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source: https://www.w3.org/2021/06/musicxml40/musicxml-reference/elements/notehead/
downloaded: 2026-01-30T08:43:21.511Z
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# The <notehead> element | MusicXML 4.0


MusicXML 4.0 >
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    Elements >
    notehead


# The <notehead> element


Parent element:
    
        
        <note>


The <notehead> element indicates shapes other than the open and closed ovals associated with note durations.


The smufl attribute can be used to specify a particular notehead, allowing application interoperability without requiring every Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL) glyph to have a MusicXML element equivalent. This attribute can be used either with the other value, or to refine a specific notehead value such as cluster.


Noteheads in the SMuFL Note name noteheads and Note name noteheads supplement ranges (U+E150–U+E1AF and U+EEE0–U+EEFF) should not use the smufl attribute or the other value, but instead use the <notehead-text> element.


## Content


notehead-value


## Attributes

| Name | Type | Required? | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| color | color | No | Indicates the color of an element. |
| filled | yes-no | No | Changes the appearance of enclosed shapes from the default of hollow for half notes and longer, and filled otherwise. |
| font-family | font-family | No | A comma-separated list of font names. |
| font-size | font-size | No | One of the CSS sizes or a numeric point size. |
| font-style | font-style | No | Normal or italic style. |
| font-weight | font-weight | No | Normal or bold weight. |
| parentheses | yes-no | No | If yes, the notehead is parenthesized. It is no if not specified. |
| smufl | smufl-glyph-name | No | Indicates a particular Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL) character using its canonical glyph name. Sometimes this is a formatting choice, and sometimes this is a refinement of the semantic meaning of an element. |


## Examples


This element is used in the following examples:


<artificial>, <with-bar>, Tutorial: Percussion