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Notation read from a score or a chord chart — what a performer is being told to do.
All 184symbols recorded in this context, A–Z.
A horizontal wedge above a note, instructing extra attack.
A small note with a stroke through its stem, crushed against the beat.
A boxed fragment to be repeated freely.
A bracketed figure whose centre points at the line meaning middle C, movable up and down the staff.
A small note taking time from the note it leans on.
A vertical wavy line before a chord, spreading its notes.
A vertical line across the staff, dividing the music into bars.
A slash with two dots meaning repeat the previous bar.
A backwards-C figure with two dots, fixing the fourth line of the staff as the F below middle C.
A dot for a limb behind the body.
Five horizontal lines mapped onto the body.
A vertical division marking one instant.
A vertical dash for a limb in front.
A horizontal dash for a limb at stave level.
A mark above the stave for travel.
A line joining successive positions.
A five-line stave read as a body seen from behind.
A bracket and a V telling a string player which way to bow.
A cell raising, lowering or restoring a pitch.
Pitch and duration in one cell.
A cell giving both a note's pitch and its duration.
A cell fixing which octave a note belongs to.
A cell marking a silence of stated length.
A comma above the staff, marking where to breathe or lift.
A marking for a sweep with a wire brush.
A sound that carries further than a shout.
Signs of interval, not of pitch.
Two slanting strokes calling for a break in the sound.
A clef that moves.
A grid of lines with dots, showing where fingers go on a fretted instrument.
Letters and figures naming a harmony without writing it out.
An X inside a circle for an open cymbal sound.
A small 8 under a clef, shifting it by an octave.
Two descending notes joined in one neume.
A circle crossed by a vertical and horizontal line, marking a closing section.
An instruction to play with the wood of the bow.
A large letter C at the start of a staff, standing for four-four time.
A long horizontal wedge opening to the right, meaning gradually louder.
A marking for a stick laid across the drum head.
Small notes showing another player's part for orientation.
Seven hand positions, one for each scale degree.
An instruction to return to the beginning.
An instruction to return to the sign.
A lozenge notehead for a harmonic or a bell.
A long horizontal wedge closing to the right, meaning gradually quieter.
An instruction splitting one section into parts.
A dot after a notehead, adding half the note's own length again.
Two vertical lines marking a structural division.
A small saltire-like cross, raising a note by two semitones.
A staff read as a kit.
Slashes across a stem indicating rapid repetition.
A filled oval with a stem and one flag, or beamed to its neighbours.
A slanted stroke with one flag-like hook, half a beat of silence.
Marks for chanting, above the line.
A dot beneath a shallow arc, holding a note or rest beyond its length.
Numbers under a bass line specifying the harmony above it.
A word marking where the piece ends after a repeat.
A stem with a rounded lobe at its foot, lowering a note by a semitone.
Stem slashes with a word instruction for a rolled tongue.
A slanted lower-case f below the staff, instructing loud playing.
A straight or wavy line between two notes, sliding continuously between them.
Chinese characters standing for pitches, read in columns.
Drawn shapes standing for sound without fixed values.
A scale mapped onto the palm.
Numbers on six lines giving fret positions rather than pitches.
A dynamic mark at the end of a hairpin fixing its destination.
A hollow oval with a stem, lasting half as long as a whole note.
A small filled rectangle sitting on a staff line, two beats of silence.
A small circle or diamond head calling for a harmonic.
Codified hand positions used in Indian classical dance.
A grid of boxes with pitch names placed inside.
The numerals 1 to 7 standing for scale degrees.
A notehead for the sound of a key alone.
A group of sharps or flats after the clef, altering those notes for the whole piece.
Music drawn as a keyboard.
A mark meaning 'again'.
A drumhead divided into four.
Bold coloured lines painted over a white face.
A vertical three-column staff read from the bottom up.
The outer columns recording arm movement.
A rectangle with its near end pointed.
A column recording torso movement.
The middle line dividing left from right.
A curved line showing a circling path.
A curved bracket joining two symbols.
A rectangle both pointed and slanted.
The length of a symbol gives its duration.
A rectangle with its far end pointed.
The columns for a limb not bearing weight.
An outer column recording head movement.
A dotted fill meaning a high level.
A mark instructing that a position be kept.
A rectangle slanted to the left.
