While nearly all of the symbols used to display music are technically "glyphs", they are nevertheless used world-wide in a more-or-less standard manner by a very large user group and their usefulness would be improved if they were encoded in a compact way, that is, as character codes. The symbols frequently occur in running text and may be treated as simple spacing characters with no special properties, with a few exceptions which are described below. Examples of contexts for the use of music characters include, but are not limited to, theoretical works, pedagogical texts, terminological dictionaries, bibliographic databases, thematic catalogs, and databases of musical data. The adoption of a standard group of character names would facilitate future pseudo-textual musical encoding systems that offer efficient storage and high parsability and portability.
Even though page layout and formatting are beyond the scope of ISO/IEC 10646, the proposed characters could be used within higher-level protocols, i.e. music description languages and file formats for the representation of musical data and musical scores.
The proposed Western Musical Symbols character set consists of 220 characters. These are drawn primarily from Common Music Notation (CMN) and its antecedents, mensural notation and plainchant (or Gregorian) notation. In addition, commonly recognized additions to the CMN repertoire, such as quarter-tone accidentals, cluster noteheads, and shape-note noteheads have also been included. Symbols were compiled from several sources:
Not part of the Western Musical Symbols character set are "graphical score" elements, which are pictographs usually created for a specific repertoire (sometimes even a single piece) and characters which have some specialized meaning in music but are found in other character sets, i.e. numbers for time signatures and figured basses or letters for section labels and Roman numeral harmonic analysis, etc.
Several characters resemble ones available in other sets. For example, the SHARP character looks somewhat like the octothorpe, FLAT resembles the lowercase 'b', REPEAT DOTS look like a colon, UP BOW seems to be a letter 'V', etc. While repeated usage of the ASCII 'lookalikes' in the absence of genuine music characters has conditioned our acceptance of them, careful examination reveals that the similarities are only superficial. Character sizes, baselines, line widths and other visual characteristics of the music characters are subtly different from their more common 'lookalikes'. Furthermore, their function and meaning are radically different, enough to consider them separate characters.
Because of the complexities of layout and of pitch representation in general, the encoding of musical pitch is intentionally outside the scope of this proposal. In addition to character data, considerable structure, including detailed specification of vertical and horizontal relationships between graphical elements, is required to properly represent musical scores. This character encoding provides a common set of elements for interchange and processing. The characters encoded here, in conjunction with all the other facilities of the character encoding (including alphabets and so forth), can be used for the transfer, storage, and other representation of all sorts of common musical data. In that sense, this set forms a complete basis for the specification of all musical parameters, with the conspicuous exception of pitch encoding itself. Encoding of pitch, and layout of resulting musical structure, involves not only specifications for the vertical relationship between multiple notes simultaneously, but in multiple staves, between instrumental parts, and so forth. These musical features are expected to be handled entirely in higher-level protocols making use of the proposed graphical elements. Lack of pitch encoding is thus not to be viewed as a shortcoming of the proposal, but as a necessary feature of the encoding.
Three characters (SHARP, FLAT, and NATURAL) which occur frequently in music notation are already encoded in Unicode as symbols elsewhere. To assist implementations, it is proposed that reserved codepoints be left in the music notation block and cross-referenced back to the real symbols. In addition, the existing characters U+2669 (QUARTER NOTE), U+266A (EIGHTH NOTE) and the beamed note symbols U+266B and U+266C are to be interpreted strictly as Miscellaneous Symbols or dingbats, not as representing actual musical notes. They could be cross-referenced to this Western Musical Notation block.
It is essential to correct musical interpretation that a distinction be maintained in musical contexts between the augmentation dot (a combining, but spacing character) and the staccato dot, which is a non-spacing character. Furthermore, a distinction must be maintained between the staccato dot and the regular combining dot-above (U+0307), since both may occur in the same context (overdots on vocal texts near staccato dots on notes) and they require different glyphs (the staccato dot generally being heavier at a comparable font size than a combining dot-above).
