(from Lat. tabula, board; It. intavolatura; Ger. Tablatur). 1. Visual musical NOTATION by which pitches are indicated by their actual locations on the KEYBOARD, fingerboard, or other playing area. Letters, numbers, or other systems are used instead of staff notation.

TABLATURE was used for keyboard (14th-17th centuries), LUTE (16th-mid-17th centuries), and GUITAR (mid-16th -mid-18th centuries) music. A simplified tablature is still used in sheet music for plucked string instruments, recorder music (16th century), and vocal music (e.g., TONIC SOL-FA). AS PERCUSSION music evolved from occasional timani strokes to a timbrai cornucopia, composers adopted the conventional staff, single lines, or other means to indicate the instrument to be played (where pitch is secondary).

2. Rules and regulations for the poetry and song of theMEISTERSINGER.