From: chris@keris.demon.co.uk (Chris Croughton)
 Subject: musical notation

As amended by P. Alan Thiesen (thiesen@cs.stanford.edu),
who has dropped his version in favour of mine with additions.

You start off in 4/4, C major, one quarter-note per written note,
implied start at middle C.  Then:

[3/4]       Time signature, if different
{F# C#}     Key signature, if different

(...)       Play ... at double speed (8th-notes, may be nested to get
            16th etc.)

x_y_z       'tied' notes

x-          Cut the duration of x in half
x=          Equivalent to x--
x+          Double the duration of x
x.          Increase the duration of x by 50% of the length of the
            previous character (x. is half as long again as x, x..
            adds 50% of the 50%, so is 1.75 times the length, etc.)

3(...)      Triplets (three notes per beat)

x y z       individual notes at the prevailing speed

x# xb x%    Sharp, flat and natural (C#, Cb, C% - the last needed to
            override a key signature)

,           rest, of the current duration (,- ,+ and ,. can be used as
            for other notes)

| x |       Measure (bar) lines, not needed

||          double barline
||: x :||   repeat

x_|_x       tie through a barline


x / y       go up from x to y (// means go up to the note, then up
            another octave)
x \ y       go down from x to y (\\ similarly)

Note that normally when a note changes you go to the nearest, so CD goes
up from C to D (as does C/D), whereas DC goes down from D to C (and
D\C).  To change this, use the / and \; e.g., C/A goes up from C to A,
whereas C A goes down, etc.  To change octaves, use multiple // and \\.

Also, using the / and \ notation can be used to make it clearer - C/F
obviously means C up to F, without having to wonder whether up or down
is 'closer'.  C//D means 'up an octave + a whole note to D' (C/D just
means go up from C to D, a whole note).

When '-' and '=' are used multiple times, the number of horizontal line
segments equals the number of times the duration of the note is cut in
half.  This corresponds to the number of tails on a note in sheet music.
For example:

  C-      eighth note
  C=      sixteenth note
  C-=     thirty-second note
  C==     sixty-fourth note

Note that you can do with '+', '-', and '=' exactly what you can do with
'(...)' and x_y_z (except that ties through a bar line are sometimes
needed when '-' and '+' are used).  It is generally a good idea to use
one style or the other consistently within a song.

Note also that parentheses around the entire melody indicates that
the default duration is one eighth note per written note.


An example - God Save The Monarch (non-gender-specific version!):

[3/4] {}  C   C    D | B_(B C)  D       |
          God save our gracious monarch,

          E   E    F | E_(E D)  C       |
          God save our gracious monarch,

          D   C    B | C_C_C   |
          God save our monarch

          /G   G  G | G_(G F) E |
          Send it vic-tor- i- ous

          F  F  F | F_(F E) D |
          Hoopy and glor-i- ous

          E    (F_E D_C) | E_(E F)  G |
          Long to   rain   o  - ver us

          (A_F) E    D | C_C_C |
          God   save our monarch

Note the tied notes:  "C_(C D)" is a dotted quarter note on C followed by
an eighth note on D, which can also be written "C_(C) (D)" or "C. D-".
"C_C_C" is a dotted half note, which can also be written "C+.".
"(F_E D_C)" is two pairs of tied eighth notes, etc.


Another example:

; Ballad of Transport #18
; by Leslie Fish
; copyright (c) 1980

[6/8] {Bb}

(
          Dm                         Am
D-  D-  | D. / A- A     A    G   F | E     D    E   \  A+   A    |
We were   thir-ty eight crew men on  Trans-port Eight-een,  the

        Am7                       Dm          C
        A_/G   G   G    F   E  | F    D   F  E+      D-   E- |
        hour   was late and the  talk was ob-scene,  When the

        F                 C               F              C
        F    C   F        G  \ C / G    | A      B   C   G+  C-_B- |
        raid-ers streaked down and their  bright las-ers cut Some-

        F                         Am            Dm
        A.   A- A   A     G  F  | G     F    E  D    ,  E     |
        twen-ty-odd holes in her  steel-plat-ed gut.    Now

        F                                        C
        F-  F- F  G    F    C   F     | A- B. C  G+    C-  B- |
        Pit-y  us poor sail-ors where - ev-er we roam, for there's

        Am                                    D
        A. A-   A  A   G    F    | G- F. E    D+       :||
        No guar-an-tee that we'll  ev-er come home.
)


This message has used the US system of naming notes.  Here is a
translation into the nomenclature used in the UK:

US          Beats   UK

Whole note  4       Semi-breve (8 is a Breve)
Half        2       Minim
Quarter     1       Crotchet
Eighth      1/2     Quaver
Sixteenth   1/4     Semi-quaver