Glossary

Updated 6 months ago

This page shows old instructions for MuseScore 3.
For MuseScore 4 users, see Glossary.

Listed below are technicial terms and musical terms, which are frequently used in MuseScore or in the Handbook. Links to relevant handbook chapter are provided. To help musicians who are capable of reading a notation but do not know its proper name, image is provided. This chapter does not aim to be a dictionary of all musical notations, see External links.

The differences between American English and British English are marked with "(AE)" and "(BE)", respectively. Editors and translators of this chapter should add the individual entry for each term.

A

Acciaccatura: A short →grace note which appears as a small note with a stroke through the stem. Musescore creates a quick playback, the playback duration is not affected by duration of the parent note. See Grace notes chapter.
Accidental: An accidental is a sign appearing in front of a note that raises or lowers its pitch. See Accidental chapter. Musescore creates playback for common accidentals only, they includes →sharps, →flats, →naturals, →double sharps, →double flats, and triple flats. To create microtonal accidentals such as quarter tone, see Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback Chapter.
Ambitus: Note (or vocal) range used in a →staff. Used particularly in Early Music. See Ambitus chapter.
Anacrusis (mostly BE): See →Pickup measure.
Anchor: The point of attachment to the score of objects such as Text and Lines: When the object is dragged, the anchor appears as small brown circle connected to the object by a dotted line. Depending on the object selected, its anchor may be attached to either (a) a note (e.g. fingering), (b) a staff line (e.g. staff text), or (c) a barline (e.g. repeats).
Appoggiatura: A long →grace note which takes value from its associated note. Musescore creates playback as such. It is acceptable to execute written appoggiatura as acciaccatura nowadays but Musescore does not create such playback. Appoggiatura's functions include: passing tone, anticipation, struck suspension, and escape tone.
Arpeggio: An arpeggio tells the performer to break up the chord into the constituent notes, playing them separately and one after the other. The arrow arpeggio symbol indicates the direction in which the player should play the notes of the chord. See Arpeggios and glissandi chapter.
Articulation: A marking or symbol indicating how a note should be played, usually by altering the length of a note or shaping its attack and decay. See Articulations and ornaments chapter.

B

Bar (BE): See →measure.
Barline: Vertical line through a →staff, staves, or a full →system that separates →measures. See Barline chapter.
Beam: Notes with a duration of an →eighth or shorter either carry a →flag or a beam. Beams are used for grouping notes. See also French Beam. See Beam chapter.
BPM: A tempo displaying unit only used inside Musescore's Play panel. BPM is the amount of quarter notes would have been within one minute. It is not the number used in metronome tempo markings on a score. See Play mode: Play panel chapter.
Breve, Brevis: A double whole note or breve is a note that has the duration of two whole notes.

C

Caesura: A caesura (//) is a brief, silent pause. Time is not counted for this period, and music resumes when the director signals. See Breaths and pauses chapter.
Capo (text): A text to indicate the setting of the transposing device used on an instrument. See Staff Text and System Text chapter. Not to be confused with Da capo (D.C.).
Cent: An interval equal to one hundredth of a semitone, used by Tuning property of a note, see Inspector : note and Tuning systems, microtonal notation system, and playback chapter.
Channel: 1. Instrument and channel in Musescore are software abstractions, see Mixer chapter.; 2. A MIDI output data, see MIDI controls in Mixer chapter.
Chord: 1. A group of two or more notes sounding together.; 2. In Musescore, only notes sounding together that have same duration inside one Musescore Voice constitute a chord. To select a chord in MuseScore, press Shift and click on a note. See Voice chapter.; 3. In Musescore, a chord symbol. See Chord notation systems chapter.
Clef: A musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a →staff. See Clefs chapter. See also courtesy clef.
Coda: 1. A passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end.; 2. The navigation marker which resembles a set of crosshairs. It is used where the exit from a repeated section is within that section rather than at the end. See also dal segno sign. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Concert pitch: 1. The sounding, or real pitch of a note, contrast with written pitch.; 2. A score viewing mode in Musescore, see Concert pitch and Transposition chapters.; 3. The frequency of A4, see Synthesizer chapter.
Courtesy clef: A reduced-size clef applied to the end of a system indicating a clef change at the start of the next system. See Clefs chapter.
Cross-staff notation: A musical phrase extending across two neighboring staffs eg bass staff and treble staff.; To create notation where the two stems are at opposite sides of the beam, as shown above, see Cross-staff notation chapter.; To create notation where the stems are on the same side of the beam, as shown above, see How to span a chord or stem over two staves chapter.
Crotchet (BE): See →Quarter note.