Most Western Music Notation symbols can be thought of as simple spacing characters when used in-line within texts and examples, even though they behave in a more complex manner in full musical layout. Some characters are meant only to be combined with others to produce combined character sequences, representing musical notes and their particular articulations. A complete list of the character properties and combining priorities is given below.
| 0001 xx00 | RESERVED X --> U+266F MUSIC SHARP SIGN |
| 0001 xx01 | RESERVED X --> U+266D MUSIC FLAT SIGN |
| 0001 xx02 | RESERVED X --> U+266E MUSIC NATURAL SIGN |
| 0001 xx03 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE SHARP |
| 0001 xx04 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE FLAT |
| 0001 xx05 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FLAT UP |
| 0001 xx06 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FLAT DOWN |
| 0001 xx07 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NATURAL UP |
| 0001 xx08 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NATURAL DOWN |
| 0001 xx09 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP UP |
| 0001 xx0A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SHARP DOWN |
| 0001 xx0B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE SHARP |
| 0001 xx0C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER TONE FLAT |
| 0001 xx0D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HAUPTSTIMME |
| 0001 xx0E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NEBENSTIMME |
| 0001 xx0F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DEGREE SLASH |
| 0001 xx10 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ACCENT |
| 0001 xx11 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATO |
| 0001 xx12 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TENUTO |
| 0001 xx13 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATISSIMO |
| 0001 xx14 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MARCATO |
| 0001 xx15 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MARCATO-STACCATO |
| 0001 xx16 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ACCENT-STACCATO |
| 0001 xx17 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LOURE |
| 0001 xx18 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ARPEGGIATO UP |
| 0001 xx19 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ARPEGGIATO DOWN |
| 0001 xx1A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOIT |
| 0001 xx1B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL RIP |
| 0001 xx1C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FLIP |
| 0001 xx1D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SMEAR |
| 0001 xx1E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BEND |
| 0001 xx1F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE TONGUE |
| 0001 xx20 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIPLE TONGUE |
| 0001 xx21 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL RINFORZANDO |
| 0001 xx22 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SUBITO |
| 0001 xx23 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL Z |
| 0001 xx24 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SINGLE BARLINE |
| 0001 xx25 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOUBLE BARLINE |
| 0001 xx26 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FINAL BARLINE |
| 0001 xx27 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL REVERSE FINAL BARLINE |
| 0001 xx28 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DASHED BARLINE |
| 0001 xx29 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SHORT BARLINE |
| 0001 xx2A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LEFT REPEAT SIGN |
| 0001 xx2B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL RIGHT REPEAT SIGN |
| 0001 xx2C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL REPEAT DOTS |
| 0001 xx2D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DAL SEGNO |
| 0001 xx2E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DA CAPO |
| 0001 xx2F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEGNO |
| 0001 xx30 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CODA |
| 0001 xx31 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL REPEATED FIGURE ONE |
| 0001 xx32 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL REPEATED FIGURE TWO |
| 0001 xx33 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL REPEATED FIGURE THREE |
| 0001 xx34 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FERMATA |
| 0001 xx35 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FERMATA UNDER |
| 0001 xx36 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BREATH MARK |
| 0001 xx37 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CAESURA |
| 0001 xx38 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BRACE |
| 0001 xx39 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BRACKET |
| 0001 xx3A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL G CLEF |
| 0001 xx3B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL G CLEF OTTAVA ALTA |
| 0001 xx3C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL G CLEF OTTAVA BASSA |
| 0001 xx3D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL C CLEF |
| 0001 xx3E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL OLD C CLEF |
| 0001 xx3F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL F CLEF |
| 0001 xx40 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL F CLEF OTTAVA ALTA |
| 0001 xx41 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL F CLEF OTTAVA BASSA |
| 0001 xx42 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DRUM CLEF ONE |
| 0001 xx43 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DRUM CLEF TWO |
| 0001 xx44 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PIANO |
| 0001 xx45 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MEZZO |
| 0001 xx46 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FORTE |
| 0001 xx47 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CRESCENDO |
| 0001 xx48 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DECRESCENDO |
| 0001 xx49 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GREGORIAN C CLEF |
| 0001 xx4A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GREGORIAN F CLEF |
| 0001 xx4B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SQUARE B |
| 0001 xx4C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL VIRGA |
| 0001 xx4D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PODATUS |
| 0001 xx4E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CLIVIS |
| 0001 xx4F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SCANDICUS |
| 0001 xx50 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CLIMACUS |
| 0001 xx51 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TORCULUS |
| 0001 xx52 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PORRECTUS |
| 0001 xx53 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PORRECTUS FLEXUS |
| 0001 xx54 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SCANDICUS FLEXUS |
| 0001 xx55 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TORCULUS RESUPINUS |
| 0001 xx56 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PES SUBPUNCTIS |
| 0001 xx57 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DOWN BOW |
| 0001 xx58 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL UP BOW |
| 0001 xx59 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HARMONIC |
