written music
Notes on paper
Written music is musical notation—the system of symbols on a page that represents pitch, rhythm, and other elements of a composition.
It allows music to be preserved, shared, and performed by musicians who never heard the original: She sight-read the written music perfectly.
Distinguished from music learned by ear or improvised.
- mensural notationSystem indicating rhythmic values
- accidentalOccurring by chance
- clefStaff pitch indicator
- treble clefSymbol establishing high pitches
- bass clefLow-pitch staff symbol
barline · tablature · rest · half rest · whole note · key signature · notehead · staff · quaver · slur · time signature · sharp · chord · opus · sight reading · coda · arrangement · piano score
written musicimprovisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
extemporization · jamming · ad-lib · free jazz · jazz improvisation
written musicoral tradition
Culture passed by speech
playing by ear · traditional music · folk music · rote learning
music, written, compositions, transcription, sheet music, manuscripts, musingly, transcriptions, musical score