Musician use different symbols when they are writing a piece of music. You can think of the notes as nouns and verbs and the other symbols are adverbs and adjectives. Some symbols are related to volume (Dynamics) or how loud the piece is to be played. Other symbols may tell you the notes should be played in a specific way. Some examples of symbols in music composition are rests, half rests, flats, sharps and many others. Below is a chart of the most commonly used symbols in instrumentation and will help you in grasping the symbology behind music.
