) chord in the song as well. I feel that since they're named ...
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slur options in sheet music
In sheet music, composers use a slur to put together consecutive notes. There seem to be two kinds of slurs: one with a solid line and the other broken. My question is: when does a composer use a ...
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When does bar-line go down?
I have a piano theory test real soon and it will require writing modern vocal score in open score.
When I see examples of open score, sometimes the bar lines go through the 4 parts, and sometimes ...
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What is the foundational book of Czerny finger exercises for piano?
I've recently started teaching myself piano (via Bartok's Mikrokosmos) and feel it would be helpful to supplement the pieces with some standard exercises. Everyone I speak with suggests Czerny, but ...
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Are there any “good practices for sheet music writing” guidelines that are more or less universally accepted?
I'm an amateur musician who sometimes likes to write sheet music for arrangements and for pieces that I figure out by ear. I do this mainly because I can go long periods without playing and when I ...
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Why are these notes separated on the stave?
So I'm just learning this Coldplay piece and it has notes which are not joined but on the same stave. I'm wondering what the purpose of this is or rather what information it's trying to convey? ...
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762 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.)
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How do I play this harmonic? (Guitar)
I've recently started learning to read sheet music for guitar. Something from a version of Capricho Arabe confused me.
The tuning is in drop D.
The first bar is a harmonic on the 7th fret with notes ...
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How do you write a continuous arpeggio in sheet music?
How would you write an arpeggio that never stops the notes that are played . . . they just keep on ringing. E.g, in the example below, when the E is played in measure 1 beat 1, it continues ringing ...
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Why is contemporary music for the recorder so weird?
Im a recorder enthusiast and I love playing early music. There is so much music from that time that fits for the recorder, but it is still limited. So I would like to go for more modern / contemporary ...
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Where does a “cresc. ” begin (end)?
I'm curious about the "cresc." sign .
which one is getting louder , no.1 or no.2?
and when does this cresc. end ? Does it end until the next sign come out ?
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How does one know if a score is notated well?
I'm a programmer and in programming a code can be bad or good. It is easy to see by the way the structure is built and how blocks of code are arranged, what functions and procedures are used, and how ...
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What is this “┌3┐” notation called? What is the count? [duplicate]
I am trying to help my wife work out the naming of this notation. Its from the Doctor Who theme and is accompanied after some triplets for the trumpets
Measure is 4 beats, what is the count?
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How do you not get lost between measures?
How do you not get lost between measures? For example, if I start on measure 28 and the the next measure down is measure 40, how do I not play early or late?
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What do different value notes on the same line mean?
I'm learning music theory on my own and thus, I encounter some difficulties in understanding them.This is one of those difficulties.What do those notes (circled in red) mean as each of them has ...
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What is the meaning of these lines connecting notes?
I am trying to use a software called guitar pro to copy the sheet music and play the tracks. I am currently stuck in this track as I am not able to understand what does the dot and the little symbol ...
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Beamed note with unfilled heads — What is this? [duplicate]
In the 1905 incidental score to Peter Pan by John Crook (1852–1922), there’s a notation I’m unfamiliar with: double-beamed notes with unfilled heads. (See the first four bars of the score below.)
In ...
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Duration of staccato
Is there such a thing as a duration of a staccato note? I mean if you play a whole note staccato and an eighth note staccato, should the duration be the same? What if somebody needs an extra short ...
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Squiggly line in Alto Sax score
I just got some new sheet music for alto sax and wonder how to play this notation:
For example in these contexts:
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What does the ° symbol mean , as in F#°? [duplicate]
The internet search engine seems not to recognize it, so I cannot search for it there! I had assumed it was "augmented" but am now very unsure.
Thanks
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Meaning of “actual notes” above staff
I've been studying The Unanswered Question By Charles Ives and found a peculiarity in the trumpet part. When the trumpet comes in, it has the phrase "actual notes" written above as seen below.
I'm ...
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Meaning of ₵ symbol on guitar sheet music
I have the following sheet music excerpt for Spanish guitar:
What is the meaning of the ₵2 and C3 on the 2nd and 4th measures?
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How to indicate a tempo change during a repetition?
I have a quick question: What's the notation used to indicate that a certain part of a piece is supposed to be played at a higher/lower tempo but only during a repetition. For instance, if I have a D....
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Clarinetist learning baroque recorder
I've seen other questions, such as "Resources for learning to play the recorder" and have done a decent amount of Google searches. Basically, I used to play clarinet rather well, but had to quit due ...
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What does it mean when there are two 1s with a curve over a note?
I have never seen this kind of symbol before and google has failed me.
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Is piano and recorder sheet music the same?
My daughter (7 years old) can play recorder and is learning to play the piano.
For the recorder, she sometimes has the letters written under the notes. She doesn't think she can read all of the notes ...
