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The Common Tone · Visual Language of Music

NNS Push Mark

also called: push · anticipation mark

A directional wedge mark (most often "<" before the number) in a Nashville chart telling you to hit that chord early — ahead of the downbeat.

What you do

Play the chord before the beat it's written on — commonly an eighth-note anticipation — then hold or groove through as usual. The push is a feel instruction; the whole band anticipates together, which is exactly why it gets its own mark.

In context

Nashville push — chart line A hand-set Nashville number chart line of four bars: the numbers one, four, five, one, with a small left-pointing wedge immediately before the five. Hand-authored escape artifact: Nashville charts are text typography, not staff notation, and outside the engraving toolchain's domain. 1 4 < 5 1
A representative Nashville number line — dialects draw the push wedge differently ("<" here; some hands use ">"), but the meaning is shared: the band anticipates the 5 together, commonly by an eighth note. A "^" in a number chart commonly means a choke or immediate stop, NOT a push — never read it as one without chart-specific evidence.

Don’t confuse with

crescendo-hairpin
On a staff, a long opening wedge under the music is a crescendo — gradually louder. The NNS push is a small wedge glued to one chord number in a text chart, and it's about WHEN you hit the chord, not how loud.

Convention varies

NNS dialects vary in how the push wedge is drawn and oriented ("<" vs ">" conventions differ between chart-writers), though the meaning — anticipate the beat — is shared. CAUTION: a "^" (marcato-like mark) in a number chart commonly means a CHOKE or immediate stop, NOT a push; do not read "^" as a push without chart-specific evidence. Verify dialect claims against Williams or another canonical NNS authority at verification.

See also

nns-diamond · nashville-number-system

For specialists

Record status: draft — verification pending (bookshelf locators + chord-symbol authority; OQ-1 blocks the slice gate)