The start-stop-continue data type

The start-stop-continue type is used for an attribute of musical elements that can either start or stop, but also need to refer to an intermediate point in the symbol, as for complex slurs or for formatting of symbols across system breaks.

The values of start, stop, and continue refer to how an element appears in musical score order, not in MusicXML document order. An element with a stop attribute may precede the corresponding element with a start attribute within a MusicXML document. This is particularly common in multi-staff music. For example, the stopping point for a slur may appear in staff 1 before the starting point for the slur appears in staff 2 later in the document.

When multiple elements with the same tag are used within the same note, their order within the MusicXML document should match the musical score order. For example, a note that marks both the end of one slur and the start of a new slur should have the incoming slur element with a type of stop precede the outgoing slur element with a type of start.