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2answers
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Fermata tie confusion
Can someone help me understand what the circled notation is instructing in this simple piece by Markham Lee? Are the notes tied? I'm confused as how they can be tied and staccato at the same time.
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How would I play this piano bassline?
The two notes (A) in the bass clef seem to be played at the same time. However, this is music for piano, so I can't seem to figure this one out.
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1answer
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Why aren't there barlines in the piano solo parts in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5?
In the beginning of this piece you'll notice that the piano solo part has no barlines. Why? And why does he use 16th notes? How can a "16th" note have any meaning without barlines (not to ...
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Do accidentals apply to other staffs of the same type?
In this excerpt from Bach's BWV 772, does the B flat accidental on the lower staff also apply to the upper staff(second to last beat)?
I know that accidentally usually do not apply to different staffs,...
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Question about reading music sheets
I started learning the piano a year ago but unfortunately back then I didn't have an excellent teacher; instead of working on reading notes which I'm really bad at, we focused on my playing skills I ...
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Bwv 639 Bach/Busoni note length and symbols
I am currently spending some time with this piece of music and I am a bit confused as to how long I should hold some of the notes and what some of the symbols mean.
In blue: Should i repeat/hold the ...
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Notating 6 (or more) triplets with a single beam?
Does the bar labeled "One six note phrase" conform to notation standards?
All the examples of triplets that I've seen before have always had the beams break every three notes, similar to the "Manual ...
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1answer
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Musical “ellipsis mark” (name & usage of this symbol)
I've been seeing this mark for years, usually in historical (e.g. Baroque) manuscripts, and it's meaning is clear to me. It's a sort of W-shaped squiggle with a tail that (usually) comes at the end of ...
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2answers
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Bracket symbol added to G clef
What does the symbol mean that is added to the clef in the Tenor voice in Poulenc’s Mass in G Major? It has a similar shape to an old C clef, but it is added to the existing G clef.
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Why are page turners only for pianists?
This might be a silly question, but why is it that pianists (sometimes) get a page turner, whereas violinists, cellists etc. turn their pages by themselves? A violinist too can have both hands busy, ...
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Lilypond spacing between lyrics and next system
I’m trying to improve the legibility of my scores by increasing the basic-distance between systems. There needs to be some whitespace between the last verse and the next system below.
Here's what I’...
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When was the first recorded usage of a musical score?
Music is quite universal in the sense that you can hand a musician almost anywhere in the world a piece of sheet music and they will be able to understand it. I've been wondering this for a while now; ...
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How to play a piano score with three staves?
I've decided to learn La Colombe by Olivier Messiaen, but the score looks like this, and I can't make any sense of it. What might be the purpose of this notation? Thank you very much :)
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If the time signature changes, does the key signature change as well?
Consider the following snippet from Where Is My Mind (arranged by Maxence Cyrin). Notice how after the first few bars there's a time signature change. Does the key signature also automatically change ...
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The Harmony of Clashing Tempos
The jazz guitarist John McLaughlin once published a book of scores for a number songs that he composed for his Mahavishnu Orchestra. There are some very unusual theoretical conundrums that come up ...
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Markings and symbols in Paganini violin compositions
In a lot of Paganini's violin compositions, there are bolded but sometimes not bolded capital letters like A, B, and C. I look at the note that it is above and it doesn't click for me. In Nel cor piu ...
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How can I rehearse and perform with PDF scores on screen instead of paper scores?
As a chorus and opera singer, I have gotten tired of lugging thick opera scores everywhere. Most of the music I sing is public-domain, and the scores are freely available in in PDF form. I am working ...
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665 views
Over/under pitch note
I know there is a quarter tone notation, but is there a symbol for music score that will simply say over/under pitch? I think quarter tone notation might be too strict/rigid in music arrangement that ...
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1answer
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Upside-down down bow
On my Cello Salut D'amour by Elgar score, it has upside-down down bow symbols on it. Does this just mean up bow? I have this on other pieces too:
Salut d'amour, Op.12 (Elgar, Edward)
Mainz: Schott, ...
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Vocal sheet music with right-to-left languages
How would sheet music be written for vocals in a right-to-left language (Hebrew or Arabic)? It seems there would be a clash between the left-to-right convention of sheet music and the right-to-left of ...
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Playing overlapping notes
I am reading a piece of music (Aurora's Theme transcribed by Tigero) for the piano and a part of the music sheet has me completely stumped:
It appears that the B and E (surrounding the middle C) ...
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1answer
763 views
What is this cross staff tied/slurred note supposed to be?
So I am learning Messiaen's Transports de Joie from L'Ascension suite. Things are fine until there is an ambiguous note on the top of page 16 (we are in F♯ Major and both hands are in the treble clef):...
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Name for pedal markings
Is there any name for the inverted V (∧) in pedal markings? Or are they just known as part of pedal markings?
