# Help understanding piano music sheet



## Cedric

Hello,

I do not understand the following piano music sheet (Big My Secret, The Piano, Michael Nyman), can you please help ?









The second bar, treble clef, is it equivalent to this ?









2 x 6/16 = 6/8, the bar is filled. So why are there more notes on the original (first picture) ?
Why are 4 notes with Stems both up and down ? What do they mean?
I read this could be for a second voice, but how does that make sense for a piano sheet ?

Also, 2nd bar, there are 2 slurs top.
On the original, it seems there is also a slur from first to 3rd note. Does that make sense? How can there be 2 slurs at once ? Why do my notation software (Notation 6) refuse to add those 2 slurs at the same time?
Could it be a tie ? But doesn't a tie only like 2 notes of the same pitch ?

There are many similar bars where the count is only right if I account for 2 voices, such as bar 6 bass clef.
Even with 2 voices, I have not been successful in writing anything remotely similar with my software for bars like bar 19. It could be that I don't know it well enough or more probably, I'm fully mistaken on the meaning of the notation.

Any help welcome!
Thanks & have a nice day


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## Tikoo Tuba

I'd reckon your notation software is too stupid . Those manner of slurs may indicate music like water , of a flowing pulse only the artist with choices may convey .


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## EdwardBast

The two examples are not at all equivalent. The notation in the right hand uses stems in two directions to distinguish the melody (stems down) from accompaniment (stems up). The notes written stems down should be more prominent.

There are not two sets of slurs. Those are ties in the lower voice (stems down), indicating that those pitches should be sustained until the next melodic note--which, given the pedaling, would happen anyway. The composer could have written the first D in m. 2 (stem down) as a dotted quarter, but probably wanted to avoid the possibility that the dot would also be attributed to the D with stems up. 

Any decent notation program should be able to do what is seen in your first example. What software are you using?


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## david johnson

think of the top line of notes as a soprano part and the second part (stems down) as a simultaneous alto part


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## mbhaub

EdwardBast said:


> The two examples are not at all equivalent. The notation in the right hand uses stems in two directions to distinguish the melody (stems down) from accompaniment (stems up). The notes written stems down should be more prominent.
> 
> There are not two sets of slurs. Those are ties in the lower voice (stems down), indicating that those pitches should be sustained until the next melodic note--which, given the pedaling, would happen anyway. The composer could have written the first D in m. 2 (stem down) as a dotted quarter, but probably wanted to avoid the possibility that the dot would also be attributed to the D with stems up.
> 
> Any decent notation program should be able to do what is seen in your first example. What software are you using?


Very good explanation.
Any "good" notation program _should_ be able to do it, but some make it really hard to do. Cedric mentioned Notion6 which I don't know much about. Finale could do this, but even then those hanging ties with no "end" are tricky. Sibelius no problem.


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## Vasks

EdwardBast said:


> Those are ties in the lower voice (stems down), indicating that those pitches should be sustained until the next melodic note--which, given the pedaling, would happen anyway.


The alto D really could be notated as a dotted quarter as the thumb can hold down that note while the rest of the RH can play the remaining notes of the first half of measure.


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## Cedric

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the immense delay, I forget where I posted the question!

The composition software is Notation 6 from Presonus.


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