Explore Notation & Symbols with clear music dictionary guides to clefs, notes, rests, accidentals, repeats, and score markings.
A natural harmonic is a bell-like, high-pitched tone produced on string instruments by lightly touching the string at a specific nodal point without pressing it onto the fingerboard, then bowing or plucking. It is typically notated with a small circle above the note, indicating the desired touch point, and is widely used across classical and contemporary repertoire for its ethereal timbre and pitch clarity.
A comprehensive look at how the visual distinction between open (hollow) and filled (solid) note heads has developed from medieval mensural notation to modern notation, influencing rhythm representation across centuries of Western music.
Mordents and turns are two common musical ornaments that are often confused. A mordent involves a rapid alternation between a main note and the note immediately below (lower mordent) or above (upper mordent), starting on the main note. A turn, on the other hand, is a four-note ornament that revolves around the main note, typically moving from the upper neighbor to the main note, to the lower neighbor, and back to the main note. Understanding their notation and performance is key to distinguishing them.
Notating the didgeridoo in standard sheet music is a challenging yet achievable task that requires a blend of traditional Western notation, graphic symbols, and performance instructions. This comprehensive guide explores the methods, conventions, and practical solutions composers use to capture the drone, rhythms, and extended techniques of this ancient Aboriginal instrument.
The baritone clef is a C clef placed on the third line of the staff, indicating that middle C lies on that line. Historically used for baritone vocal parts and certain instruments like the trombone and bassoon, it is now largely obsolete, replaced by the bass clef in modern practice. Understanding its notation and historical context is essential for interpreting scores from earlier musical periods.
Composers switch clefs within the grand staff to avoid excessive ledger lines, clarify musical intent, and facilitate performance in extreme registers. Interpreting these changes requires recognizing the new clef’s function and adjusting the mental map of pitch, ensuring accuracy and musical expression.
Guitar tablature traditionally focuses on pitch and fingering, but rhythm can be indicated through a variety of symbols—including stems, flags, dots, ties, and rhythmic notation placed above the tab staff. Understanding these symbols is essential for accurately interpreting tablature, especially in modern educational and professional contexts.
Graphic and digital dynamic markings represent a paradigm shift in music notation, replacing traditional Italian terms and symbols with visual curves, automation lanes, and graphical envelopes. They are essential tools in film scoring and electronic music, enabling precise control over volume, timbre, and spatial placement. This entry explores their notation, performance, history, and impact.
The C clef family comprises five historical movable clefs that indicate the position of middle C on the staff: soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone. These clefs were widely used in vocal and instrumental music from the 16th to the 19th centuries to minimize ledger lines. Today, only the alto and tenor clefs remain in common practice, primarily for viola, trombone, cello, and bassoon.
Tenuto in jazz lead sheets instructs the performer to sustain a note for its full value, often with a slight emphasis. Its interpretation varies by context—swing, Latin, or ballad—and demands attention to articulation, dynamics, and rhythmic feel. This article explores notation, performance practice, historical evolution, and common misconceptions to help jazz musicians apply tenuto effectively.