Notating is the act of putting down musical ideas in writing, but there are different words that can be used instead of notating. One of them is scoring, which is more commonly associated with writing music for an orchestra or large ensemble. Another term is transcribing, which refers to taking down music that has already been recorded or performed. Composing is also a synonym that includes writing new music from scratch. Arranging is similar to composing but involves taking an existing piece of music and reworking it for a different setting or instrumentation. All these synonyms have different connotations and can be used depending on the context and purpose of the musical notation.