Funny Sheet Music Annotations

About

Funny Sheet Music Annotations refers to notations on sheet music that go beyond traditional directions regarding the speed or volume at which a musician should play and are often humorously coarse or direct.

Origin

One of the first examples of humorous notations on sheet music published online was posted on ClassicalConvert^[5] on January 25th, 2008. The piece, titled "Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz" is so covered in notations it seems comical.

Spread

On March 8th, 2012, Redditor FlipprNL posted an image of a piece of sheet music, titling the post "I've been playing bass a long time, & this is the best musical instruction I've ever seen" to the /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers^[8] subreddit. As of August 2014, the post has gained over 500 points.

On June 19th, 2012, College Humor^[7] posted an image of a piece of sheet music titled "Interspecies Orgy in Sheet Music."

On March 20th, 2012, Tumblr user thecatcherintheryebread^[2] posted an image of a piece of sheet music which reads:

"Play without bitching about the key."

As of August 2014, the image has gained over 150,000 notes.

On February 22nd, 2013, Tumblr use thecubantimelord^[3] posted a picture of sheet music calling for the musician to "tongue this D lightly." As of August 2014, the post has gained over 3,000 notes. On March 6th, 2013, College Humor^[1] published the image.

On July 6th, 2013, Redditor Born_From_Sugar posted an image titled "This is at the end of my Pomp and Circumstance sheet music… Seems about right." to the r/funny^[6] subreddit. As of August 2014, the image has gained over 2,000 points.

On November 5th, 2013, Tumblr user cootco19^[4]posted an image of a piece of sheet music which reads:

"Stand, turn around, bend over, and play oboe between leg."

As of August 2014, the image has gained over 1,000 notes.

Search Interest

External References