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The MusicXML format

The MusicXML is a xml format that organizes the music into a header followed by the core music data.

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MusicXML elements relationship


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The MusicXML Score format

The core music data may be viewed as partwise or timewise data:

MusicXML music data

A MusicXML part element may be viewed as a music part, assigned to a given instrument. Therefore a part generally contains a single staff but in case of instruments like the piano or the organ, it includes several staves.

A measure contains elements grouped under the music-data entity. These elements cover the following purposes:

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The MusicXML measure element

The direction element is used for musical indications that are not attached to a specific note. Two or more may be combined to indicate starts and stops of wedges, dashes, etc. It supports also dynamics, metronome indications and may include sound elements.

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The MusicXML direction element

The note element is central to the music description. A note may be a cue note, a grace note or a regular note. All of them share common elements wich are pitch, chord, and rest information. Unpitched elements are used for unpitched percussion, speaking voice, and other musical elements lacking determinate pitch. A note element includes all the necessary for an acurate graphic rendering of all the signs attached to it. It covers:

note.gif

The MusicXML note element

Note that redundant graphic and sound information may live together, for example:

A note has also attributes intended for a more acurate graphic placement or to describe differences in duration or dynamics specific to an interpretation or performance.

MusicXML time

MusicXML doesn't include explicit time information in that sense that music events like notes don't carry a date. The time is implicitely moved each time an element that has a duration is encountered. Exception to this rule is the chord element: a chord element indicates that the note carrying the chord element is an additional chord tone with the preceding note.

The duration of a note marked with a chord element can be no longer than the preceding note. Although a note that is part of a chord has a duration, the time doesn't move when it is encountered.

Additional elements are provided to explicitely move the time: backup and forward are intended to coordinate multiple voices in one part, including music on multiple staves. Forward is generally used to move forward within voices and staves, while backup to move backward between voices and staves.


Generated on Tue Mar 23 09:49:50 2004 for LibMusicXML by doxygen 1.3.3