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Wawalag

The Wawalag sisters, also written as Wauwaluk Wawilak Waggilak, Wagilag, or Wawalik, are ancestral creator beings whose story is part of widespread sacred rituals in the Aboriginal culture from Arnhem land, Northern Territory, Australia.

The story takes place in Dreamtime, a period of time in Aboriginal belief where ancestral beings created the land as well as the social and linguistic structures in it. The sisters are said to have helped draw linguistic and social differences amongst the clans in Arnhem Land, but the ceremonies associated with their stories create cultural unity.

According to the story, the sisters were travelling to the Arafura Sea, but had to stop as the elder sister was about to have a baby and needed to rest. Later on, the elder sister goes in the river to bathe with her child and the smell of afterbirth blood awakens Yulunggur, the Rainbow Serpent, who then comes out of its waterhole and swallows both sisters and the baby.

An understanding of a common narrative was developed through field-research by archaeologists such as Catherine Berndt, Lloyd Warner, and Ronald Berndt during the mid-1990s. Since then there has been an increase in the representation of the story through Aboriginal artwork that attempts to show the complexity of the story, and how it cannot be limited to the western idea of chronological storytelling.

Narrative
The story of the Wawalag (Wauwaluk, Wawilak, Waggilak, Wagilag, Wawalik) sisters takes place in Dreamtime, a period of time in Aboriginal belief where ancestral beings created the land as well as the social and linguistic structures in it. The sisters are said to have helped draw linguistic and social differences amongst the clans in Arnhem Land, but the ceremonies associated with their stories create cultural unity. The story varies across the different linguistic regions in Arnhem land, but they all share a similar pattern that explains the origins of the Djungguwan, Gunabibi and Ulmark rituals, three sacred ceremonies associated with fertility, marriage and age-grading. During these ceremonies each clan reveals more details about their version of the story through songs, dances and paintings; but access to these rituals is usually limited to initiated Dua males only.

An understanding of a common narrative was developed through field-research by archaeologists such as Catherine Berndt, Lloyd Warner and Ronald Berndt during the mid-1990s.

The myth tends to be told as a group of related events rather than a continuous narrative that follows a linear structure.

The storyline
It is said that the sisters were travelling from the south of Arnhem Land to the Arafura Sea, walking only through territory of Dua moiety. They gathered plants and animals along the way to prepare and eat later. They stop to rest and set camp near the Mirrirmina waterhole where the elder sister gives birth. While the younger sister prepared a fire to cook the food they had gathered, the elder sister takes the baby near the water to bathe him. Some of the residual afterbirth blood goes in the waterhole where Yurlunggur, the rainbow serpent, resides and attracts its attention. The food the younger sister was preparing comes back to life and crawls away from the fire and into the waterhole. The serpent removes a rock that was lying at the bottom of the well and throws it onto the land, the well starts filling up with more water and the land begins to flood. A dark cloud forms on top of where the sisters had set camp and a thunderstorm begins. Unaware that it was the snake causing the thunderstorm and the flooding, they build a hut to protect themselves.

When the sisters see Yurlunggur crawl out of its waterhole, they start singing the sacred songs, which are now part of the Djungguan, Ulmark, and Gunabibi ceremonies, in an attempt to keep the snake away. They continue to sing and dance, taking turns until the storm appears to ease, exhausted the sister seek refuge in the hut where they fall asleep. The serpent enters the hut and swallows both sisters and the baby, then it rises up to the sky and proceeds to finish singing the songs the sister were singing.

After swallowing the sisters and the baby, Yurlunggur and other totemic snakes gather together to tell one another what they had eaten. The snakes realise that they were not speaking the same dialect but despite this they could still communicate using the sacred songs. At first, Yulunggur tries to hide that he/she had eaten the sisters and their baby but he/she, feeling unwell, admits the truth and regurgitates them. The serpent swallows and regurgitates them again, and the third time he/she swallows them and takes them back to Wawilak country where he spits out the two sisters which then turn to stone

Regional variations
Each clan of Dua moiety has its own version of the story as the songs, dances and painting used to tell the story changes according to the relationship the ancestral beings had with the clan's land. The most common differences amongst the various interpretations are the places in which the sisters camped and the combination of plants and animals they gathered along the way. This is determined by the geographical location of a clan, as these details are often changed to make it more relatable to their context by using the animals and territory they are familiar with. The group of events that each clan has access to or ownership of also varies, meaning that the more clans a person is affiliated to, the more knowledge about the story they will have. People affiliated to the Marrakulu clan country, for example, have knowledge that focuses on the journey of the sisters from Nilitji to Guaka'wuy, where it is said that they encounter the first ancestral people of Australia, also known as Djuwany people.

Characteristics and associations
The sisters were from Ngukurr and they were part of the Wawalak clan which belongs to the Dua moiety, one of the many Australian Aboriginal kinship groups of the Yolngu people. Most commonly, the elder sister, Waimariwi, is pregnant while the younger one, Boaliri, is going through early puberty. In other versions, the younger sister is pregnant while the elder sister already has a baby that is around two to three years old. It is unclear what gender the baby is as it is addressed as both male and female. They were creation beings who travelled through Arnhem Land performing song and dance cycles that revealed, for the first time, the names of the places they were walking through and the plants and animals they gathered along the way. Because of this, they are associated with the development of moieties and language in Arnhem Land.

Moieties
The myth is closely associated with the importance of moieties and the avoidance practices that go along with them. In Arnhem Land, the Yolngu clans are divided into two moieties, Dua, also known as Dhuwa, and Yirritja. According to the story, the sisters only travel through Dua territory, meaning that everything they encountered also share the same moiety. In some versions of the story, there is a strong focus on the pregnancy being a result of an incestuous relationship between the elder sister and a Dua clansmen; while they may not be directly related, they share the same moiety, which is why the act is frowned upon. When the baby is born, the sisters encounter for the first time something that does not belong to the Dhua moiety, as children take the opposite moiety from their mother's, making the baby Yirritja.

Similarly, the Rainbow Serpent swallowing the sisters is also seen as an act of incest, as the serpent is also of Dua moiety. While it is unclear if Yulunggur, the serpent, is male or female because it is often referred to as both, the encounter between he/she and the sisters is often interpreted as a symbolism of sex.

Language
The story is also associated with the origin of linguistic differences in Arnhem Land. During their journey, the sisters were singing and naming the different plants and animals they were gathering as well as the territories they were passing through. They do this by using a range of dialects including Djaun, Rainbarngo, Djimba, Wawilak, and Liaalaomir. The emergence of linguistic differences is mainly addressed at the end of the story, when Yulunggur gathers with the other totemic serpents and realises that they speak different dialects.

