Music notation writes pitch on a vertical staff and rhythm through the shapes of note heads.

The longer version

Pitch is written as vertical position: each line and space of the staff stands for one step of a scale, and a symbol at the left fixes which step each one means. Duration is encoded separately by the shape of the head, the presence of a stem and any flags or beams.

Separating the two axes lets a reader recover height and length independently, which is why the system spread widely. It records instructions rather than the wave itself, so two performances of one page can differ in speed, attack and colour. Marks for loudness and articulation are layered on afterwards.

Where this entry sits

Sound and Music gathers facts about how vibrations move through air and water, how ears turn them into meaning, and how instruments and notation shape what listeners hear. Expect echoes, pitch, volume, acoustics, and the odd silence in between. The full list sits on the Sound and Music page, where every entry is listed in order.