For some, it’s the solution to all their problems; for others, it’s a nightmare filled with scribbles and incomprehensible elements. But whether you love them or not, sheet music is a part of music and has allowed us to enjoy works by great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and others.
In this article, we’ll review each of the elements that make up musical scores. Some are words, others are symbols. We’ll review the definition of a score and the main types of scores you can find in the musical world.
Definition of a Score
A score is a document that contains elements of musical writing so we can perform exactly the music the composer intended. This representation includes a series of symbols and notations that indicate the notes to be played, their duration, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, and other instructions necessary for the performance of the musical work.
In a score, musical notes are arranged on staves, which are horizontal lines on which symbols are placed. Each note has a specific position that indicates its pitch (whether it is lower or higher) and its shape, which determines its duration. In addition to notes, a score can also include other elements such as:
- Time signature: Indicates the division of time in music.
- Clef: Determines the pitch of the notes on the staff (e.g., treble clef, alto clef, or bass clef).
- Tempo markings: These specify the speed at which the piece should be played.
- Dynamics: These indicate the intensity with which the notes should be played (for example, piano for soft or forte for loud).
- Articulations: These indicate how the notes should be played, such as legato (smooth and connected) or staccato (short and separate).
The score can be for a single instrument or voice (individual score) or multiple instruments and voices, as in the case of an orchestra or choir (full or conductor’s score). In the latter case, each line or system of the staff corresponds to a different instrument or group of instruments. We will delve into each of these elements throughout this article.
But if after reading all this, you still don’t understand what a score is and what it’s for, I’ll tell you a very clear example from life.
How to Understand What a Score Is in a Nutshell?
I always like to think of a score as a recipe, where we have different elements like staves, musical figures, time signatures, speed, and intensity indications—all of which together make the music sound exactly as the composer intended.
If we follow the recipe to the letter, we’ll have a final result very faithful to what its author expected, but if we forget an instrument, or change a few notes and figures here and there, we probably won’t get the same result.
The first manuscripts that sought to transmit music on paper have been known since the Middle Ages, but it was not until 1472 that the first printed score was known, some 20 years later when Gutenberg introduced the printing press and completely changed how written knowledge was transmitted.
But before continuing with the history of sheet music, which, as fascinating as it may be, we’d have to go back to the Middle Ages and finally to the present day, with the digital writing of scores. So, to make this article less time-consuming, let’s focus on what’s important: the elements we can find in modern sheet music.
What is a Score for?
Without a doubt, the first purpose of the score was the error-free transmission of music, since previously, music was transmitted as a story or tale was, orally, which did not always end up transmitting exactly the same story, and so with music.
This is what we call learning by ear today and seeking to imitate or replicate it. Memory is never going to be 100% reliable, which is why sheet music brought us the accuracy to music and the ability to play music today in the 21st century that was written in the 15th century or earlier.
Another advantage that sheet music offers over oral transmission of music is the ability to accelerate the learning of new music.
Imagine for a moment teaching someone a new song you composed by ear. You say, “First, play this, then this, then move on to another part that sounds like this, and now you repeat everything from the beginning. Even if the music is easy to follow, there’s a process of having to teach the music to the other person. With sheet music, that process is eliminated because if the musician is sufficiently trained in sight-reading, it’s like giving someone an instruction manual. Just follow the instructions and they’ll have the result ready.
The score serves to contribute to the development of the music, meaning that from the score the composer can create more complex melodies with more notes since the performer’s memory is no longer necessary to remember each one.
It also allows you to work from that score, adapt it, change it, improve it, and create new music, which is why it is a fundamental part of the development of music before the era of recorders or the internet.
The Different Elements that Make Up a Score
In the score, we’ll find elements that tell us how to perform the piece, other elements that only approximate the feeling the composer intended to convey, and elements that aren’t musical at all. Let’s review each of them:
Paramusical Elements
Several elements appear above the notes and staves that have nothing to do with music but that help us learn a little more about the piece we are performing.
These elements are the title, subtitle, arranger, composer, lyricist, and in the case of copyright, to whom it belongs.
Qualification
The title is simply the title of the work, which may be a colloquial title such as Little Night Serenade and may contain its classification among the works Op. 44 for example.
Caption
In the subtitle, if the work is part of a symphony, opera, concerto, or larger work, we can find out where it’s taken from. For example, Bach’s Aria, written for string quartet, is taken from Suite No. 3 for string chamber music.
Composer and/or Lyricist
The composer is the one who wrote the music, if we have lyrics then we can have a lyricist, who can be the same person as the composer or a different one.
Arranger
And if the work is adapted for other instruments or has indications that were not in the original score, the arranger appears.
None of these elements make the music itself, but knowing that it is a work from the 1600s or 1900s is a significant appreciation, and that it was written for piano but we are performing an arrangement for choir, gives our interpretation a deeper level of understanding of the music.
Elements of Musical Notation
The first thing we see in a score is the staves (the five lines where the musical notes are written) and the number of instruments in the score. This is very easy to identify because the instrument that should play the score is usually specified either in the title of the work or at the beginning of the staff.
If we find several instruments in the same score, we will have these same instruments in the same order as they appear on the first page throughout the following pages of the score, if it has more than one page.