Rituals and ceremonies
The story of these ancestral beings forms the basis of sacred rituals that are widespread across Arnhem Land. The story of the sisters embody what the clans consider their religious law and it is traditionally told through paintings, sculptures, song and dance cycles. These sacred laws, also referred to as madayin, are specific to each clan and they are taught during three ceremonies. Because of the sacred nature of these rituals, there is a restricted access to them and a limited understanding of the knowledge shared during them.

Djungguwan is considered the initiation ritual when young boys from the Dua moiety are circumcised and introduced to the cultural laws of their clan through the story of the sisters. In the narrative, the gender of the babies is ambiguous, sometimes they are referred to as sons or daughters, because they are yet to be circumcised. The removal of the foreskin marks the separation of what is considered the 'female part of male infants' Dua men and women come together to perform dance and song cycles which represent the snake awakening when it smelled the blood and exited the waterhole to make its way to the sisters’ hut. In 1966 footage of the ceremony was captured, parts of the ritual were not shown as they are only accessible for those taking part in the ritual or initiated Dua men.

Gunabibi is a fertility ritual that is done during dry season; the song and dance cycles focus on recreating the part of the story where the land was flooding because of the rain. The transition from dry season to wet is often seen as a symbol of fertility in the story, making this the main focus of this ritual. For weeks, both men and women perform together non-sacred songs until the bullroarer is turned, representing the voice of Yurlunggur.

Ulmark ceremony, also known as Ngurlmak, is the final ceremony and while it involves other myths, it "re-emphasizes the fertility elements and the bisexual symbolism already present in the first two" ceremonies.

These rituals belong to the Dhua moiety which means that the clans affiliated to it are the owners and custodians of the knowledge shared during them. However, clans of the Yirritja moiety are involved during some parts of these rituals

Totems and paintings
During these rituals, wooden sculptures and bark paintings are used as mnemonic devices to tell parts of the story and or represent the sisters. Some of these objects are considered sacred and can only be accessed and made by a select group of men. What limits how public the display of these objects can be is the ceremonial context not the design itself. The process behind making the wood-cravings is lengthy, a lot of detail goes into the totemic painting as the specific pattern and colours used is what symbolises the connection with the ancestral being. These painted designs can be used and adapted to other media, such as bark painting, sand sculpture, body painting, etc. Because the story varies among clans depending on their geographical origin, the design used also changes to fit their interpretation.

Sacred sites
Some of the locations mentioned in the story are considered ceremonial grounds while others have become sacred sites that cannot be visited. For example, the Mirrimina waterhole, which is where the sisters last camped before being swallowed by the serpent, can only be visited by elder clansmen. The Liaalaomir, Gunabibi and Ulmark dancing grounds, which according to the story were made by the impact of Yurlunggur falling sick to the ground after swallowing the sisters and their babies, are considered sacred territory where ceremonies are held.

Modern art and representation
Since the late 1990s there has been a shift in the way knowledge about the story is shared, making it more accessible to people outside of the Indigenous community from Arnhem Land, creating a better understanding of Aboriginal culture. There are still strong restrictions as to what type of knowledge can be shared, and the design and patterns used in the artistic representation of the story require pre-existing knowledge of the context to be fully understood; this helps maintain certain aspects private. Artists will often accompany their work with a brief description of the story but will avoid going into detail to respect the parts of the story that are considered sacred.

The exhibition The Painters of the Wagilag Sisters story 1937-1997 was an exhibition of the work of more than 100 Aboriginal artists held at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. It was curated by Nigel Lendon and Tim Bonyhady. Artists represented in the exhibition included:
 * Mawalan Marika, prominent artist and senior member of the Rirratjingu clan, who was also custodian of Djang'kawu stories and ceremonies
 * Ramingining artist Philip Gudthaykudthay (aka "Pussycat")

title: Wawalag


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Luis A. Ferré

Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo (February 17, 1904 – October 21, 2003) was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the governor of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973. He was the founder of the New Progressive Party, which advocates for Puerto Rico to become a state of the United States of America. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Early life
Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was born in the southern city of Ponce, Puerto Rico on February 17, 1904. Ferré's grandfather Maurice Ferré Perotín was a French engineer who was involved in the construction of the Panama Canal before settling in Cuba. Ferré's father, Antonio Ferré Bagayado or "Bacallao", was born in Havana, Cuba and grew up there. As a young man he immigrated to Puerto Rico, where he founded the company Puerto Rico Iron Works, in Barrio Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, Antonio Ferré met and married María Aguayo Casals, a cousin of both Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (whose mother was a Puerto Rico-born Catalan musician) and Carmelita Defilló Sanz (wife to Dominican politician and historian Manuel Arturo Peña Batlle and mother of Dominican paintist Fernando Peña Defilló). Antonio and María had four sons, Luis, José, Carlos and Hermán Ferré, and two daughters, Rosario and Isolina, this latter would become a nun of international prominence.

Ferré studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtaining his bachelor's degree in 1924 and master's degree in 1925, and music at the New England Conservatory of Music. During this time while living in Boston, Ferré developed an admiration for the "American way of democracy".

Industrialist
Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Ferré helped transform his father's company into a successful business from which he earned a fortune. In 1948, he acquired El Día, a fledgling newspaper that was later renamed El Nuevo Día, becoming the newspaper with the largest circulation in Puerto Rico at the time. In the 1950s, Ferré's Empresas Ferré (Ferre Enterprises) acquired Puerto Rico Cement and Ponce Cement, which capitalized on the economic boom which Puerto Rico enjoyed based on the ambitious industrialization projects undertaken in association with the Operation Bootstrap. Ferré's brother, José, had moved to Miami with his family. His son Maurice expanded a successful business there, selling bagged pre-mixed cement and sand under the name Mezcla Lista. Maurice Ferré was elected Mayor of Miami.

Political life
Ferré became active in politics in the 1940s. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ponce in 1940 and Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico in 1948.

Representative
In 1948, Puerto Ricans were allowed to elect their governor; previously the position was filled by appointment by the United States president. Luis Muñoz Marín was elected governor of Puerto Rico. A movement began which aimed to adopt a commonwealth relationship with the United States of America. In 1951, a referendum was held to decide whether to approve or not the option granted by the United States Congress to draft Puerto Rico's first constitution. Ferré abstained from participating in the process; the pro-statehood party to which he belonged favored the 1951 referendum. He believed that the process would mean "an acceptance of a colony and condemn the people to a perpetual condition of second class citizenship". Ferré later participated in the constitutional assembly created by the referendum, which drafted the constitution.

