Musical symbols are marks and symbols in musical notation that indicate various aspects of how a piece of music is to be performed. There are symbols to communicate information about many musical elements, including pitch, duration, dynamics, or articulation of musical notes; tempo, metre, form (e.g., whether sections are repeated), and details about specific playing techniques (e.g., which fingers, keys, or pedals are to be used, whether a string instrument should be bowed or plucked, or whether the bow of a string instrument should move up or down).
See main article: Clef. A clef assigns one particular pitch to one particular line of the staff on which it is placed. This also effectively defines the pitch range or tessitura of the music on that staff. A clef is usually the leftmost symbol on a staff, although a different clef may appear elsewhere to indicate a change in register. Historically, clefs could be placed on any line on a staff (or even on a space), but modern notation almost exclusively uses treble, bass, alto, and tenor clef.
See main article: Note value. In American usage, musical note and rest values have names that indicate their length relative to a whole note. A half note is half the length of a whole note, a quarter note is one quarter the length, etc.
See main article: Accidental (music), Key signature and Circle of fifths.
Accidentals modify the pitch of the notes that follow them on the same staff position within a measure, unless cancelled by an additional accidental.
Key signatures indicate which notes are to be played as sharps or flats in the music that follows, showing up to seven sharps or flats. Notes that are shown as sharp or flat in a key signature will be played that way in every octave—e.g., a key signature with a B indicates that every B is played as a B. A key signature indicates the prevailing key of the music and eliminates the need to use accidentals for the notes that are always flat or sharp in that key. A key signature with no flats or sharps generally indicates the key of C major or A minor, but can also indicate that pitches will be notated with accidentals as required. The key signature examples shown here are as they would appear in treble clef.
Flat key signatures
Sharp key signatures
There is no universally accepted notation for microtonal music, with varying systems being used depending on the situation. A common notation for quarter tones involves writing the fraction ¼ next to an arrow pointing up or down. Below are other forms of notation:
A symbol with one vertical and three diagonal bars indicates a sharp with some form of alternate tuning.
In 19 equal temperament, where a whole tone is divided into three steps instead of two, music is typically notated in a way that flats and sharps are not usually enharmonic (thus a C represents a third of a step lower than D); this has the advantage of not requiring any nonstandard notation.
See main article: Time signature. Most music has a rhythmic pulse with a uniform number of beats—each segment of this pulse is shown as a measure. Time signatures indicate the number of beats in each measure (the top number) and also show what type of note represents a single beat (the bottom number). There may be any number of beats in a measure but the most common by far are multiples of 2 and/or 3 (i.e., 2, 3, 4, and 6). Likewise, any note length can be used to represent a beat, but a quarter note (indicated by a bottom number of "4") or eighth note (bottom number of "8") are by far the most common.
See main article: Dynamics (music). Dynamics are indicators of the relative intensity or volume of a musical line.
Rarely, even softer or louder dynamic levels are indicated by adding more s or s. While is called "pianississimo" and is called "fortississimo", these words (formed by adding an additional "iss") are not proper Italian.
Dynamics are relative, and the meaning of each level is at the discretion of the performer or the conductor. Laws to curb high noise levels in the workplace have changed the interpretation of very loud dynamics in some large orchestral works, as noise levels within the orchestra itself can easily exceed safe levels.[8]
Articulations specify the length, volume, and style of attack of individual notes. This category includes accents. Articulations can be combined with one another and may appear in conjunction with phrasing marks (above). Any of these markings may be placed either above or below a note.
Ornaments modify the pitch pattern of individual notes.
