Music Notation and Terminology Part 2

28. A _note_ is a character expressing relative duration, which when placed on a staff indicates that a certain tone is to be sounded for a certain relative length of time. The pitch of the tone to be sounded is shown by the position of the note on the staff, while the length of time it is to be prolonged is shown by the shape of the note. Thus _e.g._, a half-note on the second line of the treble staff indicates that a specific pitch (g') is to be played or sung for a period of time twice as long as would be indicated by a quarter-note in the same composition.

29. A _rest_ is a character which indicates a rhythmic silence of a certain relative length.

30. The _notes and rests in common use_ are as follows:

[symbol] Whole-note. An open note-head without stem.

[symbol] Half-note. An open note-head with stem.

[symbol] Quarter-note. A closed note-head with stem.

[symbol] Eighth-note. A closed note-head with stem and one hook.

[symbol] Sixteenth-note. A closed note-head with stem and two hooks.

[symbol] Thirty-second-note. A closed note-head with stem and three hooks.

[symbol] Whole-rest.

[symbol] Half-rest.

[symbol] Quarter-rest.

[symbol] Eighth-rest.

[symbol] Sixteenth-rest.

[symbol] Thirty-second-rest.

31. The _English names_ for these notes are:

Whole-note--semi-breve.

Half-note--minim.

Quarter-note--crotchet.

Eighth-note--quaver.

Sixteenth-note--semi-quaver.

Thirty-second-note--demi-semi-quaver.

The corresponding rests are referred to by the same system of nomenclature: _e.g._, _semi-breve rest_, etc.

32. _Sixty-fourth_ and _one-hundred-and-twenty-eighth-notes_ are occasionally found, but are not in common use. The _double-whole-note_ (_breve_), made [breve symbol] or [old breve symbol], is still used, especially in English music, which frequently employs the half-note as the beat-unit. Thus in four-half measure the breve would be necessary to indicate a tone having four beats.

33. The _whole-rest_ has a peculiarity of usage not common to any of the other duration symbols, viz., that it is often employed as a _measure-rest_, filling an entire measure of beats, no matter what the measure-signature may be. Thus, not only in four-quarter-measure, but in two-quarter, three-quarter, six-eighth, and other varieties, the whole-rest fills the entire measure, having a value sometimes greater, sometimes less than the corresponding whole-note. Because of this peculiarity of usage the whole-rest is termed _Takt-pausa_ (measure-rest) by the Germans.

34. A _bar_ is a vertical line across the staff, dividing it into measures. The word _bar_ is often used synonymously with _measure_ by orchestral conductors and others; thus, "begin at the fourteenth bar after J." This use of the word, although popular, is incorrect.

35. A _double-bar_ consists of two vertical lines across the staff, at least one of the two being a heavy line. The double bar marks the end of a division, movement, or entire composition.

CHAPTER IV

ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS, ETC.

36. A _double bar_ (or single heavy bar) with either two or four dots indicates that a section is to be repeated. If the repeat marks occur at only one point the entire preceding part is to be repeated, but if the marks occur twice (the first time at the right of the bar but the second time at the left), only the section thus enclosed by the marks is to be repeated.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

37. Sometimes a different cadence (or ending) is to be used for the repet.i.tion, and this is indicated as in Fig. 24.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 24.]

38. The Italian word _bis_ is occasionally used to indicate that a certain pa.s.sage or section is to be repeated. This use is becoming obsolete.

39. The words _da capo_ (_D.C._) mean literally "from the head," _i.e._, repeat from the beginning. The words _dal segno_ (_D.S._) indicate a repet.i.tion from the sign ([segno symbol] or [segno symbol]) instead of from the beginning.

In the case of both _D.C._ and _D.S._ the word _fine_ (meaning literally _the end_) is ordinarily used to designate the point at which the repeated section is to terminate. The fermata ([fermata symbol]) was formerly in common use for this same purpose, but is seldom so employed at present.

_D.C._ (_sin_[9]) _al fine_ means--repeat from the beginning to the word "fine."

[Footnote 9: The word _sin_ is a contraction of the Italian word _sino_, meaning "as far as" or "until"; in the term given above (Sec. 39) it is really superfluous as the word _al_ includes in itself both preposition and article, meaning "to the."]

_D.C. al_ [fermata symbol] means--repeat to the fermata (or hold).

_D.C. senza repetizione_, or _D.C. ma senza repetizione_, [Transcriber's Note: Corrected misspelling "repet.i.tione"] both mean--repeat from the beginning, but without observing other repeat marks during the repet.i.tion.

_D.C. e poi la coda_ means--repeat the first section only to the mark [coda symbol], then skip to the coda. (See p. 74, Sec. 157, for discussion of _coda_).

40. In certain cases where the repet.i.tion of characteristic figures can be indicated without causing confusion, it is the practice of composers (especially in orchestral music) to make use of certain _signs of repet.i.tion_. Some of the commonest of these abbreviations are shown in the following examples.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27.]

In Fig. 28 the repet.i.tion of an entire measure is called for.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28.]

41. The word _simile_ [Transcriber's Note: Corrected error "similie"]

(sometimes _segue_) indicates that a certain effect previously begun is to be continued, as _e.g._, staccato playing, pedalling, style of bowing in violin music, etc. The word _segue_ is also occasionally used to show that an accompaniment figure (especially in orchestral music) is to be continued.

42. _When some part is to rest for two or more measures_ several methods of notation are possible. A rest of two measures is usually indicated thus [Ill.u.s.tration]. Three measures thus [Ill.u.s.tration]. Four measures thus [Ill.u.s.tration]. Rests of more than four measures are usually indicated in one of the following ways: [Ill.u.s.tration]. Sometimes the number of measures is written directly on the staff, thus; [Ill.u.s.tration].

43. The letters G.P. (general pause, or grosse pause), the words _lunga pausa_, or simply the word _lunga_, are sometimes written over a rest to show that there is to be a prolonged pause or rest in all parts. Such expressions are found only in ensemble music, _i.e._, music in which several performers are engaged at the same time.

44. The _fermata_ or _hold_ [fermata symbol] over a note or chord indicates that the tone is to be prolonged, the duration of the prolongation depending upon the character of the music and the taste of the performer or conductor. It has already been noted that the hold over a bar was formerly used to designate the end of the composition, as the word _fine_ is employed at present, but this usage has practically disappeared and the hold over the bar now usually indicates a short rest between two sections of a composition.

45. The sign _8va......_ (an abbreviation of _all'ottava_, [Transcriber's Note: Corrected error "al ottava" in original.] literally at the octave) above the staff, indicates that all tones are to be sounded an octave higher than the notes would indicate. When found below the staff the same sign serves to indicate that the tones are to be sounded an octave lower. The term _8va ba.s.sa_ has also this latter signification.

46. Sometimes the word _loco_ (in place) is used to show that the part is no longer to be sounded an octave higher (or lower), but this is more often indicated by the termination of the dotted (or wavy) line.

47. The sign _Col 8_ (_coll'ottava_--with the octave) shows that the tones an octave higher or lower are to be sounded _with_ the tones indicated by the printed notes. [Transcriber's Note: Corrected error "col ottava" in original.]

48. For the sake of definiteness in referring to pitches, a particular name is applied to each octave, and all pitches in the octave are referred to by means of a uniform nomenclature. The following figure will make this system clear:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 29.]