In 1952 the Constitution of Puerto Rico was adopted, renaming the body politic of the territory of Puerto Rico as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Ferré was elected as a member of the Constitutional Assembly. That same year Ferré was elected representative in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. He ran under the Republican Statehood Party ("Partido Estadista Republicano) and officially assumed his duties as representative on January 11, 1953.

Governor and Senator
On July 23, 1967, a plebiscite was held to decide if the people of Puerto Rico desired to become an independent nation, a state of the United States of America, or continue the commonwealth relation established in 1952. The majority of Puerto Ricans opted for the Commonwealth option (see Puerto Rican status referendums). Disagreement within the then pro-statehood party headed by Miguel A. García Méndez led Ferré and others to found the New Progressive Party (a.k.a., PNP).

In the following general election in 1968, Ferré ran for Governor and defeated Luis Negrón López, the candidate of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) by a slight margin. The ruling party had split with the creation of the People's Party, which ran incumbent PDP-elected Governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella as its gubernatorial candidate, ending Luis Muñoz Marín's PPD's hold on the governor's seat, which had lasted 20 years.

During Ferré's administration, Puerto Rico was in an economic boom at 7% GDP growth and the unemployment at 10%.https://grupocne.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/FLMM.pdf His work as governor of Puerto Rico included defending the federal minimum wage and granting workers a Christmas bonus. He visited Puerto Rican troops in Vietnam. In 1970, his first wife, Lorencita, died at La Fortaleza after being bed-ridden for years. Their daughter, Rosario Ferré, an acclaimed novelist and writer, stepped into the role of First Lady.

During his governorship, he paid special attention to youth affairs and bringing young Puerto Ricans into public service. He successfully had the Puerto Rico Constitution amended to lower the voting age to 18, strongly supported the New Progressive Party Youth organization as party president, and appointed then-young statehooders such as Antonio Quiñones Calderón and Francisco "Pompi" González to high-level administration jobs, campaigned for a 26-year-old at large House candidate, nominated a future Senate President and Secretary of State, teenager Kenneth McClintock as Puerto Rico delegate to the 1971 White House Conference on Youth, and strengthened college scholarship programs.

Before the Congress created the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1971, Ferré had already created Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality Board in 1970, charged with protecting the islands' environment.

In the elections of 1972 he sought reelection but lost to Rafael Hernández Colón of the PPD. The PPD had claimed that many corruption scandals (rather minor compared to similar ones in the various administrations following Ferré's) had been overlooked by the Ferré administration. A bloody student strike at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras in 1971 had been neutralized by the Puerto Rican police using brute force, something about which Ferré had mixed feelings. Hernández played the youth card in his campaign (when elected he was the youngest Puerto Rican governor). All these issues, along with the reunification of the People's Party and the PDP, contributed to a PDP win over Ferré in the election.

Ferré remained active in politics and in 1976, he was elected to the Senate of Puerto Rico. Ferré served as the eighth president of the Senate from 1977 to 1981 and continued serving as senator until 1985.

Years after leaving La Fortaleza, he married Tiody De Jesús, a nurse who later became a physician.

After serving as senator, Ferré continued to be active in politics, especially representing the United States Republican Party on the island. Between 1989 and 1991, Ferré served with former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, former representative Benny Frankie Cerezo, PNP leader Kenneth McClintock and former congressional staffer David Gerken as the New Progressive Party's negotiating team while Congress considered Puerto Rico political status legislation introduced by Senator J. Bennett Johnston.

Renaissance man
Ferré was also a talented pianist who recorded several albums of his piano music. On January 3, 1959 he founded the Museo de Arte de Ponce, in his hometown of Ponce. The museum initially displayed 71 paintings from his personal collection and today displays over 3,000 pieces. Among other things, Ferré is credited with having rescued from oblivion the painting Flaming June by the Victorian painter Frederic Lord Leighton – purchasing it in 1963, when it was considered "too old fashioned" and getting it prominently displayed at the Museo of Arte de Ponce.

El Centro de Bellas Artes, the center for performing arts in Santurce, Puerto Rico also bears his name, as well as the main highway connecting San Juan and Ponce. He also assisted in the creation of the Casals Festival and the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He was a member of Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity. As a sportsman, Ferré practiced fencing, and is honored annually with the "Campeonato Nacional de Esgrima" in Puerto Rico.

His philanthropic deeds and defense for democracy earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President George H. W. Bush on November 18, 1991.

Death and legacy
On September 29, 2003, Ferré was hospitalized with a urinary tract infection and underwent surgery for an intestinal blockage on October 1. While in the hospital, he developed pneumonia before finally succumbing to respiratory failure on the morning of October 21, 2003. He was 99 years old.

His body lay in state in Puerto Rico's capitol building in San Juan, then transported to his museum in Ponce, before being taken for a state funeral and burial in that city. His funeral and ceremonies honoring him were attended by numerous politicians. He is interred at the Las Mercedes Memorial Park in Ponce.

Among the awards that were bestowed on Luis A. Ferré was the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honor which was also subsequently bestowed on his sister Sor Isolina Ferre. The sculptor Tomás Batista was also commissioned to make a bust of Ferré, which is exhibited in the Ponce Museum of Art. Another Tomás Batista bust of him was unveiled by his widow, Tiody, Senate President Kenneth McClintock and Senate Vice President Orlando Parga in February, 2008 at the Senate of Puerto Rico's Hall of Governors.

In 2004 the historic United States Courthouse and Post Office Building in Ponce, Puerto Rico was named the Luis A. Ferré United States Courthouse and Post Office Building by an Act of the U.S. Congress.

The segment of Las Américas Avenue that includes the Museo de Arte de Ponce and the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico was renamed the Luis A. Ferré Boulevard in November, 2010, in his honor.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Luis A. Ferré


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Yhi

In Gamilaraay mythology, Yhi (sometimes also rendered Yarai/Yaay ) is a female creator spirit and personification of the sun. She chases Bahloo (the moon) across the sky; eclipses are said to happen when she catches up to him.

According to a creation story associated with her, Yhi slept until a whistle awakened her. When she opened her eyes, light fell on the Earth. Plants grew where she walked. She decided that, in addition to plants, she would make something that could dance. Searching for such an organism, Yhi found evil spirits beneath the earth who tried to sing her to death. But her warmth chased away the darkness, which was transformed into insects. She brought them to Earth and then found some ice caves in a mountain. She shone her light on the being resting inside and fishes and lizards came out, along with many kinds of birds, mammals and amphibians.

She then returned to her own world and blessed her creations with the change of the seasons and promised that, when they died, they would join her in the sky. When she disappeared, darkness came back and covered the Earth. The organisms thought she was not returning and were sad, but then came the first sunrise and Yhi returned.

