How do music sheets work?

[LaggNinja]

I used to be in music class but that was over 12 years ago, now I have no idea what sharp, flat, whole, half and etc means I don't know where the notes are and I am baffled by how no matter how many things I put my character only plays like 3 notes for every 10 I placed. It's a pan's flute in case that's relevant

[LigH]

Instruments can have a limited spectrum of notes. You may put notes in a sheet an instrument is unable to play (for a pan flute, because it has no tubes for that specific tone). The lute is probably the most flexible instrument, it also has a higher allowed polyphony.

[LaggNinja]

Thanks though that still tells me nothing on how to use it and the flute is the only one I can take for my character to work IC

[LigH]

So, well, test which notes are playing. Then, make melodies which use only these notes.

In the beginning, with a low skill, expect the melodies to be very very slow, and even worse, you may not be able to play shorter notes than 1/4 (but don't count on me here; test it). So first try simple scales of few usual octaves.

Or check the folder art/sounds/gui/instruments/pan_flute – the available *.ogg files should give you a hint which notes this instrument supports at all.