Readable-Format Music Notation

Basic Symbols

PitchDuration::Pd ; e.g.:

• Cq: C pitch, quarter note

• Gs: G pitch, sixteenth note

• Fe: F pitch, eighth note

• EbQ: E-flat pitch, quarter note (CamelCase for clarity)

• Cw: C pitch, whole note

Duration Symbols

• q: Quarter note

• q.: Dotted-quarter note

• e: Eighth note

• e.: Dotted-eighth note

• h: Half note

• h.: Dotted half note

• s: Sixteenth note

• w: Whole note

• t(123): Triplet notes

Grouping Symbols

• ( ): Grouping notes of the same duration, e.g., e(DEFDGE)

• [ ]: Grouping chords, e.g., [CEG]q, or for guitar-style single-note chords: [C]q or [A7]h.

• { }: Grouping semicolon-separated simultaneous sounds, e.g.,
  { Cq Ge Fe EbQ Cq; [CEG]w }.

• ||: Bars can be used to emulate standard notation measures.

• ': Apostrophe/Single-quote is an explicit Beat marker.

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Whitespace is optional, so simultaneous sounds can be notated as piano with melody on top and bass beneath, and aligned for timing clarity, like in this example:
                       { Cq'GeFe'EbQ'Cq; 

                        [CEG]w                     }

Octave Symbols

• >: One octave higher

• <: One octave lower

• >n: Absolute octave specification, e.g., >4 Cq

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Guitar Chord Symbols

• [Chord]duration, e.g., [C]q means play the C chord for a quarter note's duration.

Repeats

• |: Opens a repeat

• :|N Closes a repeat with N iterations, e.g., |: s(CEGBbDFA) :|3
   

Use Font Styles to Associate and Distinguish
 

For example, for extra clarity between the Pitch and its Duration, the Pitch could be bold:
CqDeEe [FAC]h

Or simultaneous sounds in a semicolon-separated list could be different colors:
{ [CEGBb]h''[GBDF]h; CeEbE'FeGbE'BbEDe'FeAe } could be written:
{ |[CEGBb]''[GBDF]h|; |CeEbE'FeGbE' BbeDe'FeAe| } to clearly distinguish left and right hand, for example - here the harmony chords first in magenta, then the single notes in green, and italics used to show with the ' notation to show where the 2-beat sets go together.