# Sheet Music Help



## TaP (Jun 1, 2015)

So, I've gotten way more theory literate if I do say so myself... thanks to fellow musicians, and SS.

New question revolving sheet music because I've been trying this for a while.

1) How do I know where to mark my notes? I never go more than like 4 spaces or ledger lines down for writing, but sometimes (most times) I'm in Drop C, B, or Ab, or standard F# on 8s. To ME I can figure it out, since it's my writtens, but how the hell would anyone else get that without hearing it?

Same question goes for reading it and playing it back... I mean I can pretty much feel around each octave of that note until it sounds like the song I'm trying to play/read, but is that the only way to go about it?

2) Epic Fail - Bulb 





Basically I wanna know with the curved lines that are in between the barred 8th notes (first chord for example) I KNOW from the tab and song that you're just striking that A note right after that F#sus2 (correct if wrong), but for example where you're hitting G# and C# (the next chord after that Fmaj) why does it have 3 notes on the notation for one note on the G string, and one note on the D string? How do I interpret that?

ALSO I noticed that after that F#sus2, the sharps are not there, however the key signature is not shown next to the meter... am I to assume those notes remains sharp unless a change is shown in the notation?

3) Lastly (2)... writing music is pretty hard. Can't lie... I'm getting better, but I wanna do it right. So far it's rests and dotted notes that kinda have me scratching my head at times. And what are all the terms like "staccato" (only one I can remember) that I need to know? Any advice?


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 1, 2015)

TaP said:


> 1) How do I know where to mark my notes? I never go more than like 4 spaces or ledger lines down for writing, but sometimes (most times) I'm in Drop C, B, or Ab, or standard F# on 8s. To ME I can figure it out, since it's my writtens, but how the hell would anyone else get that without hearing it?



These are the locations of the written pitches of the open strings of a standard tuned guitar:






Seventh string low B for you at the end there. If you had an F#, it would be even lower. There might be a case for bass clef at that point. There are two ways of writing scordatura (the fancy Italian word for "something other than the normal tuning"): you can write everything as it sounds, i.e. the pitches on the page are the same pitches that we hear, or you can write it as it would be played if the normal tuning was used, i.e. the low D in drop D would be written as an E. I prefer to write it as it sounds, because seeing a third and hearing a fourth would screw with my head.



> Same question goes for reading it and playing it back... I mean I can pretty much feel around each octave of that note until it sounds like the song I'm trying to play/read, but is that the only way to go about it?


Grab some free scores from IMSLP, something you've never heard before in your life, and pick at the music, trying to figure out how to play the thing. You don't have to do an entire movement or anything, just some short and manageable phrases will do. If you see an E, play an E. If you see an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes, play an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes. The written language is very discrete: what you see is what you get.



> 2) Epic Fail - Bulb
> Basically I wanna know with the curved lines that are in between the barred 8th notes (first chord for example) I KNOW from the tab and song that you're just striking that A note right after that F#sus2 (correct if wrong),


Those lines are phrase markings (or slur markings, if you prefer) if they go from one note to another. They indicate that those notes should be played legato, probably as a hammer-on.



> but for example where you're hitting G# and C# (the next chord after that Fmaj) why does it have 3 notes on the notation for one note on the G string, and one note on the D string? How do I interpret that?


When those curved lines go to the same pitch, they are ties. This means that you do not attack those notes again, but you let them ring for the duration of the note that it is tied to. What you would do in this case is finger all of those notes (A B C# G#), start the figure by attacking the C# and G#, then add the B on the second part of the beat, and finally the A on the third part. The G# and C# will sound for the entire second half of that measure.



> ALSO I noticed that after that F#sus2, the sharps are not there, however the key signature is not shown next to the meter... am I to assume those notes remains sharp unless a change is shown in the notation?


Accidentals apply to the note that they are written next to, as well as all proceeding notes on that line or space. When you reach a new measure, the accidental is nullified. So that F#, C#, and G# apply for the entire measure. In the next measure, they go back to whatever the key signature says (natural, in this case).



> 3) Lastly (2)... writing music is pretty hard. Can't lie... I'm getting better, but I wanna do it right. So far it's rests and dotted notes that kinda have me scratching my head at times.


What are you struggling with? Notating them or playing them?

