standardmusic

notationpractice

Copyright © 1966, 1993by

Music Publishers’ Associationof the United States, Inc.

Music Publishers’ AssociationMusic Educators National Conference

Unlike the printed word for whichmany “style books” exist, music notationpractices have traditionally been trans-mitted by word of mouth and trial anderror. To bring order into a situationcomplicated by the introduction of manyfast new processes for note-setting, thisstudy was prepared by the ProductionCommittee of the Music Publishers’Association. It was evaluated by the edi-tors of the majority of the members andrepresents o reasonable consensus,although it must be said that there wasnot unanimous agreement on somedetails.

The Committee commissioned Max-well Weaner, the autographer and graph-ic arts expert, to prepare the basic docu-ment. The late Walter Boelke, one of theleading music engravers, added hisimmense knowledge to the working draft.Most of these rules are not necessarilyrigid, and clarity to the performer’s eyeis always a consideration. The presentrevised edition was prepared by ArnoldBroido and Daniel Dorff. The musicexamples were provided by MusicEngraving Service.

(a) Title centered on page.(b) Dedication centered over title.(c) Composer on the right side of thepage, flush with the right margin of themusic. The arranger or editor under thecomposer.(d) Text source on the left of the page,flush with the left margin of the music.Translator under text source.(e) Tempo marks flush left over thetime signature. Copyright notice at thebottom on the first page of the compo-sition.

3

PLACEMENT OF GENERAL MATTER

NOTES AND SYSTEMS

(a) All single notes with single stemsstarting on the middle line of the staffand higher are stemmed down. Adownstem is always attached to the leftside of the note head.

All single notes with single stemsstarting in the second space of the staffand lower are stemmed up. An upstemis always attached to the right side ofthe note head.

(b) Single stems are exactly one octavein length. When there is more than onenote head on a stem, as in chord, thestem length is calculated from the noteclosest to the end of the stem.

4

BEAMS (LIGATURES)

5

6

PLACEMENT OF NOTE HEADS ANDACCIDENTALS

7

not

not

not

not

8

9

PLACEMENT OF DYNAMICS

MODIFYING SYMBOLS

10

11

12

TIME SPACING

13

14

PLACEMENT OF INSTRUCTION WORDS

15

BAR LINES

16

GRACE NOTES

17

METRIC GROUPS

18

D.C., D.S., AND ENDINGS

19

or

20

MISCELLANEOUS