| 0001 xx5A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SNAP PIZZICATO |
| 0001 xx5B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PEDAL MARK |
| 0001 xx5C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PEDAL UP MARK |
| 0001 xx5D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HALF PEDAL MARK |
| 0001 xx5E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GLISSANDO UP |
| 0001 xx5F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GLISSANDO DOWN |
| 0001 xx60 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL WITH FINGERNAILS |
| 0001 xx61 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DAMP |
| 0001 xx62 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL DAMP ALL |
| 0001 xx63 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MAXIMA |
| 0001 xx64 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LONGA |
| 0001 xx65 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BREVIS |
| 0001 xx66 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIBREVIS WHITE |
| 0001 xx67 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIBREVIS BLACK |
| 0001 xx68 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MINIMA |
| 0001 xx69 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MINIMA BLACK |
| 0001 xx6A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIMINIMA WHITE |
| 0001 xx6B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIMINIMA BLACK |
| 0001 xx6C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FUSA WHITE |
| 0001 xx6D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FUSA BLACK |
| 0001 xx6E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LONGA PERFECTA REST |
| 0001 xx6F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LONGA IMPERFECTA REST |
| 0001 xx70 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BREVIS REST |
| 0001 xx71 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIBREVIS REST |
| 0001 xx72 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MINIMA REST |
| 0001 xx73 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SEMIMINIMA REST |
| 0001 xx74 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS PERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE PERFECTA |
| 0001 xx75 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS PERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE IMPERFECTA |
| 0001 xx76 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS PERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE PERFECTA DIMINUTION ONE |
| 0001 xx77 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS IMPERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE PERFECTA |
| 0001 xx78 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS IMPERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE IMPERFECTA |
| 0001 xx79 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS IMPERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE IMPERFECTA DIMINUTION ONE |
| 0001 xx7A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS IMPERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE IMPERFECTA DIMINUTION TWO |
| 0001 xx7B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TEMPUS IMPERFECTUM CUM PROLATIONE IMPERFECTA DIMINUTION THREE |
| 0001 xx7C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CROIX |
| 0001 xx7D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL X NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx7E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PLUS NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx7F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CIRCLE X NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx80 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SQUARE NOTEHEAD WHITE |
| 0001 xx81 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SQUARE NOTEHEAD BLACK |
| 0001 xx82 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD UP WHITE |
| 0001 xx83 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD UP BLACK |
| 0001 xx84 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD LEFT WHITE |
| 0001 xx85 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD LEFT BLACK |
| 0001 xx86 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD RIGHT WHITE |
| 0001 xx87 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD RIGHT BLACK |
| 0001 xx88 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD DOWN WHITE |
| 0001 xx89 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD DOWN BLACK |
| 0001 xx8A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD UP RIGHT WHITE |
| 0001 xx8B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE NOTEHEAD UP RIGHT BLACK |
| 0001 xx8C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MOON NOTEHEAD WHITE |
| 0001 xx8D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MOON NOTEHEAD BLACK |
| 0001 xx8E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE-ROUND NOTEHEAD DOWN WHITE |
| 0001 xx8F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TRIANGLE-ROUND NOTEHEAD DOWN BLACK |
| 0001 xx90 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PARENTHESIS NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx91 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL VOID NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx92 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NULL NOTEHEAD |
| 0001 xx93 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK |
| 0001 xx94 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CLUSTER NOTEHEAD WHITE |
| 0001 xx95 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CLUSTER NOTEHEAD BLACK |
| 0001 xx96 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM |
| 0001 xx97 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SPRECHGESANG STEM |
| 0001 xx98 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM ONE |
| 0001 xx99 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM TWO |
| 0001 xx9A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM THREE |
| 0001 xx9B | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FINGERED TREMOLO |
| 0001 xx9C | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BREVE |
| 0001 xx9D | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL WHOLE NOTE |
| 0001 xx9E | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HALF NOTE |
| 0001 xx9F | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER NOTE |
| 0001 xxA0 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL EIGHTH NOTE |
| 0001 xxA1 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTEENTH NOTE |
| 0001 xxA2 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL THIRTY-SECOND NOTE |
| 0001 xxA3 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTY-FOURTH NOTE |
| 0001 xxA4 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHTH NOTE |
| 0001 xxA5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT |
| 0001 xxA6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TIE-START |
| 0001 xxA7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TIE-END |
| 0001 xxA8 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BEAM-START |
| 0001 xxA9 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BEAM-END |
| 0001 xxAA | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SLUR-START |
| 0001 xxAB | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SLUR-END |
| 0001 xxAC | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PHRASE-START |
| 0001 xxAD | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PHRASE-END |
