Musical notation

Music notation is a system of writing for music. The term sheet music is used for written music to distinguish from audio recordings. In sheet music for ensembles, a score shows music for all players together, while parts contain only the music played by an individual musician. A score can be constructed (laboriously) from a complete set of parts and vice versa.

Other notation systems

Figured bass

Figured bass notation originated in baroque basso continuo parts. It is also used extensively in

Related Topics:
Baroque - Basso continuo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

accordion notation, and for jazz. For continuo and jazz parts, it implies improvisation by the performer; for accordion, it is

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

used to notate the bass button to be used.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shape note

The shape note system is found in some church hymnals, sheet music, and song books, especially in the American south. Instead of the customary elliptical note head, note heads of various shapes are used to show the position of the note on the major scale. Sacred Harp is one of the most popular tune books using shape notes.

Related Topics:
American south - Sacred Harp

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Popular music

Fake books (and the Real Books) utilize standard notation, but with key signatures only on the beginning stave, for the melodic line with letter notation for chord names, chord symbols, written above. Improvisation is implied and this system is used for jazz and popular music. See Berklee College of Music.

Related Topics:
Fake book - Real Book - Chord symbol - Improvisation - Jazz - Popular music - Berklee College of Music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Letter notation

The notes of the 12-tone scale can be written by their letter names, possibly with a trailing sharp or flat symbol. This is most often used when speaking about music or writing about it. Letter notation is used to identify chords.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In both cases notes must be named for their diatonic functionality. Tonic Sol-fa is a type of notation using the initial letters of solfege.

Related Topics:
Diatonic functionality - Tonic Sol-fa

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Solfege

Solfege is a way of assigning syllables to names of the musical scale. In order, they are today: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, and Do (for the octave). Another common variations is: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These functional names of the musical notes were introduced by Guido of Arezzo (c.991 – after 1033) using the beginning syllables of the six lines of the Latin hymn Ut queant laxis. The original sequence was Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. "Ut" became later "Do". See also: solfege, sargam

Related Topics:
Guido of Arezzo - 991 - 1033 - Ut queant laxis - Solfege - Sargam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Numbered notation

The numbered musical notation system, better known as jianpu, meaning "simplified notation" in Chinese, is widely used among the Chinese people and probably some other Asian communities. Numbers 1 to 7 represent the seven notes of the diatonic major scale, and number 0 represents the musical rest. Dots above a note indicate octaves higher, and dots below indicate octaves lower. Underlines of a note or a rest shorten it, while dots and dashes after lengthen it. The system also makes use of many symbols from the standard notation, such as bar lines, time signatures, accidentals, tie and slur, and the expression markings.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cipher notation

In many cultures, including Chinese, Indonesian and Indian (sargam), the "sheet music" consists primarily of the numbers, letters or native characters representing notes in order. Those different systems are collectively know as cipher notations. The numbered notation is an example, so are letter notation and solfege if written in musical sequence.

Related Topics:
Chinese - Indonesian - Indian - Sargam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Braille music

Braille music is a complete, well developed, and internationally accepted musical notation system that has symbols and notational conventions quite independent of print music notation. It is linear in nature, similar to a printed language and different from the two-dimensional nature of standard printed music notation. To a degree Braille music resembles musical markup languages such as XML for Music or NIFF. See Braille music.

Related Topics:
NIFF - Braille music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Integer notation

In integer notation, or the integer model of pitch, all pitch classes and intervals between pitch classes are designated using the numbers 0 through 11, as in modulo 12. It is not used to notate music for performance, but is a common analytical and compositional tool when working with twelve tone, serial, or otherwise atonal music. Pitch classes can be notated in this way by assigning the number 0 to some note - C natural by convention - and assigning consecutive integers to consecutive semitones; so if 0 is C natural, 1 is C sharp, 2 is D natural and so on up to 11 which is B natural. The C above this is not 12, but 0 again (12-12=0). Thus the system represents complete octave equivalency. One advantage of this system is that it ignores the "spelling" of notes (B sharp, C natural and D double-flat are all 0) according to their diatonic functionality. Thus the system represents complete enharmonic equivalency.

