Writing About Music

Repeat endings are complex shapes that can add a lot of clutter to your notation. Here are a few tips to make them behave.

Here’s a basic first and second ending, right out of the box from Finale. It starts off pretty good.

Certain details of the shape will vary between publishers. The numeral fonts might be different, for example. You might see some of the vertical lines extend all the way down to the bar line. The brackets might be shorter or longer, higher or lower. Some publishers will extend a hook coming down from the right corner of the second ending, so that the brackets look identical. I prefer the way shown, though, so that you can see your escape route.

The default is pretty close to what you generally see among music publishers. One change I’d make, though, is to add a little separation between the vertical lines between the two shapes. Out of the box, they are touching each other:

A little space gives more of sense of separation, like each ending is its own place:

The numerals should be the same distance from the top and the left edge. Sometimes, this gets out of whack, during the course of editing, particularly if things are being adjusted to accommodate notes and chord symbols.

In such cases, move the whole bracket up. Keep chord symbols inside of brackets, not above them. The general rule is to keep more intimate notation elements closer to the notes than the more distantly related ones. Chord symbols are more intimately connected to notes than brackets are, so keep them closer. To make room here, I moved the center lines a teeny tiny bit to the left.

If you have multiple staves, there’s no need to display the ending brackets on every staff of the score (though of course, every part needs them), and doing so adds a lot of clutter.

See how much cleaner the score looks with the brackets only on the top line? And their presence is noticed just fine, like this.

At first glance, the density of a notation page immediately impresses a reader about how difficult the music will be to play. Lots of ink close together is intimidating. Neatly spread out and easy-to-read notation seems more accessible. This relationship, though, is often actually at odds with the reality of the music’s difficulty. Simple music might be presented in ways that make it seem more difficult than it really is.

Which example strikes you as easier to read?

Example 1. Do This

Example 2. Don’t Do This!

At first glance, I would bet that example 1 looks easier to you. You might notice that example 2 is actually the same notes, but at double the rhythmic duration. The other differences are due to layout choices.

Here are ten tips for making your notation easier to read.

1. Omit redundant and unnecessary notation. Most of the time, you only need elements such as repeat ending brackets, measure numbers, and style/tempo indications set one time, above the top staff of a multi-instrument score. Default placement in some software is often on every staff, but this makes the page cluttered. Hide whatever isn’t necessary. Above, note that I moved the instrument names to the page header, from the default, which is in the left margin. Sure, at the left makes sense for large-ensemble scores, but when it is obvious who is playing what, you can get away with putting instrument names in the header.

2. Make sure that no notation elements touch each other. When two notation elements collide, both become illegible. It’s better not to have them there at all. Everything needs white space surrounding it. Keep a bit of space between lyric verses—half the font height, or so. Raise your repeat endings to fit chord symbols. Make sure that measure numbers aren’t touching slurs, chord symbols, clefs, and such. Similarly, make sure that there is no confusion with similar symbols such as numerals on fingerings, measure numbers, and tuplets.

3. Consider your rhythmic subdivisions and your time signature. If you are using lots of 16th notes or 32nd notes and no whole notes, you might be able to make the score more legible by doubling all the durations and then doubling the tempo. This reduces the amount of beaming, which can make the notation much friendlier. Sometimes, it really makes more sense to use 12/8 instead of 4/4 with a lot of triplets. Even 3/4 might be a better option than either of these, in some cases.

4. Reduce the general notation size. This proportionally makes the staves, notes, expressions, and so on all a bit smaller, while retaining the system margins, and thus increases white space surrounding all notation elements. In Finale, one way to do this is via Page Layout > Page Size.

5. Adjust spacing between staves and systems. This is especially important when you have elements such as lyrics, chord symbols, and repeat endings. Look for dead space on the page, and expand into it. Ideally, you should have a distance of about two staves between staves, sometimes more. Sometimes, you need to take space from between the systems and give it to the staves, or vice versa.

6. Adjust the number of measures per system. If there are lyrics and sixteenth notes, you might even have just two bars per line. Reducing this from the default can help a lot.

7. Choose clean and simple fonts. The Jazz font family and others that imitate handwritten notation are ultimately more cluttered than simpler, more classic fonts, such as Maestro. Save the handwriting ones for doing notation designs on coffee mugs and T-shirts, where the goal is to be cute rather than legible.