In addition to the staff, we have time indications, such as “quarter note equals 80” which means that each quarter note in the entire score must be played at a speed of 80 beats per minute. This is not absolute, but it allows us to estimate the speed at which we should play the music.
In the same way as this figure indication and the “=” sign indicating speed, we can find a phrase at the beginning of the staff that refers to the same thing. It can be Largo, Grave, Allegro, Adagio, Moderato, Andante, etc., etc. All of these are speed indications that correlate with the figure = x, but it is also an approximation of the speed at which the composer intended the work to be performed.
Composers often add something else, such as allegro con spirito or adagio solemn, so that they not only consider the speed but also the intention or feeling that the composer sought to convey.
Then we have a large number of elements that appear within the staff, they are the measures, the musical clefs, the alterations or key signature, the time signature, the musical notes, the musical figures, the dynamics, the alterations, and in case it is for a guitar or piano we can find the American cipher above some notes to indicate which chord we should play at that moment or even lyrics in case the score has a sung voice.
These are undoubtedly just a few of the elements we have in a score when it comes to musical notation but don’t worry, here we’ll review each of them in detail.
Types of scores
We can find several types of scores, everything will always depend on the quantity or type of instrument in it.
Let’s start with the orchestral scores.
General or Director’s Score
The score that includes all the scores for the orchestra’s instruments does not have a specific name, other than the conductor’s score or general score.
There’s no such thing as a grand score or a full score, or other names you’ll probably find online. We don’t use those terms in orchestras. A full score can be any score, as long as you don’t have a missing sheet of paper.
Parts
The rest of the scores do have a name, that is, each score for each instrument in the orchestra is called a particella, using that word in Italian we refer to the parts of each particular instrument (1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos, double basses, flutes, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, etc., etc.)
The instrument doesn’t see the rest of the instruments and doesn’t even know how many there are, even what notes or when they play. That’s why the conductor’s score allows him to know what all the instruments are doing at the same time and to be able to guide them so they can play together, something that makes it possible for orchestras to sound extraordinary.
Leaving the orchestra we get into scores for instruments and voices.
Piano sheet music
Piano music, unlike other instruments, has two staves with two distinct clefs: the treble clef and the bass clef. This is due to the piano’s wide range, which cannot be covered by just one staff and one clef. This allows a person to play the piano with both hands, dividing (not always) one hand for each clef.
If you think about it, you might find other instruments where both hands play notes separately, such as the accordion, the bandoneon, the harp, and some percussion instruments like the marimba.
That’s right, all of these instruments also read scores with two staves and two different clefs, just like piano scores.
Vocal scores
Vocal scores are those intended for solo singers or choirs where each voice is performed by several performers.
They are scores where we can find a melodic line on a single musical staff and key and below each of the notes are the lyrics of what each singer should sing.
The most common voices in a vocal score are:
- Soprano: who reads from a treble clef staff, is usually a female voice
- Mezzo-soprano or Contralto: a little lower than the soprano, the mezzo usually also reads in the treble clef
- Tenor: A male voice with the highest register, sharing some notes with the mezzo-soprano. In his case, he reads the bass clef on the fourth line or the treble clef an octave lower.
- Baritone: An intermediate between the tenor and the bass, also a male voice that reads the bass clef on its staff.
- Bass: The lowest voice of the singers also with a bass clef staff.
Each of these voices will have its distinct stave and clef. It’s common to find soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass voices, as this covers the entire range from the extremes to the middle voices.
Score with Basso continuo
Sheet music with basso continuo is called when we have a staff with a bass line, in bass clef, but in addition, each of the notes has numbers.
How that score is read is somewhat complex to explain in a few lines; you could write a whole article just talking about this, and the basso continuo is only the notes that support a harmony that the performer, often a pianist, or rather a harpsichordist, created from the numbers of each note.
That is to say, they are only a reference, and the performer improvised in some way the passing notes that ended up harmonizing the work.
The basso continuo can also be played by a melodic instrument such as the cello, but the possibility of harmonizing that bass line is lost.
Folk music scores
We can call them popular music scores where the instruments that appear are a mix of melodic, harmonic, percussion instruments, and sung voices.
Here we can find an American chord or cipher every certain number of bars indicating that the chord accompanying the melody changes at that moment.
You can find tablatures for guitars, which we’ll discuss below, as well as lyrics to the melodies for vocals.
Popular sheet music allows for the versatility of incorporating instruments, allowing measures or chords to be played on different harmonic instruments such as the guitar or piano.
Tablature
Tablature is a type of musical notation designed for plucked string instruments, such as the guitar, banjo, or ukulele.
Instead of the five lines of the staff representing pitches by incorporating musical clefs, the tablature represents each of the instrument’s strings. The numbers above represent the fret, which is each of the spaces where we place a finger on the guitar, numbered from one end to the other.
The tablature does not allow us to know the duration of each note, although the spaces between each of the numbers allow us to glimpse a certain duration in correspondence.
It’s a very easy type of notation to learn and also allows you to quickly play new songs or write them down for later recall.
Are you looking to learn to read sheet music?
Take the first step by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, where we’ll send you tips and tricks to help you master reading sheet music from beginner to advanced levels.