Related Topics:
Integer - Pitch class - Interval - Modulo - Analytical - Compositional - Twelve tone - Serial - Atonal - Semitone - Octave - Equivalency - Diatonic functionality - Enharmonic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One drawback is that pitches, intervals, and simultaneities (chords) are all notated in the same manner. 4, for instance, indicates the arbitrarily decided fourth pitch (E, if C=0), or two pitches four semitones apart (such as 0 and 4 or 2 and 6). 024 indicates a simultaneity or succession (such as a melodic fragment) consisting of three notes, each a whole tone apart (for example, C, D and E, or G sharp, B flat and C) and the first and last a major third apart. This notation may be used to represent all traditional permutations of a tone row or set in a matrix.

Related Topics:
Simultaneities - Chord - Succession - Whole tone - Major third - Tone row - Matrix

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The integer model of pitch is one of the basis of atonal or set theoretical techniques in musical analysis, which now may include diatonic set theory and tonal music. It carries an added advantage in that one is able to prove many things, within limits, about pitch or pitches, and even tonal constructs. Like integers, pitches may be evenly spaced and ordered from lower to higher (lesser to greater for integers), while many things are not true of both integers and pitch.

Related Topics:
Set theoretical - Diatonic set theory - Tonal music

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tablature

Tablature was first used in the Renaissance for lute music. A staff is used, but instead of pitch values, the fret or frets to be fingered are written instead. Rhythm is written separately and durations are relative and indicated by horizontal space between notes. In later periods, lute and guitar music was written with standard notation. Tablature was again used in the late 20th century and early 21st century for popular guitar music and other fretted instruments, being easy to transcribe and share over the internet in ASCII format. Websites like OLGA.net have archives of text-based popular music tablature.

Related Topics:
Renaissance - Lute - Fret - 20th century - 21st century - Guitar - ASCII

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klavar notation

Klavar notation is a chromatic system of notation geared toward keyboard instruments, which inverts the usual "graph" of music: the pitches are indicated horizontally, with "staff" lines in twos and threes like the keyboard. and the time goes from top to bottom. A considerable body of repertoire has been transcribed to Klavar notation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graphic notation

The term 'graphic notation' refers to the contemporary use of non-traditional symbols and text to convey information about the performance of a piece of music. It is used for experimental music, which in many cases is difficult to transcribe in standard notation. Practitioners include Christian Wolff, Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Cornelius Cardew, and Roger Reynolds. See Notations, edited by John Cage and Alison Knowles, ISBN 0685148645.

Related Topics:
Experimental music - Christian Wolff - Earle Brown - John Cage - Morton Feldman - Krzysztof Penderecki - Cornelius Cardew - Roger Reynolds

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Parsons code

Parsons code is used to encode music so that it can be easily searched. This style is designed to be used by individuals without any musical background.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Systems not based on the standard 12-tone scale

Other systems exist for non twelve tone equal temperament and non-Western music, such as the Indian svar lippi, along with other alternatives such as Ailler-Brennink. Some cultures use their own cipher notations for those music. In ancient Byzantium and Russia sacred music was notated with special 'hooks and banners' (see znamennoe singing).Sometimes the pitches of music written in just intonation are notated with the frequency ratios, while Ben Johnston has devised a system for representing just intonation with traditional western notation and the addition of accidentals which indicate the cents a pitch is to be lowered or raised.

Related Topics:
Equal temperament - Svar lippi - Ailler-Brennink - Byzantium - Russia - Znamennoe singing - Ben Johnston - Accidental - Cent

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alternative Music Notations that Use Chromatic Staves

Over the past three centuries hundreds of music notation systems have been proposed as alternatives to standard western music notation. A large number of these notations seek to improve upon standard notation (SN) by using a "chromatic staff" in which each of the 12 pitch classes has its own unique place on the staff. These notations do not require the use of sharps, flats, natural signs, key signatures, or different clefs. They also represent interval relationships more consistently and accurately than standard notation. The Music Notation Modernization Association has a website with information on (and links to) many of these new notations (NNs). http://www.mnma.org

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~