notesshould

Notesshould is a hypothetical normative principle in music notation and digital composition. It describes guidelines whereby, in any given passage, the arrangement of notes should faithfully reflect the intended musical relationships while prioritizing legibility and clarity. It is not an official standard, but a topic of discussion in communities exploring how notation communicates ideas.

The term combines "notes" with "should" to express prescriptive guidance. It emerged in early 2010s online discussions among music theorists, educators, and software developers. While used informally, notesshould has later appeared in blog posts and forum debates as a shorthand for a set of recommended engraving and notation practices.

Core principles commonly associated with notesshould include: legibility of noteheads, stems, beams and spacing; harmonic alignment, so notes reflect the underlying chord progression; rhythmic precision, ensuring durations align with meter and beat subdivision; typographic consistency across a score, including font, size, and spacing; and pedagogical clarity, using notation that supports learners' understanding of musical structure.

Applications include guiding the design of notation engines and engraving software, shaping instructional materials for music theory and composition, and informing algorithmic generation of scores to produce readable results. Critics argue that notesshould can be overly prescriptive, potentially hindering expressive or unconventional notation, and that it is not universally adopted across genres.

See also: Musical notation, Engraving, Music typography, Algorithmic composition, Music theory.