| 0001 xxAE | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL OTTAVA ALTA |
| 0001 xxAF | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL OTTAVA BASSA |
| 0001 xxB0 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUINDICESIMA ALTA |
| 0001 xxB1 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUINDICESIMA BASSA |
| 0001 xxB2 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GRACE NOTE SLASH |
| 0001 xxB3 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL GRACE NOTE NO SLASH |
| 0001 xxB4 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TR |
| 0001 xxB5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TURN |
| 0001 xxB6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL INVERTED TURN |
| 0001 xxB7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TURN SLASH |
| 0001 xxB8 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TURN UP |
| 0001 xxB9 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE ONE |
| 0001 xxBA | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE TWO |
| 0001 xxBB | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE THREE |
| 0001 xxBC | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE FOUR |
| 0001 xxBD | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE FIVE |
| 0001 xxBE | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE SIX |
| 0001 xxBF | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE SEVEN |
| 0001 xxC0 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE EIGHT |
| 0001 xxC1 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE NINE |
| 0001 xxC2 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE TEN |
| 0001 xxC3 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE ELEVEN |
| 0001 xxC4 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MULTI REST |
| 0001 xxC5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL WHOLE REST |
| 0001 xxC6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HALF REST |
| 0001 xxC7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER REST |
| 0001 xxC8 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL EIGHTH REST |
| 0001 xxC9 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTEENTH REST |
| 0001 xxCA | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL THIRTY-SECOND REST |
| 0001 xxCB | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTY-FOURTH REST |
| 0001 xxCC | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHTH REST |
| 0001 xxCD | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ONE-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxCE | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TWO-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxCF | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL THREE-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxD0 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FOUR-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxD1 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FIVE-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxD2 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIX-LINE STAFF |
| 0001 xxD3 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG ONE |
| 0001 xxD4 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG TWO |
| 0001 xxD5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG THREE |
| 0001 xxD6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FOUR |
| 0001 xxD7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FIVE |
| 0001 xxD8 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIX-STRING FRETBOARD |
| 0001 xxD9 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL FOUR-STRING FRETBOARD |
| 0001 xxDA | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL COMMON TIME |
| 0001 xxDB | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL CUT TIME |
| Controls: | |
| 0001 xxA6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TIE-START |
| 0001 xxA7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TIE-END |
| 0001 xxA8 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BEAM-START |
| 0001 xxA9 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL BEAM-END |
| 0001 xxAA | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SLUR-START |
| 0001 xxAB | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SLUR-END |
| 0001 xxAC | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PHRASE-START |
| 0001 xxAD | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL PHRASE-END |
Non-spacing marks and their combining classes: | |
| 0001 xx10 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ACCENT (230) |
| 0001 xx11 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATO (230) |
| 0001 xx12 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TENUTO (230) |
| 0001 xx13 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATISSIMO (230) |
| 0001 xx14 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MARCATO (230) |
| 0001 xx15 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL MARCATO-STACCATO (230) |
| 0001 xx16 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ACCENT-STACCATO (230) |
| 0001 xx17 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL LOURE (230) |
| 0001 xxBE | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ORNAMENT STROKE SIX (230) |
| 0001 xx59 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HARMONIC (230) |
| *These are specified as identical so that "staccato + tenuto" is different from, and is rendered differently than, "tenuto + staccato." | |
Combining marks and their combining classes: | |
| 0001 xxA5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT (0) |
| 0001 xx96 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM (1) |
| 0001 xx97 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SPRECHGESANG STEM (1) |
| 0001 xx98 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM ONE (1) |
| 0001 xx99 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM TWO (1) |
| 0001 xx9A | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL TREMOLO STEM THREE (1) |
| 0001 xxD3 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG ONE (1) |
| 0001 xxD4 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG TWO (1) |
| 0001 xxD5 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG THREE (1) |
| 0001 xxD6 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FOUR (1) |
| 0001 xxD7 | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FIVE (1) |
| *Specifying the priority of the augmentation dot as lower than that of the stems assures that it comes canonically after the stem. | |
Spacing marks: | |
| ALL THE REST | |
Estimating the size of the user community is very difficult. As some indication, however, of the amount of output containing some reference to music (and therefore, potential usage of the proposed character set) the following statistics are offered. Books In Print contains 17,869 entries with the subject heading "music", slightly more than the number of entries with the subject heading "mathematics" (17,388), and nearly double the number for the heading "computer" (only 9775). Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale (RILM) indexed approximately 3500 different journals between 1989 and 1993 covering the field of music in whole or in part. These figures indicate the pervasiveness of music-related writing in our society and the wide range of potential uses of a music character set from popular magazines to scholarly treatises.
