Chord alignment

• Jan 4, 2013 - 05:30

I was looking at one music sheet and wondered if there were any conventions about the alignment of chords with notes, or otherwise (whether it's just a chord sheet, or piano and voice).

It maybe related, but I wanted to post separate from this: #17190: Non-last lyric syllables on slurred/tied notes are centered rather than left aligned


Comments

I think is as the justification for documents.
If the third note in example (two syllables one note) were aligned, the length of the beam would be excessive. Consequently also the measure.
We can make a comparison with the scores:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page
I think the issue concerns mainly the look and feel, Franz

Attachment Size
Allineamento.jpg 24.94 KB

I assume you mean chord symbols (chord names)? If so, I'd say the most common convention is to left align (root of chord directly over notehead). But in measures where there are multiple (and long) chord symbols that take up too much space, it's pretty common to see the chords nudged in either direction so as to avoid needing to stretch the measure out more. It's also common to see people deliberately put fewer measures on a line than would otherwise fit, which can buy a little space. Stretching out just one measure on a line is something of a last resort - at least, doing it to a noticeable extent. But this happens, too. Basically, you do what it takes, but I'd say those are the most common tactics.

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