Drum Notation Importer

View saved version →

---
name: import-drum-score
description: Transcribe clean printed drum-notation images or visually exposed PDF pages into validated Obsidian Drum Notation `drums` blocks, including simple paired section repeats. Use for grooves, fills, rudiments, practice charts, and supported song structures when the user supplies a score image. Do not use for audio transcription, handwritten scores, or charts dominated by unsupported endings, D.S./D.C., Segno, or Coda navigation.
---

# Import Drum Score

Convert only what is visible. Ask before resolving a material ambiguity, and never invent a drum, onset, meter, repeat route, sticking, or articulation.

## Workflow

1. Confirm the source is a clean printed drum score image and inspect the highest available resolution. For PDF input, work only from pages the host exposes visually. Ask for a page screenshot or focused crop when the host cannot see the page or a staff position, grace note, or stem mark is too small to distinguish.
2. Read [notation-reference.md](references/notation-reference.md) before writing notation. Read [kit-reference.md](references/kit-reference.md) when mapping staff positions or labels, and [workarounds.md](references/workarounds.md) whenever the source contains ties, repeats, endings, navigation, meter changes, tempo changes, or dynamics.
3. Segment the source into independently usable blocks only when tempo or unsupported chart structure cannot be represented in one block. Keep a supported section-repeat span in one block even when it crosses printed systems; use `Bar` and `Subtitle:` to preserve visible system and rehearsal context.
4. Observe before mapping: inventory distinct notehead positions and shapes, accents, grace notes, stem marks, rests, and rhythmic anchors. For every `x` notehead, locate the five staff lines and classify the visible relationship as a ledger through the notehead, a ledger immediately below it, or no ledger. Do not invent numeric measurements. Compare repeated symbols across the complete visible source before assigning instruments or articulations.
5. Map and transcribe each segment. Use `-` for silent grid positions and explicit bars where the current format lacks compact structural notation. A silent position preserves timing but does not always force a visible rest glyph; consult [workarounds.md](references/workarounds.md) when the source shows a rest in only one split voice.
6. Map each `x` cluster through the source's printed legend or drum key when present; otherwise use the generated staff-position ladder in [kit-reference.md](references/kit-reference.md). Determine ledger-line evidence before using rhythmic context: a recurring hi-hat pattern cannot override a distinct vertical cluster. When the full-score view does not resolve the relationship, require a focused crop containing the notehead and surrounding staff. If the focused view remains materially ambiguous, ask the user and stop without notation.
7. Audit repeat structure before mapping navigation. Preserve a clearly observed, paired, non-empty section repeat that plays exactly twice with `[` and `]`, including across `Bar` systems. Permit `%` or `%xN` inside the span, but never attach a boundary directly to a standalone measure-repeat line; expand only that boundary bar when necessary and report the appearance loss. Ask before output when a boundary, traversal count, ending, nesting, overlap, or shared boundary remains unresolved.
8. Audit the draft against the source before validation: check meter and grid, every instrument identity and staff position, every onset and articulation, every visible rest, and the complete repeat span. Never silently default an uncertain cymbal cluster to another instrument.
9. Resolve every high-impact ambiguity with the user. When a material instrument, ornament, or repeat route cannot be distinguished, ask and stop before emitting provisional notation. Low-impact visual uncertainty may be recorded in the report, but do not silently guess.

Preview of the first 4,000 characters. Read full instructions →

Referenced files: 7 — file references are metadata, not package contents.