Abbreviation (music)
Abbreviations in music are of two kinds, namely, abbreviations of terms related to musical expression, and the true musical abbreviations by the help of which certain passages, chords, etc., may be notated in a shortened form, to the greater convenience of both composer and performer. Abbreviations of the first kind are like most abbreviations in language; they consist for the most part of the initial letter or first syllable of the word employed—as for instance, or for the dynamic markings piano and forte, cresc. for crescendo, Ob. for oboe, Fag. for bassoon (). This article is about abbreviations used in music notation. Repetition of a single note or chord The continued repetition of a note or chord is expressed by a stroke or strokes across the stem, or above or below the note if it be a whole note or double whole note. The number of strokes denotes the subdivision of the written note into eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc., unless the word tremolo or tremolando is added, in which case the repetition is as rapid as possible, without regard to the exact number of notes played. (When strokes are added to notes shorter than a quarter note, each beam counts as a stroke.) In the first bar of the example below, the half note with the single stroke across the stem in the written staff becomes 4 eighth notes in the played staff. Through the use of 2 strokes across the stem in the second bar, the next full note is expressed as a phrase of 16 sixteenth notes. On bowed instruments the rapid reiteration of a single note is easy, but in piano music an octave or chord becomes necessary to produce a tremolo, the manner of writing and performing of which is seen below. In the abbreviation expressed by strokes, as above, the passage to be abbreviated can contain no note of greater length than an eighth note, but it is possible also to divide a long note into quarter notes, by means of dots (sometimes known as divisi dots) placed over it, as below. This is however seldom done, as only a small amount of space is saved. When a long note has to be repeated in the form of triplets or sextuplets, the figure 3 or 6 is usually placed over it in addition to the stroke across the stem, and the note is sometimes, though not necessarily, written dotted. Alternation of two notes The repetition of a group of two notes is abbreviated by two notes (most often half notes or whole notes) connected by the number of strokes ordinarily used to express eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc., according to the rate of movement intended, as below. It will be observed that a passage lasting for the value of one half note requires two half notes to express it, on account of the group consisting of two notes. As seen above, half notes are often written with the strokes beaming the notes together (which