Much later, the animals missed Yhi and she decided to return to ask them what was wrong. Kangaroo wanted to jump and Wombat wanted to wiggle on the ground, while Seal wanted to swim. Lizard wanted legs and Bat wanted wings, and the Platypus wanted something of everything. Yhi granted them what they wished, then returned to the sky and saw the Man, who had no woman and was unlike anything else she had created. While the man slept, Yhi turned all her power on a flower and soon, the man woke up and, joined by all the other animals, watched her. The flower then turned into a woman.

title: Yhi


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Sheet music

Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Arabic, or other languages – the medium of sheet music typically is paper (or, in earlier centuries, papyrus or parchment). However, access to musical notation since the 1980s has included the presentation of musical notation on computer screens and the development of scorewriter computer programs that can notate a song or piece electronically, and, in some cases, "play back" the notated music using a synthesizer or virtual instruments.

The use of the term "sheet" is intended to differentiate written or printed forms of music from sound recordings (on vinyl record, cassette, CD), radio or TV broadcasts or recorded live performances, which may capture film or video footage of the performance as well as the audio component. In everyday use, "sheet music" (or simply "music") can refer to the print publication of commercial sheet music in conjunction with the release of a new film, TV show, record album, or other unique or popular event which involves music. The first printed sheet music made with a printing press was made in 1473.

Sheet music is the basic form in which Western classical music is notated so that it can be learned and performed by solo singers or instrumentalists or musical ensembles. Many forms of traditional and popular Western music are commonly learned by singers and musicians "by ear", rather than by using sheet music (although in many cases, traditional and pop music may also be available in sheet music form).

The term score is a common alternative (and more generic) term for sheet music, and there are several types of scores, as discussed below. The term score can also refer to theatre music, orchestral music or songs written for a play, musical, opera or ballet, or to music or songs written for a television programme or film; for the last of these, see Film score.

Title and credit
Sheet music from the 20th and 21st century typically indicates the title of the song or composition on a title page or cover, or on the top of the first page, if there is no title page or cover. If the song or piece is from a movie, Broadway musical, or opera, the title of the main work from which the song/piece is taken may be indicated.

If the songwriter or composer is known, their name is typically indicated along with the title. The sheet music may also indicate the name of the lyric-writer, if the lyrics are by a person other than one of the songwriters or composers. It may also include the name of the arranger, if the song or piece has been arranged for the publication. No songwriter or composer name may be indicated for old folk music, traditional songs in genres such as blues and bluegrass, and very old traditional hymns and spirituals, because for this music, the authors are often unknown; in such cases, the word Traditional is often placed where the composer's name would ordinarily go.

Title pages for songs may have a picture illustrating the characters, setting, or events from the lyrics. Title pages from instrumental works may omit an illustration, unless the work is program music which has, by its title or section names, associations with a setting, characters, or story.

Musical notation
The type of musical notation varies a great deal by genre or style of music. In most classical music, the melody and accompaniment parts (if present) are notated on the lines of a staff using round note heads. In classical sheet music, the staff typically contains:
 * 1) a clef, such as bass clef 𝄢 or treble clef 𝄞
 * 2) a key signature indicating the key—for instance, a key signature with three sharps  is typically used for the key of either A major or F♯ minor
 * 3) a time signature, which typically has two numbers aligned vertically with the bottom number indicating the note value that represents one beat and the top number indicating how many beats are in a bar—for instance, a time signature of  indicates that there are two quarter notes (crotchets) per bar.

Most songs and pieces from the Classical period (c. 1750) onward indicate the piece's tempo using an expression—often in Italian—such as Allegro (fast) or Grave (slow) as well as its dynamics (loudness or softness). The lyrics, if present, are written near the melody notes. However, music from the Baroque era (c. 1600–1750) or earlier eras may have neither a tempo marking nor a dynamic indication. The singers and musicians of that era were expected to know what tempo and loudness to play or sing a given song or piece due to their musical experience and knowledge. In the contemporary classical music era (20th and 21st century), and in some cases before (such as the Romantic period in German-speaking regions), composers often used their native language for tempo indications, rather than Italian (e.g., "fast" or "schnell") or added metronome markings (e.g., ♩ = 100 beats per minute).

These conventions of classical music notation, and in particular the use of English tempo instructions, are also used for sheet music versions of 20th and 21st century popular music songs. Popular music songs often indicate both the tempo and genre: "slow blues" or "uptempo rock". Pop songs often contain chord names above the staff using letter names (e.g., C Maj, F Maj, G7, etc.), so that an acoustic guitarist or pianist can improvise a chordal accompaniment.

In other styles of music, different musical notation methods may be used. In jazz, for example, while most professional performers can read "classical"-style notation, many jazz tunes are notated using chord charts, which indicate the chord progression of a song (e.g., C, A7, d minor, G7, etc.) and its form. Members of a jazz rhythm section (a piano player, jazz guitarist and bassist) use the chord chart to guide their improvised accompaniment parts, while the "lead instruments" in a jazz group, such as a saxophone player or trumpeter, use the chord changes to guide their solo improvisation. Like popular music songs, jazz tunes often indicate both the tempo and genre: "slow blues" or "fast bop".

Professional country music session musicians typically use music notated in the Nashville Number System, which indicates the chord progression using numbers (this enables bandleaders to change the key at a moment's notice). Chord charts using letter names, numbers, or Roman numerals (e.g., I–IV–V) are also widely used for notating music by blues, R&B, rock music and heavy metal musicians. Some chord charts do not provide any rhythmic information, but others use slashes to indicate beats of a bar and rhythm notation to indicate syncopated "hits" that the songwriter wants all of the band to play together. Many guitar players and electric bass players learn songs and note tunes using tablature, which is a graphic representation of which frets and strings the performer should play. "Tab" is widely used by rock music and heavy metal guitarists and bassists. Singers in many popular music styles learn a song using only a lyrics sheet, learning the melody and rhythm "by ear" from the recording.

Purpose and use
Sheet music can be used as a record of, a guide to, or a means to perform, a song or piece of music. Sheet music enables instrumental performers who are able to read music notation (a pianist, orchestral instrument players, a jazz band, etc.) or singers to perform a song or piece. Music students use sheet music to learn about different styles and genres of music. The intended purpose of an edition of sheet music affects its design and layout. If sheet music is intended for study purposes, as in a music history class, the notes and staff can be made smaller and the editor does not have to be worried about page turns. For a performance score, however, the notes have to be readable from a music stand and the editor has to avoid excessive page turns and ensure that any page turns are placed after a rest or pause (if possible). As well, a score or part in a thick bound book will not stay open, so a performance score or part needs to be in a thinner binding or use a binding format which will lie open on a music stand.

