Articulations, dynamics, and text

Articulations

Use parentheses. Square brackets have other jobs, including chords and changes of musical context.

Type	Mark
Staccato	`(.)`
Staccatissimo	`(..)`
Accent	`(>)`
Tenuto	`(-)`
Marcato	`(^)`
Portato	`(.-)`
Fermata	`(!)`
Breath	`(,)`
Caesura	`(//)`; `(caesura)` is also accepted

Notation for the Articulations, dynamics, and text example — Edit this exampleDownload source

Several articulations may share a group, such as (>.). An articulation normally belongs to one note. Its side follows the engraving rules for the staff and voices; moving it before or after the pitch is not a general manual placement command for articulations.

Breaths and caesuras mark a point in the phrase without adding a written rest duration. Write the breath after its note: 4C5 (,) means breathe after C. 4C5(,) and (,)4C5 have the same attachment; formatting writes the separated trailing form. The mark always prints above the staff, in the following gap; at a line ending it stays before the closing barline. Its spacing follows the line automatically.

The caesura uses the literal railroad-track spelling (//). Formatting writes it after the note, as 4C5 (//). The word (caesura) remains accepted. Put the tracks in their own group; write 4C5(>)(//) to add an accent as well. Outside a mark group, // still starts an ordinary source comment.

Note shapes, arpeggios, and release ties

Notehead shapes belong to the note’s core. Arpeggios and release ties attach to the note or chord using the marks described below.

Notehead shapes

Write a head between an explicit duration and its pitch. It changes the appearance of this note without changing pitch, time or playback. Each head belongs to one note or chord; the next unmarked note uses its normal head.

Shape	Write
Cross	`4xE` or `qxE`
Diamond	`4E` or `qE`
Slash	`4/E` or `q/E`
Normal	`4oE` or `qoE`

The same music with letter durations:

o means the normal head for the written value: a quarter is filled; a half or whole is hollow. It does not force an open quarter head. State the duration on every shaped note, even when the value repeats. A rest has no notehead.

A prefix before a chord applies to every pitch in that chord:

Use numeric 16o[chord] and 32o[chord] for normal-headed chords at those values. Existing so[chord] and sso[chord] keep their solfège readings. A slash after a duration is a head; /8E before a duration remains a grace note. The star after a pitch remains its accidental-display request.

Older named forms remain accepted immediately before or after their note: (notehead-cross), (notehead-diamond), (notehead-slash) and (notehead-normal). An upward triangle currently uses (notehead-triangle); its new compact symbol has not been chosen. Do not request two different heads on the same note.

Half and whole notes retain their written values and use the corresponding version of the shape. A selected font that lacks the requested duration-specific head reports the omission rather than substituting another shape. Notehead shapes also survive MusicXML export and import.

Arpeggios

An arpeggio mark belongs to a chord. Choose a wavy stroke without an arrow, an upward arrow, or a downward arrow:

Appearance	Current spelling
Wavy stroke, no arrow	`(arpeggio-unmarked)`
Upward arrow	`(arpeggio-up)`
Downward arrow	`(arpeggio-down)`

Put the mark after the chord:

Or before the chord, with the same result:

The stroke spans the chord's pitches. These marks currently change the notation only: playback still attacks the chord's notes together. MusicXML export and import preserve the arpeggio and its arrow direction.

Laissez-vibrer release ties

(tie-lv) means laissez vibrer: let the sound ring. It draws a release curve from a note, or from each pitch of a chord, without requiring a destination. It can therefore appear on the final note of a piece.

Write it after the note or chord:

Or before it, with the same release curves:

This is different from a tie between two written notes. It adds no written time and currently does not extend playback. MusicXML preserves it as a let-ring tie, rather than an unfinished ordinary tie.