If your question is about where to put these things in the measure, always preserve the beat and visualize the middle of the measure.


The same rhythm, notated two different ways:






I put a dashed line through the middle of the measure on the first line. On the second line, it's impossible to tell where the middle of the measure is. When you're dealing with a meter other than 2 or 4, make sure that the beats are notated clearly.



> And what are all the terms like "staccato" (only one I can remember) that I need to know? Any advice?


Staccato - Play the note "short" (it still keeps its durational value, i.e. a quarter note is still a quarter note, but the sound does not sustain for the entire value).

Legato - Play notes in a smooth and connected manner.

Non-legato - Don't connect the notes.

Portato - Keep the notes sorta separate.

Tenuto - This one is different depending on the instrument. "Tenuto" comes from "Tenere," Latin for "to hold," as in "hold the note for the full duration." If you write it for a vocalist, then they put a little more stress on the note (or at least they're supposed to). If you write it for a violinist, then they're going to apply the same bow pressure throughout the duration of the note. I've had a pianist recommend I use a tenuto mark to indicate that a chord should not be rolled. Applied to a series of notes on piano, it would be the same effect as on the violin. It's a weirdly flexible articulation.

I recommend that you Google any new term you come up against. There are so many articulations and directions out there, this is hardly even scratching the surface.


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## Solodini (Jun 2, 2015)

Marcato is useful, too. Especially if you have clinical players to work with.


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## TaP (Jun 2, 2015)

Thanks a ton Noodle. You answered everything to a tee, much appreciated. And thanks for that bit on Marcato, Solodini. I wanted to know what that and those "f"s and other little markings are on music notation.


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 2, 2015)

"f" means "forte," which for our purposes means "loud." "p" means "piano," or "soft," or "quiet" if you prefer. ff is fortissimo, which means really loud, fff is fortississimo, which means really really loud, ffff means fortissississimo, which means really really REALLY loud, and so on. pp is pianissimo, which is really quiet, and ppp is pianississimo, and this trend continues on down to pppp and beyond. mf is "mezzo forte," or "medium loud," which is somewhere between p and f. mp, "mezzo piano," is also between p and f, but a little quieter than mf. These are all called "dynamics" and they run along a continuum:

... pppp ppp pp p mp mf f ff fff ffff ....

There are two expressions related to changing dynamics, called "crescendo" (abbreviated "cresc."), which is a gradual increase in volume, and "diminuendo" ("dim."; sometimes this is erroneously called "decrescendo" and abbreviated "decresc."), which is a gradual decrease in volume. These expressions are also equated to symbols that we colloquially call "hairpins."






In this passage, there is a mf dynamic, then a crescendo indicated by that wedge thing opening up (<) and then a diminuendo indicated by the wedge closing (>). The overall effect is a swell in volume, then return to the original volume.

It's a good idea to have a dynamic at the beginning and end of a crescendo or diminuendo, so the player knows where to start and where they should end up.






There is one more dynamic that you'll see in twentieth century music, "n", which means "niente," or "nothing," is either "as quiet as possible" (also expressed "p possible") or literally zero volume. In the case of the latter, it is usually attached to an expression, as in "diminuendo al niente" ("gradually decrease volume to nothing") or "dal niente" ("from nothing," which is sort of like saying "crescendo from nothing").

By the way, all of the dynamics in your OP are questionable. Normally, there is a bit of space between dynamics, and they're linked to a phrasic idea of some sort. In the second measure, going from mf (the last dynamic of the previous measure) to f to mp all within the first beat is a little unbelievable, and then going back to f and mp in the very next two notes is even less believable. This seems less like a representative use of dynamics and more like micromanaging the MIDI. It is better to use articulations and accents to convey musical changes that apply to a single note.






These are the most common articulations. The accent and marcato are the same, except marcato gets a little more emphasis. Staccato and staccatissimo are the same, except staccatissimo is even shorter than staccato. Some articulations can be combined, like in the second measure. I don't know any names for these, but I might say "staccato accent," "detached," and "tenuto accent". Bowed string players have a billion more articulations, like "louré" and "spiccato".

The only case where I would expect to see a bunch of dynamics written into a small space on a score would be in a total serial piece, such as Messiaen's "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités," wherein every note has its own dynamic level.


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