In classical music, authoritative musical information about a piece can be gained by studying the written sketches and early versions of compositions that the composer might have retained, as well as the final autograph score and personal markings on proofs and printed scores.

Comprehending sheet music requires a special form of literacy: the ability to read music notation. An ability to read or write music is not a requirement to compose music. There have been a number of composers and songwriters who have been capable of producing music without the capacity themselves to read or write in musical notation, as long as an amanuensis of some sort is available to write down the melodies they think of. Examples include the blind 18th-century composer John Stanley and the 20th-century songwriters Lionel Bart, Irving Berlin and Paul McCartney. As well, in traditional music styles such as the blues and folk music, there are many prolific songwriters who could not read music, and instead played and sang music "by ear".

The skill of sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time. Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music, jazz and related forms. An even more refined skill is the ability to look at a new piece of music and hear most or all of the sounds (melodies, harmonies, timbres, etc.) in one's head without having to play the piece or hear it played or sung. Skilled composers and conductors have this ability, with Beethoven being a noted historical example. Not everyone has that specific skill. For some people music sheets are meaningless, whereas others may view them as melodies and a form of art. Classical musicians playing orchestral works, chamber music, sonatas and singing choral works ordinarily have the sheet music in front of them on a music stand when performing (or held in front of them in a music folder, in the case of a choir), with the exception of solo instrumental performances of solo pieces, concertos, or solo vocal pieces (art song, opera arias, etc.), where memorization is expected. In jazz, which is mostly improvised, sheet music (called a lead sheet in this context) is used to give basic indications of melodies, chord changes, and arrangements. Even when a jazz band has a lead sheet, chord chart or arranged music, many elements of a performance are improvised.

Handwritten or printed music is less important in other traditions of musical practice, however, such as traditional music and folk music, in which singers and instrumentalists typically learn songs "by ear" or from having a song or tune taught to them by another person. Although much popular music is published in notation of some sort, it is quite common for people to learn a song by ear. This is also the case in most forms of western folk music, where songs and dances are passed down by oral – and aural – tradition. Music of other cultures, both folk and classical, is often transmitted orally, though some non-Western cultures developed their own forms of musical notation and sheet music as well.

Although sheet music is often thought of as being a platform for new music and an aid to composition (i.e., the composer "writes" the music down), it can also serve as a visual record of music that already exists. Scholars and others have made transcriptions to render Western and non-Western music in readable form for study, analysis and re-creative performance. This has been done not only with folk or traditional music (e.g., Bartók's volumes of Magyar and Romanian folk music), but also with sound recordings of improvisations by musicians (e.g., jazz piano) and performances that may only partially be based on notation. An exhaustive example of the latter in recent times is the collection The Beatles: Complete Scores (London: Wise Publications, 1993), which seeks to transcribe into staves and tablature all the songs as recorded by the Beatles in instrumental and vocal detail.

Types
Modern sheet music may come in different formats. If a piece is composed for just one instrument or voice (such as a piece for a solo instrument or for a cappella solo voice), the whole work may be written or printed as one piece of sheet music. If an instrumental piece is intended to be performed by more than one person, each performer will usually have a separate piece of sheet music, called a part, to play from. This is especially the case in the publication of works requiring more than four or so performers, though invariably a full score is published as well. The sung parts in a vocal work are not usually issued separately today, although this was historically the case, especially before music printing made sheet music widely available.

Sheet music can be issued as individual pieces or works (for example, a popular song or a Beethoven sonata), in collections (for example works by one or several composers), as pieces performed by a given artist, etc.

When the separate instrumental and vocal parts of a musical work are printed together, the resulting sheet music is called a score. Conventionally, a score consists of musical notation with each instrumental or vocal part in vertical alignment (meaning that concurrent events in the notation for each part are arranged in parallel). The term score has also been used to refer to sheet music written for only one performer. The distinction between score and part applies when there is more than one part needed for performance.

Scores come in various formats.

Full scores, variants, and condensations
A full score is a large book showing the music of all instruments or voices in a composition lined up in a fixed order. It is large enough for a conductor to be able to read while directing orchestra or opera rehearsals and performances. In addition to their practical use for conductors leading ensembles, full scores are also used by musicologists, music theorists, composers and music students who are studying a given work.

A miniature score is like a full score but much reduced in size. It is too small for use in a performance by a conductor, but handy for studying a piece of music, whether it be for a large ensemble or a solo performer. A miniature score may contain some introductory remarks.

A study score is sometimes the same size as, and often indistinguishable from, a miniature score, except in name. Some study scores are octavo size and are thus somewhere between full and miniature score sizes. A study score, especially when part of an anthology for academic study, may include extra comments about the music and markings for learning purposes.

A piano score (or piano reduction) is a more or less literal transcription for piano of a piece intended for many performing parts, especially orchestral works; this can include purely instrumental sections within large vocal works (see vocal score immediately below). Such arrangements are made for either piano solo (two hands) or piano duet (one or two pianos, four hands). Extra small staves are sometimes added at certain points in piano scores for two hands to make the presentation more complete, though it is usually impractical or impossible to include them while playing.

As with vocal score (below), it takes considerable skill to reduce an orchestral score to such smaller forms because the reduction needs to be not only playable on the keyboard but also thorough enough in its presentation of the intended harmonies, textures, figurations, etc. Sometimes markings are included to show which instruments are playing at given points.

While piano scores are usually not meant for performance outside of study and pleasure (Franz Liszt's concert transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies being one group of notable exceptions), ballets get the most practical benefit from piano scores because with one or two pianists they allow the ballet to do many rehearsals at a much lower cost, before an orchestra has to be hired for the final rehearsals. Piano scores can also be used to train beginning conductors, who can conduct a pianist playing a piano reduction of a symphony; this is much less costly than conducting a full orchestra. Piano scores of operas do not include separate staves for the vocal parts, but they may add the sung text and stage directions above the music.

A part is an extraction from the full score of a particular instrument's part. It is used by orchestral players in performance, where the full score would be too cumbersome. However, in practice, it can be a substantial document if the work is lengthy, and a particular instrument is playing for much of its duration.

Vocal scores
A vocal score (or, more properly, piano-vocal score) is a reduction of the full score of a vocal work (e.g., opera, musical, oratorio, cantata, etc.) to show the vocal parts (solo and choral) on their staves and the orchestral parts in a piano reduction (usually for two hands) underneath the vocal parts; the purely orchestral sections of the score are also reduced for piano. If a portion of the work is a cappella, a piano reduction of the vocal parts is often added to aid in rehearsal (this often is the case with a cappella religious sheet music).