Paired (beam-begin) and (beam-end) join their notes through the native beam model, including across beats and bars. An unmatched or undrawable pair warns by name. ; starts a new beam group before the note it touches, cutting every beam level before it; a note already starting its group stays unchanged. For example, 8C5 ;D E F 2r leaves C flagged and beams D–E–F together. A paired tremolo keeps its own ribbons and warns if a cut cannot be drawn there. (stem-none), (cue-size), and (tie-open) warn with notation.not-drawn while their drawing remains unimplemented; the warning does not refuse the score or its export. For the full beam syntax and its alternative forms, read beaming.

Repeat an articulation

(sim) continues the articulation in force. (non) ends that run. Rests receive no articulation and do not by themselves end a run. An explicit new articulation group interrupts it.

Dynamics and expression

Common dynamics include (ppp), (pp), (p), (mp), (mf), (f), (ff), (fff), and (sfz). A dynamic stays in force until another changes it. Expression words include (dolce) and (cresc). Instrument techniques such as (cup-mute), (pizz), (flutter-tongue) and (non-vibrato) also carry playback meaning for capable hosts; see Expressive playback. Use a quoted string for your own text, such as ("sul pont.").

(cresc) / (cresc.) and (crescendo) print italic words. The falling forms are (dim) / (dim.), (dimin) / (dimin.), (diminuendo), (decresc) / (decresc.) and (decrescendo). They never turn into a drawn hairpin. Use < ... < or > ... > when you want that line. Recognized loudness words can still shape playback; quoted ("cresc.") stays literal text and does not request a playback ramp.

To name the instrument a played passage borrows from, write (source "Bsn. 1")4C4 D E F. The label prints small and italic, in the same style as cue labels, while the notes remain full size. Use ((source "Bsn. 1")) for an editorial label. The quoted name is required. The addressed form, text tbn m1:0 above source "Bsn. 1", remains available when you prefer to label a passage without editing its music line.

For dynamics, expression, and text, before the node means above the staff; after the node means below. Touch the intended node to avoid ambiguous attachment. A detached floating mark binds left.

Source	Placement and attachment
`4C5(p) D E F`	Below C
`4C5 (p)D E F`	Above D
`4C5 (p) D E F`	Detached; binds left, below C

One parenthesized group prints as one line. Put the dynamic and description together when you want them together. ((p)) is an editorial dynamic, printed with an enclosure.

A word that qualifies a dynamic stands before it, however you wrote the group: (sub. f), (f sub.) and (subito f) all print sub. f / subito f, and (sempre p), (poco f), (molto f), (piu f), (meno f) print the word first for the same reason. A word that describes the sound — (f dolce), (p espressivo) — follows the dynamic. sub. is accepted as the abbreviation of subito and prints with its period — as do rit., rall., accel., cresc., dim., espr., sim. and pizz.: inside a mark group the period after one of these words belongs to the word, not to a staccato.

Who is playing — the player and divisi words

A part two players share is one staff and two people, so its page has to say which of them is playing. Four words say it, and they are marks like any other.

Source	Printed	Meaning
`(1.)` `(2.)` …	`1.` `2.`	only that player plays
`(a2)` `(a3)` …	`a2` `a3`	all of them, one line, in unison
`(div)`	`div.`	the players divide
`(unis)`	`unis.`	and back to one line

The number is the roster's, so a desk written horn-f 3,4 says (3.) and (4.). Each word holds until the next one, or until the end of the part.

div and unis are written without the dot the page prints: a bare . inside a mark group is the staccato. A player number keeps its dot, because the digits in front of it say the dot is not an articulation.

These are not quoted text. ("Tbn. 2") prints those characters and means nothing more; (2.) is a word the engraver understands, and the desk's own page uses it — see the desk's own page. Write one and the page prints it exactly where you put it; write nothing and the page works the word out for itself.

Ornaments and tremolo

(tr) marks a trill, (mord) a mordent, (turn) a turn, and (iturn) an inverted turn. For a trill extending over several notes, use a trill line.

(trem), (trem2), and (trem3) select stem tremolo marks. (z) marks a buzz roll. These are single-note marks; they do not spell an alternating two-note tremolo.

Printing an ornament does not guarantee a particular sampled performance. Check the sound you intend to deliver.