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Hoots : Is there more than one use for Roman Numerals in music notation? I'm used to the standard use of Roman Numerals to note chord sequences in a key-independent way e.g. I vi IV V But I'm sure I've seen people also use them - freshhoot.com

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Is there more than one use for Roman Numerals in music notation?
I'm used to the standard use of Roman Numerals to note chord sequences in a key-independent way e.g. I vi IV V

But I'm sure I've seen people also use them in some other context in answers on this site to talk about chord variations or voicings or something. I can't think what to search for to find an example though.

Am I right?


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They can also be used to designate strings, I II II IV (or Ie IIe IIIe IVe) for orchestral strings (violin, viola, cello, bass).

So instead of a passage for violin being marked "sul G" (on the G string) it might be marked "IVe" (or, in full "IVe corde" -- French "quatrième chorde", i.e., "fourth string"). The little "e" would normally be printed as a superscript.

They are occasionally used in pedagogical works to indicate position instead, hopefully with some clarifying text rather than just the roman numeral (e.g., III pos. rather than just "III"). Arabic numerals are also used for this purpose: something like "3 pos." would mean third position, while just a bare "3" would always mean third finger.


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Roman numerals can be used for aspects of instrumental notation, which are for performance, rather than analytical purposes. For instance, Roman numerals are used to denote: positions in classical guitar music (for instance, see this post); which string a note or passage is to be played on in bowed string music.
The wikipedia page about Roman Numerals gives examples of both analytical and performance markings:

In music theory, the diatonic functions are identified using Roman numerals. (See: Roman numeral analysis)
In musical performance practice, individual strings of stringed instruments, such as the violin, are often denoted by Roman numerals, with higher numbers denoting lower strings.

However, inversions (I think this is what you mean by voicings) of chords are shown using either letters or numbers (in figured bass), as an addition to either a Roman numeral or bass note. For example, a first inversion of chord I can be shown as Ia or I6.


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