List of musical symbols

There are symbols to communicate information about many musical elements, including pitch, duration, dynamics, or articulation of musical notes; tempo, metre, form (e.g., whether sections are repeated), and details about specific playing techniques (e.g., which fingers, keys, or pedals are to be used, whether a string instrument should be bowed or plucked, or whether the bow of a string instrument should move up or down).

This also effectively defines the pitch range or tessitura of the music on that staff.

A common notation for quarter tones involves writing the fraction ¼ next to an arrow pointing up or down.

In 19 equal temperament, where a whole tone is divided into three steps instead of two, music is typically notated in a way that flats and sharps are not usually enharmonic (thus a C♯ represents a third of a step lower than D♭); this has the advantage of not requiring any nonstandard notation.

Time signatures that cannot be classified as simple or compound, such as 54 or 118, are often called complex, irregular or odd.

Rarely, even softer or louder dynamic levels are indicated by adding more ps or fs.

The guitar has a fingerpicking notation system derived from the names of the fingers in Spanish or Latin.

[13] (With the exception of harp) The thumb is also used by the cello and bass, usually denoted by ϙ (a circle with a line coming out the bottom), or, more rarely, a T. Fingering numbers are similar to piano, except there is no "5" as the little finger is not used in playing the harp.