EMS Serenissima: keyboard cheat sheet

← Serenissima Press · Every sign = symbol key + pitch key. Each glyph carries its own piece of five‑line staff, so just keep typing. Ligatures must be switched on in your editor.

Pitch keys lowest → highest · home row = lines, bottom row = spaces

Staff lines, bottom to top: d f g h j. Spaces inside: c v b n.
Below the staff: x s z (stepping down). Above: m k , (stepping up). No ledger lines are drawn, as in the original sources.
Stem direction is chosen automatically by pitch.

Notes shown on `g`

Coloured (black) notes

Rests note number + 0 + pitch; pitch sets the height

Signs on a pitch sign + pitch key

Clefs number = staff line, from the bottom

Mensuration & proportion signs

Staff, barlines, extras single keys

Worked example

C3 T1 i 3g 3b 2h .n 4b 5g 5v 3g i 1f i B

C clef on line 3 (so g = middle C) · C · semibreves C D · dotted breve E · minim D · semiminims C B · semibreve C · longa A · barline. (Spaces in the code line are only for reading. Don't type them.)

If you see loose letters or single shapes instead of notes on a staff, ligatures are off. In Word: Font dialog (Ctrl+D) → Advanced → Ligatures → Standard Only. Browsers turn them on automatically. Never put a space between a symbol key and its pitch key: the space glyph is blank and breaks the staff. Use i/o/p for staff‑only spacing.

Font: EMS Serenissima by Elam Rotem, Early Music Sources, licensed under CC BY 4.0.