Score clue - Revision history

Ophir Lifshitz: /* Definition */ expand comment

2025-01-27T17:03:50Z

Definition: expand comment

Ophir Lifshitz: /* Definition */ trying this

2025-01-21T07:35:45Z

Definition: trying this

Ophir Lifshitz: /* Issues */ expand

2025-01-21T07:22:33Z

Issues: expand

Kevin Wang at 19:01, 20 January 2025

2025-01-20T19:01:35Z

Ophir Lifshitz: clarify lede, add examples, add some issues, wording

2025-01-18T11:14:50Z

clarify lede, add examples, add some issues, wording

Kevin Wang at 19:12, 17 January 2025

2025-01-17T19:12:15Z

Kevin Wang: Created page with "A '''score clue''' refers to a particular kind of clue in a music question that rewards a specific engagement with a score: # ''sensu lato'' it is used to spe..."

2025-01-17T19:00:55Z

Created page with "<onlyinclude>A '''score clue''' refers to a particular kind of clue in a music question that rewards a specific engagement with a score: # ''sensu lato'' it is used to spe..."

New page

<onlyinclude>A '''score clue''' refers to a particular kind of clue in a [[music]] question that rewards a specific engagement with a score:
# ''sensu lato'' it is used to specifically refer to "note-spelling" clues which list a series of tones in order ("D-E-F-F-etc"), sometimes with specific emphasis, timing, or direction.
# ''sensu stricto'' it is a clue which asks for any information which could be obtained from reading a score (hence "score clue"). This includes note-spelling but also things like instrumentation and tempo markings.</onlyinclude>

The former sense is much more common in general usage, to the point that some have explicitly spoke out against the "semantic narrowing".<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26461 Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[Adventure Temple Trail]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:54 pm</ref> The focus on a more specific definition rather than a broader one means the term has evolved in the opposite direction from terms like "[[stock clue]]".

==History==
Score clues (and note-spelling in particular) are notable for occupying a central role in the discussion of classical music questions.

The inclusion of "score clues" was a major part of the reforms of music writing in the early 2010s - they represented a concrete way to reward players for deeper engagement at a time when many questions were not doing so. The writing of notes allows one to directly clue things like themes and motifs instead of referring to them by names, opening the door for more segments to be clues and granting an advantage to people who have consumed those pieces.


===Overabundance===
The music reforms of the previous decade were so successful that score clues became abundant and then (eventually) maybe a little too abundant. Over the same period, the term "score clue" began to narrow to "note-spelling" as that particular variety began to dominate. With that earlier period of activism fading in the community's collective memory, many modern players argue against what they view as contentless strings of letters because they have never known a world before their popularization.

The downside of note-spelling is the barrier to entry. Besides the actual recognition required, the mental work required to parse a note-spelling is non-trivial - this is evinced by the fact that not all people who have listened to a piece can buzz on a corresponding clue, even if they have a music background. Some have compared it to [[comp math]],<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=392314#p392314 Re: Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[L.H.O.O.Q.]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:21 pm</ref> though the precision of this analogy is in dispute.

For people without the requisite training note-spelling clues are among the most arcane: beyond all other kinds of score clues and on par with things like "descriptions of mathematical formulae" or "untranslated foreign languages". Even a trained ear can fail to use a clue if it features an obscure segment or an awkward phrasing. This gap between who the clue is meant to reward (music players familiar with a piece) and who it actually does (potentially no one) is why an important part of writing score clues is to write them directly and write them well.<ref>[https://minkowski.space/quizbowl/articles/c-minor.html#succ Evasiveness in music tossups]</ref>

These issues were especially pronounced at lower difficulties like the high school level, where editors felt obligated to continue the trends that were ongoing in college quiz bowl but did not necessarily have the touch to ensure their clues were appropriate for an audience with less background knowledge.

The following is a useful list of other clues that one can use in music questions that reward the same sort of person as note-spelling:
{{Main page box|
{{q|There are dozens of ways to clue music, and there's nothing special about so-called "score clues" (meaning, there's no reason for them to be near the top of a hypothetical sorted list). An unsorted list of some music clue types: instrument mechanism · extended techniques · treatise · pedagogy · acoustics · pure theory · music notation · music publishers · music history · ethnomusicology · musicology/analysis · original analysis · arrangements/quotations · sounds similar · composition inception · composer quip · composer style · composer biography · composer relationships · musician biography · writings on composers · score clue · performance practice · performance/recording history · conductors · programmatic music · commonality (e.g. something depicted by music) · catalog numerology · term or coinage · literary basis}}

:-narbflaith guestourgenburger, [https://discord.com/channels/275279348855209984/275279348855209984/807436890402717716 Friday 2/2/2021] on [[the Discord]]
}}