8. Omit corners. Angles catch the eye and thus increase clutter. You can often remove them, such as by removing the left-hand hook from a first ending bracket, or omitting boxes around measure numbers.

9. Align objects neatly. Indenting the top system margin, as in example 2, unnecessarily adds to the complexity of the page; it introduces an angle by having that system uneven with the others. Confirm that text elements are aligned neatly, logically positioned at margins or some other anchor, rather than floating freely in space, such as the composer name in example 2. Keep measure numbers at the same height. If they are slightly off alignment, or unnecessarily encroaching into another notation element’s rightful space, it is like introducing additional angles onto the page.

10. After you’ve done the preceding steps, you can fine tune with some of the notation spacing tools, such as the various utilities, the Measure tool’s beat adjustment boxes, and last resort, the Special Tools.

Generally, consider whether each notation element or design decision is really necessary, and then yank it or simplify it if it isn’t.

The goal of notation is always legibility for your reader. They will feel more comfortable with your scores if you try to make them as clear as possible, and ultimately, this can lead to better performances of your music.

Set chord symbols inside repeat-ending brackets, not above them:

A good “rule of thumb” is to set notation elements most specific to a note closest to it, and then work going farther and farther outside the note as the elements get more general. So:

• Articulations (accents, stacattos) are note-specific, so they would go inside a slur, which is a phrase-specific marking, and thus more general than notes.

• Phrase markings (slurs) go closer than chord symbols. Chord symbols control harmonic regions, which can be larger than phrases.

• Chord symbols go inside repeat ending brackets, as the brackets control larger song sections.

• The music’s title goes way at the top of the page, farthest away from notes, as it refers to the whole piece.

Sometimes, life gets in the way of living up to these noble ideals. But we do our best.

(Photo of Jonathan Feist and Aaron Larget-Caplan by Christine Peterson)

Friday May 1 at 7:30, two of my compositions will be performed by guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan at the New School, in Cambridge. We’ve been fortunate to get some press on this, and I thought I’d share it with you.

Boston Globe Interview (with audio): Waking Up to Charms of Bedtime Songs

Harvard Post Interview: Jonathan Feist, Composer/Teacher, Writes Lullaby

Here’s a link to more details about the concert, at Aaron’s Web site, The New Lullaby Project.

Please forgive this lapse into shameless self promotion.

This game, taken from my online course Music Notation with Finale, will help you develop the “muscle memory” for the Simple Entry shortcut keys, on the numeric keypad.

Left and Right Arrow move the conductor.

Up Arrow fires his baton.

To load his baton, you need to type the correct code for the notes. To simplify, on a numeric keypad:

3 is for a sixteenth note
4 is for an eighth note
5 is for a quarter note
6 is for a half note
. is for a dot

And like that. Take my course to learn more!

I wrote the music, “Invasion,” specifically for this, and the audio is a Final export file, tweaked a teeny bit with Digital Performer.

Thanks to Chris Lyons for his programming, and to Berkleemusic for letting me post it here.

Guitarists might read three different types of notation. Each has its strengths.

1. Traditional notation. Many teachers consider it essential for guitarists to read traditional notation. In part, the reason is for better communication with other musicians. Strings are generally indicated as circled numerals, with 6 being the low E string and 1 being the high E string. Numerals that are not circled are plucking fingers, with 1 being the index finger, 2 the middle finger, 3 the ring finger, and 4 the pinkie. You sometimes see T for the thumb. There are also many types of articulations possible, but I’ll leave these for another post. Usually, you only see fingerings in pedagogical materials, unless a specific string or finger color is desired. Set strings above the staff to the left of the notes. Set fingerings near the note heads, either to the left or centered against the note. Make sure fingerings are in a different font than measure numbers, to avoid confusion.

2. Tablature. Tablature is an ancient notation system that dates to the Renaissance, and variations exist for lute, bass guitar, banjo, and other similar instruments. On guitar tab, there are six lines, each corresponding to a guitar string, with the high line being the high E string, and the low line being the low E string—the same orientation as if the guitarist was looking at his or her guitar while playing it, tilting it to see the front. Numerals indicate frets, with 0 indicating an open string. It’s a help to non-guitarists to know that each fret of a guitar is a half step, getting higher as the vibrating part of the string gets smaller. So, a 3 on the fifth string (A string) would be the note C, which is three half steps up from A. Tab doesn’t usually have rhythms, which is a shock to musicians new to tab, and it sent my old high-school band director into conniptions. But if you know the music by ear, it is a handy way to figure out how to play music. Tab is considered redundant with fingering numbers on traditional notation.

