Musical Punctuation

Punctuation in music

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Similar to languages, music also has its own punctuation marks to help the listeners understand and enjoy what is played. If it weren’t for music’s punctuation marks, it would have been monotonous and boring to listen. Don’t worry, I won’t be going into technical details of music. This article is a short poem highlighting the different punctuation marks in music. Enjoy!

Music is a language
With its own punctuation
Everyone can enjoy
During all life moments

Slurs mark phrases of music as
Commas and semi-colons do in a sentence
Double bar lines mark the end of a piece as
Full-stops do in a sentence

Barlines mark measures as
Line breaks do in a paragraph
Cadences conclude a section as
Concluding sentences end paragraphs

Rests mark silence
Metronomes define the speed
Dynamics mark the loudness
Ornaments decorate notes

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Silva! I’m sorry that it took me so long to write this.

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Vijini Mallawaarachchi

Bioinformatician | Computational Genomics 🧬 | Data Science 👩🏻‍💻 | Music 🎵 | Astronomy 🔭 | Travel 🎒 | vijinimallawaarachchi.com