This recommended practice will develop an XML application defining a standard language for symbolic music representation. The language will be a meta-representation of music information for describing and processing said music information within a multi-layered environment, for achieving integration among structural, score, Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and digital sound levels of representation. Furthermore, the recommended practice should integrate music representation with already defined and accepted common standards. The recommended practice will be accepted by any kind of software dealing with music information, e.g., score editing, optical music recognition (OMR) systems, music performance, musical databases, and composition and musicological applications.