D

Da capo (D.C.): A directive to repeat the previous part of music. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Not to be confused with capo (text).
Dead note: See ghost note.
Demisemiquaver (BE): A thirty-second note.
Double Flat: A double flat (♭♭ or 𝄫) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered two semitones.
Double Sharp: A double sharp (♯♯ or 𝄪) is a sign that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised two semitones.
Duplet: See →tuplet.
Dynamic, dynamics, dynamic symbol, dynamics symbol: A symbol indicating the relative loudness of a note or phrase of music—such as mf (mezzoforte), p (piano), f (forte) etc., starting at that note. See Dynamic chapter.
Dynamic, Single note: NOTE: Single note dynamics (SND) has several meanings, see Single note dynamics (SND); A dynamics symbol with non-zero "Velocity change" property. When setup properly, it creates an Attack envelope simulation effect (wikipedia) on note playback, eg sfz symbol on violins, for more info see Dynamics; * Two popular build-in SNDs : sfz (sforzando), fp (fortepiano); * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg sfz symbol's effect on violin does not exist on piano.

E

Edit mode: The program mode in which editing of score element by user is allowed, contrast with normal mode and note input mode. See Edit mode chapter.
Eighth note: A note whose duration is an eighth of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a quaver (BE).
Endecalineo: Endecalineo or endecagram, the stave for Solfège, to create see Solmisation chapter.
Endings: See →volta.
Enharmonic notes: Notes that sound the same pitch but are written differently. Example: G♯ and A♭ are enharmonic notes. See Accidentals: Change enharmonic spelling chapter.
Explode: A Musescore feature that split (explode) the chords in a passage of music in a single staff into their constituent notes or voices, see Tools; Also see Implode

F

Flag: See →beam.
Flat: Sign (♭) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be lowered one semitone, see →accidentals and →key signature.
French Beam: Beams where the stems only extend to the first beam, but don't intersect all the way through. To create use the French Beams plugin.

G

Ghost note: In music, notably in jazz, a ghost note (or a dead, muted, silenced or false note) is a musical note with a rhythmic value, but no discernible pitch when played. Musescore supports crosshead (cross notehead, looks like letter x), diamond notehead, and adding brackets (parentheses) to a note, see Noteheads chapter.
Grace note: Grace notes appear as small notes in front of a normal-sized main note, see also →acciaccatura and →appoggiatura. See Grace note chapter.
Grand Staff (AE)
Great Stave (BE): An instrument or →part of two or more staves, featuring treble and bass clefs, used to notate music for keyboard instruments and the harp. As of MuseScore 3.6: Any number of staves connected by a curly brace.

H

Half Note: A note whose duration is half of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a minim (BE).
Hemidemisemiquaver (BE): A sixty-fourth note.

I

Implode: A Musescore feature similar to, but not exactly, score reduction (wikipedia), see Tools, also see Explode. See Tools chapter.
Interval: The difference in pitch between two notes, expressed in terms of the scale degree (e.g. major second, minor third, perfect fifth etc.). See Degree (Music) (Wikipedia).
Interleaved: Two interlocking, oppositely beamed sets of notes. To recreate, use the voice function and the beam palette, see Interleaved beam directions
Instrument: 1. Musescore Instrument, see Instruments, staff setup and templates. Instrument contains channel(s).; 2. Real world instrument
Irregular measure marker: A plus sign or minus sign at the top right of a measure indicates that its duration differs from that set by the time signature. See Viewing and navigation: Mark irregular measures and Measure operations chapters.

J

Jump: In MuseScore, "jumps" are notations such as "D.S. al Coda". See Repeats and jumps chapter.

K

Key Signature: Set of sharps and flats at the beginning of the →staves. It gives an idea about the tonality and avoids repeating those signs all along the staff. A key signature with B flat means F major or D minor tonality. See Key Signature chapter.

L

Legato: Legato is a play style which involves playing the notes in a slurred manner. Legato may be written as text or shown through the use of slurs.
Local time signature: Staffs with different time signatures running at the same time, to create see Time signatures chapter.
Longa: A longa is a quadruple whole note.
Ledger Line (AE)
Leger Line (BE): Line(s) that are added with and for notes above or below the staff.
Line: Musescore Lines, a type of objects capable of attaching (anchoring) to a horizontal continuous range of more than two notes or rests, or vertical collection of notes (chord). See Lines chapter.

M

Measure (AE): A segment of time defined by a given number of beats. Dividing music into measures provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. Same as → bar (BE).
Measure repeat sign: See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Metronome mark: A kind of tempo marking. See Tempo chapter.
Minim (BE): See →Half note.
Multimeasure rest: See Measure rests chapter.

