Music Scores, a Symbol Language

Every input to our senses is a stimulus, available for us to interpret as information, and from which we can derive further information. Our physical sensory receptors (our ears, eyes, etc.) can well be thought of as information "transducers" which convert external stimuli (changes in air pressure, light, etc.) into nerve impulses recognized by the brain. Music scores also portray the type of knowledge that require symbols because the composer of the musical piece writes using symbols. He or she also uses symbols to share the piece with the audience. Sheet music can be used as a record of, a guide to, or a means to perform, a piece of music. Although it does not take the place of the sound of a performed work, sheet music can be studied to create a performance and to elucidate aspects of the music that may not be obvious from mere listening. There are some pr-established symbols that represent the different notes that musicians combine in order to create the music we hear. Recently, scientific research on this topic has been growing rapidly, as scholars from diverse disciplines, including linguistics, cognitive science, music cognition, and neuroscience are drawn to the music-language interface as one way to explore the extent to which different mental abilities are processed by separate brain mechanisms.