There is an historical interest in music data transmission and storage which began with the increased availability of computers in the 1950s. Over the years, several encoding methods have been proposed, i.e. Bauer-Mengelberg's Digital Alternative Representation of Musical Scores (DARMS) and Brook's Plaine & Easie Code, but these individual efforts have all suffered from the lack of a common nomenclature and method for coding even the most basic elements of music. Adoption of this character set as a standard would help alleviate this problem.
It is anticipated that music characters will be input, processed and displayed in a manner similar to mathematical symbols. Collation of the character set is unnecessary. There is no intrinsic order of symbols. When embedded in text most of the symbols are simple spacing characters with no special properties. There are a few characters with control functions which are described below.
Input of the characters may be accomplished in ways similar to those used for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Input can be from an alphanumeric keyboard using character entities, e.g. &treble; or ♭, or assisted with software which allows keyboard mapping, e.g. ALT-G for treble clef. In addition, input methods utilizing pointing devices or piano keyboards could be developed similar to those in existing musical layout systems. For example, using a graphical user interface (GUI), the user could choose symbols from a palette-style menu.
The setting of vocal texts is beyond the scope of this proposal; however, there are no known bi-directional implications of Western Musical Notation. When combined with right-to-left texts, in Hebrew or Arabic for example, the music notation is still written left-to-right as usual, the words being divided into syllables and placed under or above the notes in the same fashion as Latin scripts. The individual words or syllables corresponding to each note, however, are written in the dominant direction of the script.
Extensive ligature-like beams are used frequently in music notation between groups of notes having short values. The practice is widespread and very regular, and is amenable to algorithmic handling. The control characters BEAM-START and BEAM-END can be used to indicate the extents of beam groupings and these are easily parsed. In some exceptional cases, beams are left-unclosed on one end. This can be indicated with a "null note" (0001 xx92 WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NULL NOTEHEAD) character if no stem is to appear at the end of the beam.
Similarly, control codes have been provided for other connecting structures. The characters TIE-START, TIE-END, SLUR-START, SLUR-END, PHRASE-START, and PHRASE-END indicate the extent of these features. Like beaming, these features are easily handled in an algorithmic fashion.
These pairs of characters modify the layout and grouping of notes and phrases in full music notation. When musical examples are written or rendered in plain text without special software, the start/end control characters may be rendered as brackets or left uninterpreted. More sophisticated in-line software may interpret them, to the extent possible, in their actual control capacity, rendering slurs, beams, and so forth as appropriate.
For maximum flexibility, the character set includes both pre-composed
note values and primitives from which complete notes may be constructed.
Due to their ubiquity, the pre-composed versions are provided mainly for
convenience. In addition to coding ease, their use will also reduce data
size. The following table illustrates these canonical equivalents.
