It means that the music floats on the surface of the score. The score is a method of recording music by printing or handwriting and using symbols. Different cultures and regions developed different notation methods. Notation can be divided into two categories: recording pitch and recording fingering.

Stave notation, simplified notation and Braille notation are all musical notations that record pitches. The guitar's six-line notation and the guqin's subtraction notation are both musical notations that record fingerings. Traditional music scores are mainly copied on paper, but now there are also computer programs that can produce music scores.

Chinese notation:

The earliest music score handed down in China is the Guqin score "Jieshi Diao·Youlan" from the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Early musical scores were written in writing, with fingerings described in detail in writing. Later, in order to simplify the recording method, subtracted character notation appeared in the late Tang Dynasty to record fingering movements, string sequences and emblem positions. The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang collects a lot of music scores from the Tang and Song Dynasties, including many pipa scores.

In the Song Dynasty Taoist Jiang Baishi's songs, there are common calligraphy notations that record the pitch, proving that the Song lyrics at that time could be sung. Operas of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, including Kun Opera, Peking Opera, Cantonese Opera, and many instrumental music at that time, all used Gongchi Pu. Chaozhou music has its unique two-fourth notation.

During the Republic of China, influenced by the West and Japan, Chinese school music began to use simplified musical notation and five-line notation. To this day, both traditional music and popular music are mostly based on simplified musical notation and five-line musical notation, but some people still use Guqin's reduced-character musical notation and opera's Gongchi musical notation.