{{Refs}}

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Information that can ''only'' be obtained by literally reading a score (so, via only a singular type of engagement) typically make for bad clues.
-<!-- link to example when IQBT 2024 is posted -->
+<!-- link to possible example when IQBT 2024 is posted;
 ==Examples==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 In general, the term carries two different meanings:
-<!--not sure lato/stricto are helpful here because the lato is really the narrower of two meanings and the stricto is the broader meaning-->
+# Narrowly, it is used to specifically refer to '''"note-spelling" clues''' that list a series of pitches in order ("D E F F"), sometimes with emphasis (rhythm), timing (duration), or directional (octave) cues.
-<!--yeah but that's funny-->
+# Broadly, it is a clue that asks for any information that could be obtained from reading a score. This includes note-spelling (as above) but also things like instrumentation and tempo markings.
-The former sense is much more common in general usage, to the point that some have explicitly spoke out against the "semantic narrowing"<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26461 Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[Adventure Temple Trail]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:54 pm</ref>. Some people use [[wikipedia:scare quotes|quotation marks]] around "score clue" as a nonendorsement the fairly ambiguous/misused term.
+The narrow sense has become more common in general usage over time, to the point that some have explicitly spoke out against the "semantic narrowing"<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26461 Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[Adventure Temple Trail]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:54 pm</ref>. Some people use [[wikipedia:scare quotes|quotation marks]] around "score clue" as a nonendorsement of the fairly ambiguous/misused term.
 <!-- commented out trivia: The focus on a more specific definition rather than a broader one means the term has evolved in the opposite direction from terms like "[[stock clue]]". -->