| 1. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL HALF NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL VOID NOTEHEAD + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM |
| 2. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM |
| 3. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL EIGHTH NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG ONE |
| 4. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTEENTH NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG TWO |
| 5. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL THIRTY-SECOND NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG THREE |
| 6. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SIXTY-FOURTH NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FOUR |
| 7. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ON HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHTH NOTE | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG FIVE |
Coding convenience notwithstanding, notes built up from alternative
noteheads, stems and flags, and articulation symbols are necessary for
complete implementations and complex scores. Examples of their use include
American shape-note and modern percussion notations. For example,
| 1. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL SQUARE NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM |
| 2. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL X NOTEHEAD + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM |
Augmentation dots and articulation symbols may be appended to either the pre-composed or built-up
notes. For example,
| 1. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL EIGHTH NOTE + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM PLUS FLAG ONE + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT |
| 2. WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER NOTE + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATO | = | WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL NOTEHEAD BLACK + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STEM + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL STACCATO |
In addition, augmentation dots and articulation symbols may be repeated
as necessary to build a complete note symbol. For example,
| WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL EIGHTH NOTE + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL AUGMENTATION DOT + WESTERN MUSICAL SYMBOL ACCENT |
Included below is a list of common 18th-century ornaments and the combining sequences of characters from which they can be generated. Click on the image for a high-resolution version (87k)
The following examples demonstrate some current uses of music characters in textual materials. Often, music characters are not included because of the difficulty of integrating them into the text. When they are included, they are frequently drawn in by hand after setting the other text, i.e. the Balaban example. Music characters are also used extensively in creating data tables set apart from the text and single-line rhythmic examples either in the text or set apart from it, i.e. the Kennedy and Ottman examples.
Introduction of a standardized group of characters would undoubtedly change current practices in both number and kind.
For instructions and guidance for filling in the form please see the document "Principles and Procedures for Allocation of New Characters and Scripts" (http://www.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/prot)
1. Title: Proposal for Encoding Western Music Symbols in ISO/IEC 10646
2. Requester's name: Perry Roland
3. Requester type (Member body/Liaison/Individual contribution): Individual contribution
4. Submission date: February, 1998
5. Requester's reference (if applicable):
6. (Choose one of the following:)
This is a complete proposal: ; or,
More information will be provided later: This is a complete proposal.
1. (Choose one of the following:)
a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters):
Proposed name of script: Western Musical Symbols
b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to
an existing block:
Name of the existing block:
2. Number of characters in proposal: 220
3. Proposed category (see section II, Character Categories): Category "A"
4. Proposed Level of Implementation (see clause 15,
ISO/IEC 10646-1): Level 2
Is a rationale provided for the choice? No.
If Yes, reference:
5. Is a repertoire including character names provided? Yes.
a. If YES, are the names in accordance with the 'character
naming guidelines' in Annex K of ISO/IEC 10646-1?
Yes.
b. Are the character shapes attached in a reviewable form? Yes.
6. Who will provide the appropriate computerized
font (ordered preference: True Type, PostScript or 96x96 bit-mapped
format) for publishing the standard? Perry Roland
If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address,
e-mail, ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools used:
7. References:
a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive
texts etc.) provided? Yes.
b. Are published examples (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of use of proposed characters attached? Yes.
8. Special encoding issues:
Does the proposal address other aspects of character
data processing (if applicable) such as input, presentation, sorting,
searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes, please enclose
information): Yes.
1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? No.
If YES, explain.
2. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body, user groups of the script or characters, other experts, etc.)? Yes.
If YES, with whom? Contact has been made with members of
the Music Library Association, the American Musicological Society, and
faculty members and library staff at the University of Virginia.
If YES, available relevant documents?
3. Information on the user community for the proposed
characters (for example: size, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is
included? Yes.
Reference:
4. The context of use for the proposed characters
(type of use; common or rare): common
Reference:
5. Are the proposed characters in current use by
the user community? Yes.
If YES, where? World-wide.
Reference:
6. After giving due considerations to the principles
in N 1352 must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP? No. This script is not appropriate
for encoding in the BMP.
If YES, is a rationale provided?
If YES, reference:
7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)? Yes.
8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered
a presentation form of an existing character or character sequence? No.
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided?
If YES, reference:
9. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered
to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing character?
If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided? Yes.
If YES, reference:
10. Does the proposal include use of combining characters
and/or use of composite sequences (see clause 4.11 and 4.13 in ISO/IEC 10646-1)? Yes.
If YES, is a rationale for such use provided? Yes.
If YES, reference:
Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided? No.
If YES, reference:
11. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as control function or similar semantics? Yes.
If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary)
1. Relevant SC 2/WG 2 document numbers:
2. Status (list of meeting number and corresponding action or disposition):
3. Additional contact to user communities, liaison organizations etc:
4. Assigned category and assigned priority/time frame: