western Musical notation—Page 3

Description of Western Notation

—play the Jean Redpath version of the song again—

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About Auld lang syne Notation—General

• Modern Western notation uses a five-line staff on a page of music, one line under another, to provide a field on which to represent music that is to be played or read. Pitch is indicated by placement of notes on the staff and duration is shown with different note values and additional symbols such as dots and ties.
• Notation on a staff is read from left to right and top to bottom.
• A staff of written music normally begins with a clef, which indicates the particular range of pitches encompassed by the staff. Notes representing a pitch outside of the scope of the standard five line staff are represented using ledger lines, which display a single note with additional lines and spaces.
• Unless otherwise indicated, the key signature follows clef on the staff. It indicates the key of a piece by specifying certain notes to be flat or sharp throughout the piece.
• A time signature is next, following the key signature.
• Measures (spaces between vertical bars) divide the piece into regular groupings of beats, and the time signatures specify these groupings.
• If needed, text directions to musicians, called markings, are placed above or below the staff wherever they are needed. Markings are usually derived from standard Western notation musical nomenclature. They specify such items as tempo, dynamics, and other musical characteristics the composer wants to achieve.

About Auld lang syne Notation—Details

• This sheet music is arranged for piano. It contains three rows of three staves each. Top stave contains the vocal or melody line. Center stave contains chords to be played with the right hand. Third stave contains chords to be played with the left hand.
• Top and center staves in each row each contain a treble clef at the left. Bottom staves in each row contains a bass clef at the left.
• The note symbol (resembles the letter "b") denotes a flat symbol. This music is written in the key of B-flat. It follows the clef symbol on each stave of each row.
• Kinds of notes (whole, half, quarter, etc.) are indicated by note shapes.
• the 4/8 symbol that follows the flat symbol denotes meter (beats per measure) and what kind of note receives one beat.
• No textual directions, otherwise known as markings, appear on this page.
• If music is vocal, lyrics are usually written below the notes on the staff where they are to be sung. Breathing directions (markings) are sometimes added where breaths are to be taken. In this case, there are no breathing directions; additional lyrics are supplied at the bottom of the page.
• There are no tempo markings (speed at which the music should be played) on this score. If present, tempo markings would most likely appear early, probably on the first stave in the first row.