If the strings are tuned to notes besides the standard EADGBE, those notes will be indicated along the left. For example, here is our excerpt with the strings tuned to DADGAD.

There are variations of tablature, including some that have rhythm stems coming out of the numbers, some that dispense with the lines and just have numbers, and others. The version shown is generally preferred for pedagogical materials.

Many teachers have a bias against tab, and for this reason, publishers such as Berklee Press will accompany tab with traditional notation. But particularly beginning guitarists love it, and it serves as a useful entry tool into playing the instrument.

3. Fretboard diagrams. Fretboard diagrams indicate chord shapes and voicings; on guitar, unlike piano, the same chord can be played in various incarnations, using various strings. These diagrams are like tablature rotated 90 degrees, or looking at your guitar’s face with the head pointed upward. Horizontal lines indicate frets, solid dots indicate which fret is pressed to make the note, and open dots above the string indicate open strings. The leftmost line indicates the low E string, the rightmost line indicates the high E string. A numeral followed by “fr.” (e.g., 3fr.) to the right indicates what fret the shape begins on. An x above a string means that the string is muted so that it doesn’t sound. Numbers under the strings indicate what fingers should hold each fret, and are relatively rare. Like a chord symbol or key signature, a fretboard diagram stays in affect until the next one appears. Like tablature, it doesn’t imply rhythm.

Here’s a version with a different voicing. The above diagram was at the first fret, so no fret numeral was indicated, and the top line was thick. Below, we’re using a different C chord voicing (different than the other notation!), starting on the 3rd fret. The slur means that one finger is holding down multiple strings (called a “bar” or “barre” chord fingering). The numerals at the bottom aren’t included here, which is really more common.

One more tip for non-guitarists. Guitar-specific notation and pedagogy is generally oriented towards right-handed guitarists, but some left-handed guitarists will hold their guitar so that their right hand works the fingerboard as their left hand plucks. For that reason, some will speak of a “strumming” or “plucking” hand vs. a “fingerboard” or “fretboard” hand, rather than “right” or “left.”

By the way, a “fretboard” is a “fingerboard” with marked frets. Orchestral strings (e.g., violin) and fretless basses have fingerboards, not fretboards, as they don’t have marked frets. Guitarists particularly might use the words fretboard or fingerboard interchangeably. More specifically, a position is a general hand location located near a fret, but the fingers might stretch beyond it to grab a note outside of it.

If you’re not a guitarist, just use traditional notation. While computer software can instantly generate tab and fretboard diagrams, the default notation choices often don’t make sense to real guitarists. Only attempt the more specialized notation if you really know what you’re doing or are closely supervised!

Notation can consist of many kinds of information simultaneously. Besides the usual pitch and rhythm, you might have dynamics, tempo markings, chord symbols, lyrics, repeats, and others.

By making these look deliberately thought out, your notation will have a more polished and professional appearance. A way to think about this is as multiple simultaneous narratives: a narrative or dynamics, of chord symbols, etc. Within a given narrative, the individual elements do well relate to each other spacially.

Take the example of dynamics. Below, the different elements are set haphazardly, which results is an amateurish look. Note the varying heights of the mp and the F, and how the shape and placement of the crescendo hairpin doesn’t relate to the other elements.

In this cleaned up version, the baseline of the dynamics is the same. The hairpin has the same amount of space between the mp and the F, and “the alligator’s mouth” of the crescendo wedge opens just wide enough to swallow the bird (without extra room there to let it escape).

When there is a clear narrative of similar elements, the reader will have an easier, more intuitive time reading your notation.

Lead sheet notation is commonly used in contemporary music. Whereas traditional notation shows every note played by specific instruments, lead sheets generally show only a single-line melody, chord symbols, and sometimes lyrics, like this, and the whole band shares the same lead sheet:

The chord symbol indicates the chord root, quality, and any additional notes. I’ll talk about them in more detail in another blog post.

Any musician can use a lead sheet to develop their part—sax, keyboard, drums, or whatever. And this is a great difference between (most) classical music and (for lack of a better word) contemporary music: with a lead sheet, every artist is encouraged to create their own interpretation and arrangement, and every performer will create their own part to add to the arrangement, whereas in the classical world, this job was mostly undertaken by the composer, who also acted as an arranger. While fully notated arrangements are still sometimes circulated in contemporary groove-based music, the ability to interpret a lead sheet is a component of musical literacy in many genres.

