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The process of interpreting musical notation is often referred to as reading music. Distinct methods of notation have been invented throughout history by various cultures. Much information about ancient music notation is fragmentary. Even in the same time frames, different styles of music and different cultures use different music notation methods.
In music, letter notation is a system of representing a set of pitches, for example, the notes of a scale, by letters. For the complete Western diatonic scale , for example, these would be the letters A-G, possibly with a trailing symbol to indicate a half-step raise ( sharp , ♯ ) or a half-step lowering ( flat , ♭ ).
The word neume entered the English language in the Middle English forms newme, nevme, neme in the 15th century, from the Middle French neume, in turn from either medieval Latin pneuma or neuma, the former either from ancient Greek πνεῦμα pneuma ('breath') or νεῦμα neuma ("sign"), [4] [5] or else directly from Greek as a corruption or an adaptation of the former.
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 ...
The octave below tenor C is called the "great" octave. Notes in it and are written as upper case letters. The next lower octave is named "contra". Notes in it include a prime symbol below the note's letter. Names of subsequent lower octaves are preceded with "sub". Notes in each include an additional prime symbol below the note's letter.
Sheet music can be issued as individual pieces or works (for example, a popular song or a Beethoven sonata), in collections (for example works by one or several composers), as pieces performed by a given artist, etc. When the separate instrumental and vocal parts of a musical work are printed together, the resulting sheet music is called a score.
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Shape notes proved popular in America, and quickly a wide variety of hymnbooks were prepared making use of them. The shapes were eventually extirpated in the northeastern U.S. by a so-called "better music" movement, headed by Lowell Mason. [16] But in the South, the shapes became well entrenched, and multiplied into a variety of traditions.