Piano-vocal scores serve as a convenient way for vocal soloists and choristers to learn the music and rehearse separately from the orchestra. The vocal score of a musical typically does not include the spoken dialogue, except for cues. Piano-vocal scores are used to provide piano accompaniment for the performance of operas, musicals and oratorios by amateur groups and some small-scale professional groups. This may be done by a single piano player or by two piano players. With some 2000s-era musicals, keyboardists may play synthesizers instead of piano.

The related but less common choral score contains the choral parts with reduced accompaniment.

The comparable organ score exists as well, usually in association with church music for voices and orchestra, such as arrangements (by later hands) of Handel's Messiah. It is like the piano-vocal score in that it includes staves for the vocal parts and reduces the orchestral parts to be performed by one person. Unlike the vocal score, the organ score is sometimes intended by the arranger to substitute for the orchestra in performance if necessary.

A collection of songs from a given musical is usually printed under the label vocal selections. This is different from the vocal score from the same show in that it does not present the complete music, and the piano accompaniment is usually simplified and includes the melody line.

Other types
A short score is a reduction of a work for many instruments to just a few staves. Rather than composing directly in full score, many composers work out some type of short score while they are composing and later expand the complete orchestration. An opera, for instance, may be written first in a short score, then in full score, then reduced to a vocal score for rehearsal. Short scores are often not published; they may be more common for some performance venues (e.g., band) than in others. Because of their preliminary nature, short scores are the principal reference point for those composers wishing to attempt a 'completion' of another's unfinished work (e.g. Movements 2 through 5 of Gustav Mahler's 10th Symphony or the third act of Alban Berg's opera Lulu).

An open score is a score of a polyphonic piece showing each voice on a separate staff. In Renaissance or Baroque keyboard pieces, open scores of four staves were sometimes used instead of the more modern convention of one staff per hand. It is also sometimes synonymous with full score (which may have more than one part per staff).

In a close score, all voice parts are represented on the two major staffs (treble and bass staffs).

Scores from the Baroque period (1600–1750) are very often in the form of a bass line in the bass clef and the melodies played by instrument or sung on an upper stave (or staves) in the treble clef. The bass line typically had figures written above the bass notes indicating which intervals above the bass (e.g., chords) should be played, an approach called figured bass. The figures indicate which intervals the harpsichordist, pipe organist or lute player should play above each bass note.

Popular music
A lead sheet specifies only the melody, lyrics and harmony, using one staff with chord symbols placed above and lyrics below. It is commonly used in popular music and in jazz to capture the essential elements of song without specifying the details of how the song should be arranged or performed.

A chord chart (or simply, chart) contains little or no melodic information at all but provides fundamental harmonic information. Some chord charts also indicate the rhythm that should be played, particularly if there is a syncopated series of "hits" that the arranger wants all of the rhythm section to perform. Otherwise, chord charts either leave the rhythm blank or indicate slashes for each beat.

This is the most common kind of written music used by professional session musicians playing jazz or other forms of popular music and is intended for the rhythm section (usually containing piano, guitar, bass and drums) to improvise their accompaniment and for any improvising soloists (e.g., saxophone players or trumpet players) to use as a reference point for their extemporized lines.

A fake book is a collection of jazz songs and tunes with just the basic elements of the music provided. There are two types of fake books: (1) collections of lead sheets, which include the melody, chords, and lyrics (if present), and (2) collections of songs and tunes with only the chords. Fake books that contain only the chords are used by rhythm section performers (notably chord-playing musicians such as electric guitarists and piano players and the bassist) to help guide their improvisation of accompaniment parts for the song. Fake books with only the chords can also be used by "lead instruments" (e.g., saxophone or trumpet) as a guide to their improvised solo performances. Since the melody is not included in chord-only fake books, lead instrument players are expected to know the melody.

A tablature (or tab) is a special type of musical score – most typically for a solo instrument – which shows where to play the pitches on the given instrument rather than which pitches to produce, with rhythm indicated as well. Tablature is widely used in the 2000s for guitar and electric bass songs and pieces in popular music genres such as rock music and heavy metal music. This type of notation was first used in the late Middle Ages, and it has been used for keyboard (e.g., pipe organ) and for fretted string instruments (lute, guitar).

Song sheets
Song sheets are the printed lyrics without musical notation. Academic studies of American music call these sheets songsters. Over the first half of the 20th century, lyrics to songs were printed and sold individually, in collections on newspaper-sized sheets, combined into booklets, and in magazines. Song sheets typically included photographs of famous entertainers associated with the song, as well as attributions to musical theater and films.

Song sheets were recognized as competition to sheet music by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1930, when a representative said, "Thousands now learn the popular melodies from the radio, the publishers state. With the lyrics available for five or ten cents and the strain known, impulse to buy sheet music is eliminated." While sheet music for a song might cost thirty or thirty-five cents, a song sheet typically sold for a nickel or a dime. Choral societies would buy a single copy of the sheet music for the pianist and then multiple song sheets for the singers.

When the lyrics are printed without permission from the copyright owner, the song sheets are called bootleg song sheets. Song-sheet bootlegging was seen as a minor problem in Chicago in the early 1890s, but became a significant issue from 1929 through the 1930s. The first publishers and distributors of bootleg song sheets were charged with criminal copyright infringement in February, 1930. Through the efforts of the Music Publishers' Protective Association and law enforcement, as well as the advent of legal song sheet magazines, song-sheet bootlegging ended in the early 1940s.

The first legitimate song sheet magazines began in 1934, and Lyle Engel's Song Hits which was first published in 1937 was successful for decades. Song sheet magazines included advertisements, gossip columns, record reviews, and promotional biographies of celebrities.

History
Outside modern eurocentric cultures exists a wide variety of systems of musical notation, each adapted to the particular needs of the musical cultures in question, and some highly evolved classical musics do not use notation at all (or only in rudimentary forms as mnemonic aids) such as the khyal and dhrupad forms of Northern India. Western musical notation systems describe only music adapted to the needs of musical forms and instruments based on equal temperament, but are ill-equipped to describe musics of other types, such as the courtly forms of Japanese gagaku, Indian dhrupad, or the percussive music of ewe drumming. The infiltration of Western staff notation into these cultures has been described by the musicologist Alain Daniélou and others as a process of cultural imperialism.

Precursors to sheet music
Musical notation was developed before parchment or paper were used for writing. The earliest form of musical notation can be found in a cuneiform tablet that was created at Nippur, in Sumer (today's Iraq), in about 2000 BC. The tablet represents fragmentary instructions for performing music, that the music was composed in harmonies of thirds, and that it was written using a diatonic scale.

