Term: Transcription
Ethnomusicologist, Victoria Levine, clarifies the matter in the introduction to her volume, Writing American Indian Music: Historic Transcriptions, Notations, and Arrangements,
A notation is any set of symbols designed to communicate how music should be performed...[it is described as prescriptive] Transcription involves either rewriting music from one form of notation into another, or music dictation, in which actual musical sounds are written while listening... [described as descriptive] This latter mode of transcription is what has been used most often in academic studies of Native American music. Like notation, the arrangement is also prescriptive. Arrangement involves the adaptation of a notation or transcription for the purpose of performance, a process that usually involves harmonization, orchestration, or the addition of instrumental accompaniment. (2002:ix-xx)