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 * Over the years and especially around their outset, score clues have been beset by factual mistakes, sometimes due to incorrectly transcribing from the score (especially by not noticing a clef or key signature, or treating a transposing instrument as being in concert pitch). A non-negligible amount of instances of such errors are documented on the forums.<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=281057#p281057] [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=315574#p315574] [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=389524#p389524] [https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=393211#p393211]</ref>
-* Directly related to that, score clues are rampant with [[original research]] – writing clues directly out of a score, not finding secondary sources where other people have described in English words whatever you want to clue as a way to affirm the essential question of "how does one know that players will know this?"
+* Directly related to that, score clues are rampant with [[original research]] – that is, writing clues directly out of a score, not finding [[secondary source]]s where other people have described in English words whatever you want to clue as a way to affirm the essential question of "how does one know that players will know this?" It's not a ''necessary'' condition, but "being written about" (or e.g. a likely-to-be-read notation in a Wikipedia article) is a useful barometer for how many people we might expect to know it.
 * Many moderators speed through score clues, even when preceded by directives like {{q|[read slowly]}}, unaware that it makes players miss what's important and thus makes the clue's inclusion useless.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 <!--not sure lato/stricto are helpful here because the lato is really the narrower of two meanings and the stricto is the broader meaning-->
 # ''sensu lato'', it is used to specifically refer to '''"note-spelling" clues''' that list a series of pitches in order ("D E F F"), sometimes with emphasis (rhythm), timing (duration), or directional (octave) cues.
 # ''sensu stricto'', it is a clue that asks for any information that could be obtained from reading a score. This includes note-spelling (as above) but also things like instrumentation and tempo markings.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<onlyinclude>A '''score clue''' refers to a particular kind of clue in a [[music]] question that rewards a specific engagement with a score:
+<onlyinclude>A '''score clue''' refers to a particular kind of clue in a [[music]] question that attempts to reward engagement with the actual musical content of a piece of music (which frequently, but not always, is notated in a [[wikipedia:sheet music|musical score/sheet music]] – hence "score clue"), as opposed to engagement with other facts that are merely "about" the piece.</onlyinclude>
-The former sense is much more common in general usage, to the point that some have explicitly spoke out against the "semantic narrowing".<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=26461 Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[Adventure Temple Trail]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 8:54 pm</ref> The focus on a more specific definition rather than a broader one means the term has evolved in the opposite direction from terms like "[[stock clue]]".
+==Definition==
 ==History==
-Score clues (and note-spelling in particular) are notable for occupying a central role in the discussion of classical music questions.
+Score clues (and note-spelling in particular) are notable for occupying a central role in the discussion of classical music questions in the [[modern era of quizbowl]].
-The inclusion of "score clues" was a major part of the reforms of music writing in the early 2010s - they represented a concrete way to reward players for deeper engagement at a time when many questions were not doing so. The writing of notes allows one to directly clue things like themes and motifs instead of referring to them by names, opening the door for more segments to be clues and granting an advantage to people who have consumed those pieces.
+The inclusion of "score clues" was a major part of the reforms of music question writing in the early 2010s – they represented a concrete way to reward players for deeper engagement at a time when many questions were not doing so. Using strings of pitches allows one to directly clue things like themes and motifs that do not have names, opening the door for more segments to be clues and granting an advantage to people who are familiar with those pieces.
 <!-- could use some more balance here - obviously score clues are good to but this mostly focuses on the bad -->
 ===Overabundance===
-The music reforms of the previous decade were so successful that score clues became abundant and then (eventually) maybe a little too abundant. Over the same period, the term "score clue" began to narrow to "note-spelling" as that particular variety began to dominate. With that earlier period of activism fading in the community's collective memory, many modern players argue against what they view as contentless strings of letters because they have never known a world before their popularization.
+The music reforms of the previous decade were so successful that score clues became abundant and then (eventually) maybe a little too abundant. Over the same period, the term "score clue" began to narrow to "note-spelling" as that particular variety became noticeable. With that earlier period of activism fading in the community's collective memory, many modern players argue against what they view as contentless strings of letters because they have never known a world before their popularization.
-The downside of note-spelling is the barrier to entry. Besides the actual recognition required, the mental work required to parse a note-spelling is non-trivial - this is evinced by the fact that not all people who have listened to a piece can buzz on a corresponding clue, even if they have a music background. Some have compared it to [[comp math]],<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=392314#p392314 Re: Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[L.H.O.O.Q.]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:21 pm</ref> though the precision of this analogy is in dispute.
+The downside of note-spelling is the barrier to entry. Besides the actual recognition required, the mental work required to parse and [[wikipedia:audiation|audiate]] a note-spelling is non-trivial – this is evinced by the fact that not all people who have listened to a piece can buzz on a corresponding clue, even if they have a music background. Some have compared it to [[comp math]]<ref>[https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=392314#p392314 Re: Can we cool it a bit with the "note-spelling"?] by [[L.H.O.O.Q.]] » Mon Nov 07, 2022 9:21 pm</ref> or to technical clues in [[science]] questions, although the precision of this analogy is in dispute.
-For people without the requisite training note-spelling clues are among the most arcane: beyond all other kinds of score clues and on par with things like "descriptions of mathematical formulae" or "untranslated foreign languages". Even a trained ear can fail to use a clue if it features an obscure segment or an awkward phrasing. This gap between who the clue is meant to reward (music players familiar with a piece) and who it actually does (potentially no one) is why an important part of writing score clues is to write them directly and write them well.<ref>[https://minkowski.space/quizbowl/articles/c-minor.html#succ Evasiveness in music tossups]</ref>
+For people without the requisite training, note-spelling clues are among the most arcane: beyond all other kinds of score clues and on par with things like "descriptions of mathematical formulae" or "untranslated foreign languages". Even a trained ear can fail to use a clue if it features an obscure segment or an awkward or evasive phrasing. This gap between who the clue is meant to reward (players familiar with a piece) and who it actually does (potentially no one) is why an important part of writing score clues is to write them directly and write them well.<ref>[https://minkowski.space/quizbowl/articles/c-minor.html#succ Evasiveness in music tossups]</ref>
-These issues were especially pronounced at lower difficulties like the high school level, where editors felt obligated to continue the trends that were ongoing in college quiz bowl but did not necessarily have the touch to ensure their clues were appropriate for an audience with less background knowledge.
+These issues were especially pronounced at lower difficulties like the high school level, where editors felt obligated to continue the trends that were ongoing in college quizbowl but did not necessarily have the touch to ensure their clues were appropriate for an audience with less background knowledge.
 The following is a useful list of other clues that one can use in music questions that reward the same sort of person as note-spelling:
@@ Line 24: / Line 62: @@
 {{q|There are dozens of ways to clue music, and there's nothing special about so-called "score clues" (meaning, there's no reason for them to be near the top of a hypothetical sorted list).  An unsorted list of some music clue types: instrument mechanism · extended techniques · treatise · pedagogy · acoustics · pure theory · music notation · music publishers · music history · ethnomusicology · musicology/analysis · original analysis · arrangements/quotations · sounds similar · composition inception · composer quip · composer style · composer biography · composer relationships · musician biography · writings on composers · score clue · performance practice · performance/recording history · conductors · programmatic music · commonality (e.g. something depicted by music) · catalog numerology · term or coinage · literary basis}}
-:-narbflaith guestourgenburger, [https://discord.com/channels/275279348855209984/275279348855209984/807436890402717716 Friday 2/2/2021] on [[the Discord]]
+:—narbflaith guestourgenburger, [https://discord.com/channels/275279348855209984/275279348855209984/807436890402717716 Friday 2/5/2021] on [[the Discord]]
 }}
 ==Other usages==
-The [[Dede Allen Memorial]] series of [[audio tournament]]s about film features literal score clues by playing clips from film scores.
+The [[Dede Allen Memorial]] series of [[audio tournament]]s about film features literal score clues by playing clips from [[wikipedia:film scores|film scores]].
 {{Refs}}