A tablet from about 1250 BC shows a more developed form of notation. Although the interpretation of the notation system is still controversial, it is clear that the notation indicates the names of strings on a lyre, the tuning of which is described in other tablets. Although they are fragmentary, these tablets represent the earliest notated melodies found anywhere in the world.

Ancient Greek musical notation was in use from at least the 6th century BC until approximately the 4th century AD; several complete compositions and fragments of compositions using this notation survive. The notation consists of symbols placed above text syllables. An example of a complete composition is the Seikilos epitaph, which has been variously dated between the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD.

In ancient Greek music, three hymns by Mesomedes of Crete exist in manuscript. One of the oldest known examples of music notation is a papyrus fragment of the Hellenic era play Orestes (408 BC), which contains musical notation for a choral ode. Ancient Greek notation appears to have fallen out of use around the time of the Decline of the Roman Empire.

Western manuscript notation
Before the 15th century, Western music was written by hand and preserved in manuscripts, usually bound in large volumes. The best-known examples of Middle Ages music notation are medieval manuscripts of monophonic chant. Chant notation indicated the notes of the chant melody, but without any indication of the rhythm. In the case of Medieval polyphony, such as the motet, the parts were written in separate portions of facing pages. This process was aided by the advent of mensural notation, which also indicated the rhythm and was paralleled by the medieval practice of composing parts of polyphony sequentially, rather than simultaneously (as in later times). Manuscripts showing parts together in score format were rare and limited mostly to organum, especially that of the Notre Dame school. During the Middle Ages, if an Abbess wanted to have a copy of an existing composition, such as a composition owned by an Abbess in another town, she would have to hire a copyist to do the task by hand, which would be a lengthy process and one that could lead to transcription errors.

Even after the advent of music printing in the mid-1400s, much music continued to exist solely in composers' hand-written manuscripts well into the 18th century.

15th century
There were several difficulties in translating the new printing press technology to music. In the first printed book to include music, the Mainz Psalter (1457), the music notation (both staff lines and notes) was added in by hand. This is similar to the room left in other incunabula for capitals. The psalter was printed in Mainz, Germany, by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, and one now resides in Windsor Castle and another at the British Library. Later, staff lines were printed, but scribes still added in the rest of the music by hand. The greatest difficulty in using movable type to print music is that all the elements must line up – the note head must be properly aligned with the staff. In vocal music, text must be aligned with the proper notes (although at this time, even in manuscripts, this was not a high priority).

Music engraving is the art of drawing music notation at high quality for the purpose of mechanical reproduction. The first machine-printed music appeared around 1473, approximately 20 years after Gutenberg introduced the printing press. In 1501, Ottaviano Petrucci published Harmonice Musices Odhecaton A, which contained 96 pieces of printed music. Petrucci's printing method produced clean, readable, elegant music, but it was a long, difficult process that required three separate passes through the printing press. Petrucci later developed a process which required only two passes through the press. But it was still taxing since each pass required very precise alignment for the result to be legible (i.e., so that the note heads would be correctly lined up with the staff lines). This was the first well-distributed printed polyphonic music. Petrucci also printed the first tablature with movable type. Single impression printing, in which the staff lines and notes could be printed in one pass, first appeared in London around 1520. Pierre Attaingnant brought the technique into wide use in 1528, and it remained little changed for 200 years.

A common format for issuing multi-part, polyphonic music during the Renaissance was partbooks. In this format, each voice-part for a collection of five-part madrigals, for instance, would be printed separately in its own book, such that all five part-books would be needed to perform the music. The same partbooks could be used by singers or instrumentalists. Scores for multi-part music were rarely printed in the Renaissance, although the use of score format as a means to compose parts simultaneously (rather than successively, as in the late Middle Ages) is credited to Josquin des Prez.

The effect of printed music was similar to the effect of the printed word, in that information spread faster, more efficiently, at a lower cost, and to more people than it could through laboriously hand-copied manuscripts. It had the additional effect of encouraging amateur musicians of sufficient means, who could now afford sheet music, to perform. This in many ways affected the entire music industry. Composers could now write more music for amateur performers, knowing that it could be distributed and sold to the middle class.

This meant that composers did not have to depend solely on the patronage of wealthy aristocrats. Professional players could have more music at their disposal and they could access music from different countries. It increased the number of amateurs, from whom professional players could then earn money by teaching them. Nevertheless, in the early years, the cost of printed music limited its distribution. Another factor that limited the impact of printed music was that in many places, the right to print music was granted by the monarch, and only those with a special dispensation were allowed to do so, giving them a monopoly. This was often an honour (and economic boon) granted to favoured court musicians or composers.

16th century
Mechanical plate engraving was developed in the late sixteenth century. Although plate engraving had been used since the early fifteenth century for creating visual art and maps, it was not applied to music until 1581. In this method, a mirror image of a complete page of music was engraved onto a metal plate. Ink was then applied to the grooves, and the music print was transferred onto paper. Metal plates could be stored and reused, which made this method an attractive option for music engravers. Copper was the initial metal of choice for early plates, but by the eighteenth century, pewter became the standard material due to its malleability and lower cost.

Plate engraving was the methodology of choice for music printing until the late nineteenth century, at which point its decline was hastened by the development of photographic technology. Nevertheless, the technique has survived to the present day and is still occasionally used by select publishers such as G. Henle Verlag in Germany.

As musical composition increased in complexity, so too did the technology required to produce accurate musical scores. Unlike literary printing, which mainly contains printed words, music engraving communicates several different types of information simultaneously. To be clear to musicians, it is imperative that engraving techniques allow absolute precision. Notes of chords, dynamic markings, and other notation line up with vertical accuracy. If text is included, each syllable matches vertically with its assigned melody. Horizontally, subdivisions of beats are marked not only by their flags and beams, but also by the relative space between them on the page. The logistics of creating such precise copies posed several problems for early music engravers, and have resulted in the development of several music engraving technologies.

19th century
In the 19th century, the music industry was dominated by sheet music publishers. In the United States, the sheet music industry rose in tandem with blackface minstrelsy. The group of New York City-based music publishers, songwriters and composers dominating the industry was known as "Tin Pan Alley". In the mid-19th century, copyright control of melodies was not as strict, and publishers would often print their own versions of the songs popular at the time. With stronger copyright protection laws late in the century, songwriters, composers, lyricists, and publishers started working together for their mutual financial benefit. New York City publishers concentrated on vocal music. The biggest music houses established themselves in New York City, but small local publishers – often connected with commercial printers or music stores – continued to flourish throughout the country. An extraordinary number of East European immigrants became the music publishers and songwriters on Tin Pan Alley-the most famous being Irving Berlin. Songwriters who became established producers of successful songs were hired to be on the staff of the music houses.

