Drum notation -- International standard?
Recently I noticed that the closed high hat in the drum palette is on the top space (above the top line), instead of *on* the top line, like I've seen in several examples of drum notation. I've noticed that the ride bell cymbal is usually in the top space.
Is there an international standard, or not? As a starting place, I'd like to suggest the attached drum notation key I scanned from the June 2007 issue of DRUM Magazine.
Please respond with your comments below.
Thanks and cheers,
--Jay Goemmer
"Tau Zero"
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Comments
Thank you for your feedback. I am not an expert on drum notation but I know that there is no standard for drum notation only guidelines. For example: feet get downstems, hands get upstems; drums get normal noteheads, cymbals get x's and other rhythmic note heads.
I guess what I'm saying is the exact line or space probably doesn't matter but it doesn't seem to make sense to use the same line/space for open and closed hi-hat. For comparison see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percussion_notation
In reply to Thank you for your feedback. by David Bolton
That drum key posted by Jay is a great example of how you should notate for drum set. Every part of the kit has it's own line or space (save for some misc. percussion on upper ledger lines).
Hi-hat open and closed are the same part of the kit and should both be on the same line. There are many different conventions for open and closed, but most common is to put an "o" above the staff (placed like articulations) for notes that are on an open hat. Drums are assumed to be open, but another convention is to use "+" for stopped ... including sometimes being very clear when calling for a closed (stopped) hi-hat.
This shows up in drum tablature:
+ + + o
Which means for hi-hat:
closed, closed, closed, open
The wikipedia article has a tom and hi-hat occupying the same staff line - similar to MuseScore's drum palette. That's a big no no when it comes to readability. Wikipedia is very, very fallible, luckily we have the hive mind here on the forums :)
I found this when looking around on google for a good guide for the devs to go by:
http://web.mit.edu/merolish/Public/drums.pdf
In reply to Percussionist chiming in by Raymond May Jr.
I agree with Raymond : Each part of the kit needs its own line.
Regarding open hi-hat, I'm used to notate a circle x and hi-hat on top of the upper line.