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Right hand / Left hand

Convention​

Each bar is composed of 4 rows:

  • The first 2 rows, above the horizontal line, are for notes played by the right hand
  • The last 2 rows, below the horizontal line, are for notes played by the left hand
Hand convention

tip

If you are used to piano sheet music, this is the same principle: the upper part is the right hand and the lower part is the left hand.

Colors​

Black and white is good when using pen and paper, but in Notepan application we also associate a color with each hand. The color in itself is not important, but we use these ones as default:

  • Orange for the right hand
  • Blue for the left hand

The main advantage is that it allows to indicate the striking hand on the handpan representation as well:

Hand convention with colors

Chords​

Notes contained within the same column are played together as a chord. Consequently, we can play a maximum of 4 notes at a time: 2 with each hand (octopus are not covered in this article...).

Here are some examples:

Chords examples

Some subtleties...​

The 2 rows associated with each hand can be used interchangeably. Take the right hand for example, whether we write a note in the 1st row or in the 2nd row has no impact as they both represent the same hand. For that reason, the following notations are equivalent:

Equivalent notations 1Equivalent notations 2
Guidelines

Even though these notations are equivalent, the system was designed to be used as follow:

  • Use the 1st and 4th rows only to write chords that require more than 2 notes
  • Use the two middle rows (one for each hand) the rest of the time