The late-19th century saw a massive explosion of parlor music, with ownership of, and skill at playing the piano becoming de rigueur for the middle-class family. In the late-19th century, if a middle-class family wanted to hear a popular new song or piece, they would buy the sheet music and then perform the song or piece in an amateur fashion in their home. But in the early 20th century the phonograph and recorded music grew greatly in importance. This, joined by the growth in popularity of radio broadcasting from the 1920s on, lessened the importance of the sheet music publishers. The record industry eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the music industry's largest force.

20th century and early 21st century
In the late 20th and into the 21st century, significant interest has developed in representing sheet music in a computer-readable format (see music notation software), as well as downloadable files. Music OCR, software to "read" scanned sheet music so that the results can be manipulated, has been available since 1991.

In 1998, virtual sheet music evolved further into what was to be termed digital sheet music, which for the first time allowed publishers to make copyright sheet music available for purchase online. Unlike their hard copy counterparts, these files allowed for manipulation such as instrument changes, transposition and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) playback. The popularity of this instant delivery system among musicians appears to be acting as a catalyst of new growth for the industry well into the foreseeable future.

An early computer notation program available for home computers was Music Construction Set, developed in 1984 and released for several different platforms. Introducing concepts largely unknown to the home user of the time, it allowed manipulation of notes and symbols with a pointing device such as a mouse; the user would "grab" a note or symbol from a palette and "drop" it onto the staff in the correct location. The program allowed playback of the produced music through various early sound cards, and could print the musical score on a graphics printer.

Many software products for modern digital audio workstation and scorewriters for general personal computers support generation of sheet music from MIDI files, by a performer playing the notes on a MIDI-equipped keyboard or other MIDI controller or by manual entry using a mouse or other computer device.

By 1999, a system and method for coordinating music display among players in an orchestra was patented by Harry Connick Jr. It is a device with a computer screen which is used to show the sheet music for the musicians in an orchestra instead of the more commonly used paper. Connick uses this system when touring with his big band, for instance. With the proliferation of wireless networks and iPads similar systems have been developed. In the classical music world, some string quartet groups use computer screen-based parts. There are several advantages to computer-based parts. Since the score is on a computer screen, the user can adjust the contrast, brightness and even the size of the notes, to make reading easier. In addition, some systems will do "page turns" using a foot pedal, which means that the performer does not have to miss playing music during a page turn, as often occurs with paper parts.

Of special practical interest for the general public is the Mutopia project, an effort to create a library of public domain sheet music, comparable to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) is also attempting to create a virtual library containing all public domain musical scores, as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world free of charge.

Some scorewriter computer programs have a feature that is very useful for composers and arrangers: the ability to "play back" the notated music using synthesizer sounds or virtual instruments. Due to the high cost of hiring a full symphony orchestra to play a new composition, before the development of these computer programs, many composers and arrangers were only able to hear their orchestral works by arranging them for piano, organ or string quartet. While a scorewiter program's playback will not contain the nuances of a professional orchestra recording, it still conveys a sense of the tone colors created by the piece and of the interplay of the different parts.

Archives of scanned works

 * IMSLP – Public domain sheet music library of PDF files, International Music Score Library Project
 * Music for the Nation – American sheet music archive, Library of Congress
 * Historic American Sheet Music – Duke University Libraries Digital Collections, more than 3000 pieces of sheet music published in the United States between 1850 and 1920.
 * Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection – sheet music project of The Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University.
 * Pacific Northwest Sheet Music Collection, University of Washington Libraries
 * IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana, sheet music from the Indiana University Lilly Library, the Indiana State Library, the Indiana State Museum, and the Indiana Historical Society.
 * Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki) – free sheet music archive with emphasis on choral music; contains works in PDF and also other formats.
 * Mutopia project – free sheet music archive in which all pieces have been newly typeset with GNU LilyPond as PDF and PostScript.
 * Project Gutenberg – sheet music section of Project Gutenberg containing works in Finale or MusicXML format.

title: Sheet music


text:
Wurrunna

In Gamilaraay mythology, Wurrunna (also Wurrunnah) is a culture hero.

The Dreamtime story of the black swans tells how two brothers were turned into white swans so they could help an attack party during a raid for weapons. Wurrunna used a large gubbera, or crystal stone, to transform the men. After the raid, eaglehawks attacked the white swans and tore feathers from the birds. Crows who were enemies of the eaglehawks came to the aid of the brothers and gave the black swans their own black feathers. The black swan's red beak is said to be the blood of the attacked brothers, which stayed there forever.

title: Wurrunna


text:
Wuriupranili

In the mythology of the Tiwi people of northern Australia, the Sun Woman Wuriupranili (or Wuriunpranilli) is a solar goddess whose stringybark torch is the Sun. When she wakes each morning in the east, she lights a small fire, which mankind sees as the first glow of dawn. She then decorates her face and body with red ochre. Often, the pigment is blown into the air where it stains the clouds, resulting in a red sunrise. As Wuriupranili prepares herself for her journey across the sky, the birds break into song, waking the men and women. Finally, she lights her stringybark torch from the campfire, then travels across the sky to her evening camp in the west. When she disappears below the western horizon, she puts out her torch and redecorates her body with ochre, causing brilliantly-coloured sunsets. As night settles, she returns to her eastern morning camp via a tunnel.

title: Wuriupranili


text:
Wurugag and Waramurungundi

In Aboriginal Australian mythology (specifically: Kunwinjku), Wurugag and Waramurungundi are the first man and woman, respectively. Waramurungundi is said to have given birth to all living things and taught language to the people of Australia.

title: Wurugag and Waramurungundi


text:
Leofric

Leofric is an Old English name meaning "Friendly Kingdom", composed of "Leof" meaning friendly or desirable, and "ric" meaning kingdom or governmental state. The name may refer to

 * Leofric (bishop) (1016–1072), English religious leader
 * Leofric (fl. 1070) (fl. 1070), English writer
 * Leofric, Earl of Mercia (968–1057), English noble and benefactor of churches

title: Leofric


text:
Walo

Walo may refer to:
 * Walo (rodent)
 * Waalo, an empire of Senegal and Mauritania between the 13th and 19th centuries
 * WALO, a radio station of Puerto Rico, US
 * Walo language, spoken in Mali
 * Prix Walo, an award in Swiss show business

People with the name

 * Walo Hörning (1910–1986), Swiss fencer
 * Walo Lüönd (1927–2012), Swiss movie actor

title: Walo