A solid fill meaning a low level.
A horizontally striped fill meaning middle level.
A plain rectangle meaning no direction.
A rectangle slanted to the right.
A slanted mark showing a turn.
A mark grading the size of a movement.
Three vertical lines read from the bottom up.
A straight line showing travel across the floor.
The columns immediately beside the centre line.
Letters on lines for the fingers.
A lyre or harp carved on a monument, marking a musician.
A written instruction naming the beater to use.
A vertical wedge asking for a strongly marked note.
A square note of the mensural system.
Joined noteheads read as a group.
A square note with a descending stem.
The longest note shape of the mensural system.
Renaissance note shapes whose values depend on context.
A note value, an equals sign and a number, fixing the tempo exactly.
A short zigzag above a note, instructing a single rapid alternation.
A thick horizontal bar with a number above it.
Stacked noteheads for several pitches at once.
An instruction to fit or remove a mute.
Numbers naming chords by scale degree rather than by letter.
An open bracket-like figure of two stems and two bars, cancelling a sharp or flat.
The unresolved question of how neumes were timed.
Early note shapes showing melodic direction rather than exact pitch.
A carved wooden mask slightly smaller than the face.
A dashed bracket with 8 or 15, shifting the written pitch.
A name for a rank of pipes.
A small extra staff offering an alternative passage.
8va above a dashed line, moving a passage an octave from where it is written.
Two upright bars that suspend playback.
Full-face patterned colour identifying a role.
Two thick vertical bars marking a staff of unpitched instruments.
Crosses, diamonds and circles standing for different drums.
A slanted lower-case p below the staff, instructing quiet playing.
An instruction to pluck rather than bow a string.
Two stacked notes read from the bottom up.
A line asking for a continuous slide rather than stepped notes.
A dot beneath a line, asking for separated but sustained notes.
Horizontal space standing for elapsed time.
A single square note in plainchant notation.
A filled oval with a stem, the note most often equal to one beat.
A zigzag figure occupying the middle of the staff, one beat of silence.
A modified sharp or flat raising or lowering by a quarter tone.
A boxed letter or number for finding a place in the music.
A double bar line with two dots, marking a section to be played again.
A marking for a stroke hitting head and rim together.
Chords numbered by degree.
Digits written above the syllables.
Seven syllables naming the degrees of a scale.
A slanted S crossed by a diagonal with two dots, marking a return point.
Noteheads shaped as triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds.
Two slanted horizontal bars crossed by two vertical strokes, raising a note by a semitone.
A filled oval with two flags or two beams, a quarter of a beat.
A diagonal stroke standing for a beat to be improvised.
A curved line joining notes of different pitch, played smoothly.
A P in a circle.
A dot above or below a notehead, shortening the note without changing it.
Five horizontal lines on which notes are placed to show pitch.
A small cross above a note for a hand-stopped sound.
An instruction to bow close to the bridge.
An instruction to bow over the fingerboard.
The abbreviation Ped. below the staff, instructing the pedal down.
A notated equivalence turning even eighths into a long-short pair.
An arrow showing a string pushed to raise its pitch.
A figure on a line giving a fret rather than a pitch.
A slur between fret numbers, sounding without a pick.
A slur between descending fret numbers.
A diagonal line between fret numbers.
A drum that follows the tones of speech.
A short horizontal bar above a note, instructing its full length.
A curved line joining two notes of the same pitch into one sound.
Two stacked numerals at the start of a piece, stating the metre.
Pitch letters showing how drums are to be tuned.
A filled band spanning every pitch in a range.
Letters for degrees, not for pitches.
An ornate spiral-and-loop figure at the left of a staff, fixing the second line as the note G.
Slashes across a note stem, instructing rapid repetition.
Slashes across a stem asking for rapid repetition.
The letters tr above a note, instructing rapid alternation with its neighbour.
A wavy line saying how long a trill continues.
A bracket and number squeezing extra notes into a beat.
A horizontal S on its side, circling the written note.
A breath mark in recitation.
A square note with a descending stem.
A numbered bracket giving different endings to a repeat.
A hollow oval with no stem, the longest note value in ordinary use.
A small filled rectangle hanging below a staff line, a bar of silence.
Hooked and banner-like marks above Church Slavonic text.