🎵 JJ's Piano Playing 🎹

Documenting the journey rediscovering my piano hobby.

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Project maintained by jjvanzon Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

✅ Frédéric Chopin - Ballade Ⅱ

JJ van Zon, 2021

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TODO

2022-03-14 Sheet Music Simplification

• In MuseScore “Load Style” might take care of the following:
  • Thicker lines
  • Bigger notes
  • Removing measure numbers.
  • Removing repeated key signatures.
  • Removing repeated clefs.
• Removing details:
  • In MuseScore, right clicking an element, then choosing “Select” may show options that may help with this:
  • Removing the big accolades at the left.
  • Removing expression symbols (and pedal symbols, tempo, words, dynamics).
  • Removing expression bows.
  • Removing fingering numbers.
• Other details:
  • Removing extension bows (and the repeated note).
  • Removing ‘announcing’ key signatures at ends of lines.
  • Removing ‘announcing’ clef change.
  • Adding measure bars if there are none.
• Voicing:
  • Removing some rest symbols.
  • Simplifying note durations / voicing notation.
  • Left hand / right hand separated and together.
• Accidentals
  • In MuseScore, using the “Plugins” menu, “Accidentals” and the options there may help with the following, though it’s not perfect. (You may install it from https://musescore.org/en/project/add-and-remove-courtesy-accidentals
  • Adding accidentals (even when part of key). > Removed signature (1-flat).
  • Introducing key changes to prevent natural symbols .
  • Repeating in-measure accidentals.
  • Correcting unnecessary natural symbols.
  • See b and # reasons.
• Layout:
  • Adding title (adding the term ‘simplified notation’).
  • Removing page headers and footers, mostly.
  • Adding page numbers (suggested font: Calibri 14pt).
  • Adjusting spacing between staves.
  • Adjusting spacing.
  • Consider wide horizontal note spacing.
  • Adjusting line ends to reflect the meter.
  • Consider regular amount of bars per line.
  • Clefs at page 10 went through notes.
  • Adjusting line ends to accommodate fragment subdivision.
  • Adding double bar lines to separate more fragments.
  • Smaller time signature numbers (coinciding less with other lines).
• Exceptional cases
  • Slow arpeggio with strange measure.
  • There are certain bar line that are 2x thicker. It appears to be 2 bar lines right next to each other.
• Checking:
  • Checking by playing in editing software.
  • Checking by playing the print on a piano.
    • I am torn between choosing either # or b consistently, chord shapes and intervals not looking what they look like. Sometimes those things clash.
    • Trying to balance it out, I tend to get a Eb and a F# in one measure where I am at now.
  • Corrections:
    • Might go for less lines a page, more pages.
    • May choose # or b more consistently (per measure?)
  • Correcting it.
  • Checking print again.
  • Correcting it again.
  • Checking by playing in editing software.
  • Checking print again.
  • Corrections to digital version.
  • Keep checking by playing the print, until no more corrections.
• Variation of sheet music, with reasons for b or #:
  • See b and # reasons.
  • Adding reasons to draft sheet music with simplified notation.
  • On paper
  • Changing some occurrences of “per-note expectation” to “chord shape”.
  • Cleaner typography for annotations (pencil and paper still).
  • Checking by playing in editing software.
  • Keep checking by playing the print, until no more corrections.
  • With “part of key” specify which key.
• May call it “Simplified Notation” instead of “Simplified”, since the notes basically do not change.

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