N

Natural: A natural (♮) is a sign that cancels a previous alteration on notes of the same pitch, see →accidentals and →key signature.
Normal mode: The operating mode of MuseScore outside note input mode or edit mode. Press Esc to use normal mode. Allows user to select and move elements, adjust Inspector properties, and alter the pitches of existing notes.
Note input mode: The program mode used for entering music notation, contrast with normal mode and edit mode. See Note input modes chapter.

O

Operating System (OS): Underlying set of programs which set up a computer, enabling additional programs (such as MuseScore). Popular OSes are Microsoft Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux.; Not to be confused with a sheet music →system.
Ossia: An alternative passage which may be played instead of the original passage, from the Italian for "alternatively", meaning "or be it". To create see How to create an ossia with another staff

P

Part: 1. MuseScore 3's automatic score separation and printing function, see Parts chapter.; 2. Music to be played or sung by one or a group of musicians using the same instrument. In a string quartet, 1st part = Violin 1, 2nd part = Violin 2, 3rd part = Viola, 4th part = Cello, in a choir there might be parts for soprano, alto, tenor and bass. A part has one or more →staves (e.g. Piano has 2 staves, Organ can have 2 or 3 staves). MuseScore 3 Dynamics's Dynamic range property use this definition.; 3. A single melody line in a polyphonic musical composition. MuseScore 3 never use this definition, but there is a similar feature Voices.
Pickup Measure (mostly AE, also known as an Anacrusis (mostly BE) or Upbeat): Incomplete first measure of a piece or a →section of a piece of music. See Measure duration, Create new score: Pickup measure, and Measure operations: Exclude from measure count chapters. May or may not be compensated for at the end of the score or section.
Properties: Settings of an individual object on a score in Musescore, see Inspector chapter. Contrast with style (profile).

Q

Quadruplet: See →tuplet.
Quarter note: A note whose duration is a quarter of a whole note (semibreve). Same as a crotchet (BE).
Quaver (BE): See →eighth note.
Quintuplet: See →tuplet.

R

Respell Pitches: Change accidental used on a note but keep note's pitch. See Accidentals: Change enharmonic spelling chapter.
Rest: A musical symbol that indicates silence. See Note input chapter.
Re-pitch mode: One of the note input modes. See Note input modes chapter.

S

Score: 1. In MuseScore support forums and most chapters of the MuseScore Handbook, score generally refers to a computer file with the suffix .mscz - and to its visual representation on a computer screen as well as its audio playback.; 2. In some chapters of the MuseScore Handbook, score means the layout and formatting of "Full score" or one particular Musescore part. See Layout and formatting and Musescore Part chapters.; 3. In other contexts (for example the IMSLP score-sharing website at https://imslp.org), a score generally refers either to a PDF file of the sheet music for a specific work or to an actual paper copy of the sheet music.
Section: In MuseScore, a region of the score between section breaks; also from the start of a score to the first section break, and from the last section break to the end of the score.
Segno, or Dal Segno: A navigation marker. See Repeats and jumps chapter.
Semibreve (BE): A whole note (AE). It lasts a whole measure in 4/4 time.
Semiquaver (BE): A sixteenth note.
Semihemidemisemiquaver (Quasihemidemisemiquaver) (BE): An hundred and twenty eighth note.
Sextuplet: See →tuplet.
SF2: A virtual instrument format developed by E-mu Systems and Creative Labs, see SoundFonts.
SF3: An invention of Werner Schweer, the Musescore developer (source). This format supports sound sample compression, see SoundFonts.
SFZ: 1. Dynamics symbol sfz (small letters) , see Dynamic; 2. A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SoundFonts). An SFZ library consists of one or more SFZ text files, each defining a particular instrument setup, and many audio sound samples.
Shared note head: A note notated with two beams. To recreate in Musescore, use the voice function and the notehead function and see Noteheads
Sharp: Sign (♯) that indicates that the pitch of a note has to be raised one semitone, see →accidentals and →key signature.
Single note dynamics (SND): Due to continuous software development, Single note dynamics (SND) has come to bear several different meanings:; 1. A dynamics symbol with non-zero "Velocity change" property. When setup properly, it creates an Attack envelope simulation effect (wikipedia) on note playback, eg sfz symbol on violins, for more info see Dynamics; * Two popular build-in SNDs : sfz (sforzando), fp (fortepiano); * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg sfz symbol's effect on violin does not exist on piano.; 2. The audio creation mechanism on which the definition 1 is based. This mechanism is utilized to simulate 'variation of loudness' effect by hairpins on certain instruments. eg crescendo on one violin long note, for more info see Hairpins; * It is designed to work on certain instruments only eg you cannot create crescendo while pressing a piano note; 3. The notation interpretation setting of an instrument: 'Use single note dynamics' in Staff / Part properties. See definition 1 and 2 for more info on notations. The setting in default definition file instruments.xml is named <singleNoteDynamics>. Instruments' settings can be ignored by the master control in Synthesizer.; 4. A soundfont's attenuation response to MIDI CC messages. Musescore can only create correct audio for all dynamics and haripins with a compatable soundfont. Because musescore synthesizer setting is global, and the default soundfont responses to MIDI CC 2 only. For most users, SND compatable soundfont means soundfont that reponses to CC 2. More on Synthesizer chapter, also developers' handbook Edit a soundfont to use MIDI CC.
Slash (slash chord, slash notehead): Indicates strum. See Slash notation and Noteheads chapter. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_chord.
Slash notation: A form of music notation using slash marks placed on or above/below the staff to indicate the rhythm of an accompaniment: often found in association with chord symbols. There are two types: (1) Slash notation consists of a rhythm slash on each beat: the exact interpretation is left to the player (see Fill with slashes); (2) Rhythmic slash notation indicates the precise rhythm for the accompaniment (see Toggle rhythmic slash notation).
Slur: A curved line over or under two or more notes, meaning that the notes will be played smooth and connected (legato). See Slur chapter. A slur is not a →tie.
Solmisation: see Endecalineo
SoundFont: A virtual instrument format supported by MuseScore (along with →SFZ). A SoundFont is a special type of file (extension .sf2, or .sf3 if compressed) containing sound samples of one or more musical instruments. In effect, a virtual synthesizer which acts as a sound source for MIDI files. MuseScore 2.2 comes with the SoundFont "MuseScore_General.sf3" pre-installed. See SoundFont chapter.
Spatium (plural: Spatia) / Space / Staff Space / sp. (abbr./unit): A unit of measurement, see Layout and formatting chapter.
Staff / Staffs: A set of lines and spaces, each representing a pitch, on which music is written. In ancient music notation (before 11th century) the staff may have any number of lines.
Staff Space: See Spatium (above).
Stave / Staves (BE): See Staff (above).
Step-time input: MuseScore's default note input mode. See Note input modes chapter.
Style: A profile that contains settings in MuseScore, contrast with Properties. See Layout and formatting chapter.
System: 1. Set of staves to be read simultaneously in a score, ie one row of current staffs, see Layout and formatting chapter.; 2. All instruments, MuseScore 3 Dynamics's Dynamic range property use this definition.; See also →Operating System (OS).
System divider: Separates systems on the same page. Can be switched on for the score in Format→Style→System, see Layout and formatting: Style window. Also available in master palette, see Master palette chapter.

T

Text

A Musescore Text object is an object that contains individual characters that can be entered and removed by using (typing on) a computer keyboard. See Text types chapter.

Tie

A curved line between two adjavent notes of the same pitch to indicate a single note of combined duration. See Tie chapter. A tie is not a slur.

Quarter note + Tie + Quarter note = Half note
Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note = Dotted Quarter note
Quarter note + Tie + Eighth note + Tie + 16th note = Double Dotted Quarter note

Transposition

The act of moving the pitches of one or more notes up or down by a constant interval. See Transposition chapter. There may be several reasons for transposing a piece, for example:

The tune is too low or too high for a singer. In this case the whole orchestra will have to be transposed as well—easily done using MuseScore.
The part is written for a particular instrument but needs to be played by a different one.
The score is written for an orchestra and you want to hear what the individual instruments sound like. This requires changing the transposing instrument parts to concert pitch.
A darker or a more brilliant sound is desired.

Triplet

See →tuplet.

Tuplet

A tuplet divides its next higher note value by a number of notes other than given by the time signature. See Tuplet chapter. For example a →triplet divides the next higher note value into three parts, rather than two. Tuplets may be: →triplets, →duplets, →quintuplets, and other.

U

Upbeat: See →pickup measure.

V

Velocity: A property of objects inside Musescore that controls how loudly note(s) are played, see Loudness of a note. The two important types of object that have it are note (see Inspector chapter), and dynamics symbol (see Dynamics chapter).
Voice: 1. In Musescore, Voice is a software feature, you can use up to 4 Voices per staff, see Voice: When to use Voices chapter.; 2. Daily usage of the term voice refers to a musical line or part which can have its own rhythm. MuseScore does not have a feature to implement the exact same idea, if the voice feature does not suit your need, try adding separate instruments instead.
Volta: In a repeated section of music, it is common for the last few measures of the section to differ. Markings called voltas are used to indicate how the section is to be ended each time. These markings are often referred to simply as →endings. See Volta chapter.

W

Written pitch: Transposing instruments (such as the clarinet, French horn, trumpet etc.) are notated at a different pitch (and key signature) to how they sound. The notated pitch is called the written pitch. Contrast with concert pitch. See Staff / Part properties chapter.