Lead Sheet
A melody line with chord symbols — the working score of jazz and pop
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A lead sheet is the working score of jazz and popular music: one melody line with chord symbols, plus section letters or style words when needed, and no written accompaniment.
It separates what to play from how to play it. The melody and harmonic frame are fixed; texture, inversions and added notes are left to the performers, so a trio and a solo pianist can make very different versions of the same sheet.
Do not read chord symbols as fixed patterns. They define a harmonic frame, and voicing follows style and ensemble. A lead sheet is not a chord chart either: the latter usually omits the melody.
Sources
- 领谱的构成与爵士演奏惯例，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Lead sheet"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.