The guitar has a fingerpicking notation system derived from the names of the fingers in Spanish or Latin. They are written above, below, or beside the note to which they are attached. They read as follows:
| Symbol | Spanish | Italian | Latin | English | French | Portuguese | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | pulgar | pollice | pollex | thumb | pouce | polegar | |
| i | índice | indice | index | index | index | indicador | |
| m | medio | medio | media | middle | majeur ou médius | médio | |
| a | Spanish; Castilian: anular|italic=no | anulare | anularis | ring | annulaire | anular | |
| c, x, e, q | meñique | mignolo | minimus | little | auriculaire | mínimo |
Pedal marks appear in music for instruments with sustain pedals, such as the piano, vibraphone and chimes.
| Engage pedal Tells the player to put the sustain pedal down. | ||
| Release pedal Tells the player to let the sustain pedal up. | ||
| Variable pedal mark More accurately indicates the precise use of the sustain pedal. Initial depress and final release are indicated by the short vertical lines. The extended horizontal line tells the player to keep the sustain pedal depressed for all notes below which it appears. The inverted «V» (Λ) shape indicates the pedal is to be momentarily released, then depressed again. | ||
| U.C. | una corda or U.C. or 1 C. Tells the player to put the soft pedal down. | |
| T.C. | tre corde or tutte le corde or T.C. or 3 C. Tells the player to let the soft pedal up. |
| Left hand | Right hand | |
|---|---|---|
| English | l.h. | R.H. |
| left hand | right hand | |
| German | l.H. | r.H. |
| German: linke Hand | German: rechte Hand | |
| French | m.g. | m.d. |
| French: main gauche | French: main droite | |
| Italian | m.s. | m.d. |
| Italian: mano sinistra | Italian: mano destra | |
| Spanish | m.i. | m.d. |
| Spanish; Castilian: mano izquierda | Spanish; Castilian: mano derecha |
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Finger identifications: 1 = thumb 2 = index 3 = middle 4 = ring 5 = little |
Old (pre-1940) tutors published in the UK may use "English fingering". + for thumb, then 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring) and 4 (little).[12]
(With the exception of harp)
| 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 | Finger identifications: 0 = open string (no finger used) 1 = index 2 = middle 3 = ring 4 = little |
The thumb is also used by the cello and bass, usually denoted by ϙ (a circle with a line coming out the bottom), or, more rarely, a T.
Fingering numbers are similar to piano, except there is no 5 as the little finger is not used in playing the harp.
1 = thumb, 2 = index finger, 3 = middle finger, 4 = ring finger.
| 1, 2, 3, 4 | Mallet identifications: 1 = Far left mallet 2 = Inner-left mallet 3 = Inner-right mallet 4 = Far right mallet |
| Some systems reverse the numbers (e.g., 4 = Far-left mallet, 3 = Inner-left mallet, etc.) |
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Mallet identifications: 1 = Far-left mallet 2 = Middle-left mallet 3 = Inner-left mallet 4 = Inner-right mallet 5 = Middle-right mallet 6 = Far-right mallet |
Numbers for six-mallet percussion may be reversed as well.[13]
The organ has many different abbreviations for its keyboards in European languages.
| Great | Swell | Choir | Pedal | Solo | Orchestral | Antiphonal | Echo | Positiv | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Great | Swell | Choir | Pedal | Solo | Orchestral | Antiphonal | Echo | Positiv |
| Gt. or G | Sw. or S | C. or Ch. | Ped. or Pd. | So. | Orch. | Ant. | Echo. | Pos. | |
| German | Hauptwerk or Oberwerk | Schwellwerk or Brustwerk | Chor | Pedale | Solo | Orchester | Antiphonal | Widerhall | Positiv |
| Hw. or Ow. | Sw. or Bw. | Ch. | Ped. | Sol. | Orch. | Ant. | Echo. | Pos. | |
| French | Grand-Orgue | Recit | Grand-Chœur | Pédale | Solo | Bombarde | Antiphonaire | Écho | Positif |
| G.O. | R. | G.C. | Ped. or Péd. | Sol. | Bom. or B. | Ant. (rare) | Écho. | Pos. | |
| Dutch | Hoofdwerk | Zwelwerk | Koor | Pedaal | Solo | Bovenwerk | Antifonaal | Echo | Rugwerk |
| Hw. | Zw. | K. | Ped. | Sol. or Solo | Bw. (not to be confused with German Brustwerk) | Ant. | Echo | Rw. (not to be confused with French recit) |
Elaine Gould, Behind Bars – The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Faber Music (publisher), 2011.