The roles of different instruments varies in a groove, and so different instrumentalists use lead sheets differently. The actual melody will only be performed verbatim by a melodic instrument or singer. But a bass player, for example, has a different job, in a groove. Bass parts need to outline the harmony, so the bassist will look at the chord symbol rather than the melody and generally play the chord root on beat 1 of every measure, and otherwise create a bass line that supports to the chord.

On the other hand, a keyboard player might create a part using the chords shown, as the accompaniment. If the band doesn’t have a bass player, the keyboard will likely play the bass part. But if the band has a bass player (or tuba player, or other low-end instrument responsible for the bass role), the keyboard might focus more on chords, so as not to muddy up the bottom.

A drummer would mostly ignore the chord symbols, though possibly notice the song form that they outline and be aware of where fills might be needed to signal a new section. A melodic instrument who is not playing the melody might create short melodic background fills based on the chord symbol and key signature, and looking for “openings” in the melody, where to fill in the groove.

So, the way the above lead sheet might be interpreted by the band just suggested might look like this, for the first four bars.

But a different group, say a trio with banjo, tuba, and singer, might instead interpret the very same lead sheet like this:

Chord symbols show the harmonic regions, and they stay in affect until the chord “changes” to a new chord (hence the term “changes,” for chord progressions, if you want to be a hep cat).

Beyond chord symbols, instrumentalists look at the key signature to see what notes and which ones are to be avoided. The relationships between chords, keys, and melodies is a study known as “chord scale theory,” and we continue to publish books mulling over the infinite possibilities of this vast topic. But to simplify, in the above example, the key signature is G, so for the chord D7, someone trying to choose notes to play there would consider both. The bass (or tuba) would be sure to play the note D prominently, and a melodic instrument would likely try to include the C (7th of D7), to give the chord its unique characteristic quality.

So, lead sheet notation is a different paradigm than classical notation, where every note is spelled out. With a lead sheet, different artists can create entirely different sounding renditions of the same “song.” Particularly in jazz, these unique interpretations are essential to the art.

Two similar “roadmap” symbols that are often confused are DC and DS.

DC, which stands for “da capo,” means “go to the very beginning and play it again.” Think, C stands for cap, which you wear on your head. “Take it from the top.”

DS, which sands for “dal segno,” means “go to the funny looking ‘segno’ symbol (sign), and play from there.” It is always paired with the aforementioned funny looking segno symbol. Think, S stands for silly sign.

DSs are most common when there is an introduction that you don’t want to repeat.

Either can be paired with a further direction after you repeat, such as “al Fine” (play until the Fine sign, and then stop) or “al Coda” (play until the coda, or follow the “to coda” direction).

In this example of a DC al Fine, we do this:

1. Play measures 1 to 8.
2. Play measures 1 to 4, and then stop.

In this example of a DS al Coda, we do this:

1. Play measures 1 to 12.
2. Play measures 5 to 8.
3. Play measures 13 and 14, and then stop.

Some of the “rules” of music notation are really more appropriately considered “ideals, if you can manage it.” One of these is the desire to set four bars per system.

Often, this is great idea. So much music is based on phrases of four bars, and if you can keep a phrase intact, it is easier to read. Here’s an example of where this works out nicely.

But what if there was a busy bee-like accompaniment, say sixteenth note runs? Fitting four bars per system here would be pretty hard to read, even if we reduced the notation size to make it fit.

Tempting would be to set just two bars per line. This would preserve some sub-phrases and give the sixteenth notes room. However, it would also make the score a lot choppier to read, not only because of the system breaks, but also the additional page breaks that would be required. Figuring three systems per page, we’d need five pages, which is very obnoxious on a music stand or piano desk.

In this case, the best compromise would be three bars per line for the first two systems. Overall, this would be the most readable solution, and the whole piece would fit on three pages—relatively managable. Though the phrases don’t correspond to the systems, the notes are all clear, and this needs to be the primary consideration, in an imperfect world.

I might vary the number of bars per system, to make page breaks easier, and to generally cause logical groupings, where appropriate. The important thing is to let go of the sense that “the rule says four bars per line,” and to choose a measure layout that provides for the most readable score.