Characteristics of music notation (3) |
Braces and groups of staves [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] We have seen that staves playing together
are connected by a vertical line on the left border: This set of staves played simultaneously is called a system. It is also common to connect the bar lines
belonging to the same instrument group, such as for example
the woodwinds, the brasses or the strings of an orchestra.
Here are for example some instruments of an orchestra. The
bar lines are connected by instrument families: The groups of staves are delimited by a
bracket including all the instruments of the same family. In
this way, instruments are easier to locate, especially when
the orchestra score has twenty-five or thirty instruments as
it is sometimes the case.
Measure numbering and rehearsal marks [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] To easily locate an area of the score,
measures of a piece of music are usually numbered. Most of
the time the number is placed above the measure, close to the
left bar line. Here is an example: A system of rehearsal marks is sometimes
used to locate the main areas of a score, such as for example
the chorus, the verse, the beginning of a movement
Letters are often used as rehearsal marks. Here is an
example: This helps to easily locate an area of the
score in a rehearsal. The conductor can say "Let's
resume again at point B
" and all performers can
locate where to start in the score.
Special staves [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist] We already learned that percussion can be
written on staves having more or less than 5 lines. It is also
frequent to see staves where lines are more distant, such as for
example: where each line corresponds to a different
percussion instrument. For guitar notation, you will also meet
tablatures. It is a staff having 6 spaced lines. Each line
represents one of the guitar strings. The notes are written in
the form of numbers indicating the guitar fret, while also
representing the rhythmic value: These special staves are only used for certain
specific instruments. It is interesting to know that they exist,
because the evolution of music notation must progress together
with the evolution of composers and instruments. In contemporary
music, it is rather current to create new representation systems
adapted to the needs of that music. This kind of music exploits
new possibilities of sound expression which do not always find
their equivalent in conventional music notation. Music notation
as exposed in this course is thus not a never changing system. It
evolves slowly, progressively with the needs of music notation.