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How to Read Music Notation By Alex Cairns In contemporary sheet music you will see that music can be written on either the treble clef staff: the high Clef Or the bass clef staff: the low clef These Clefs are used to write the musical notes of a piece in such a way that they can be read and replicated. The treble clef contains notes that are higher in pitch to the bass clef and the bass clef contains notes that are lower in pitch to the treble clef. Certain instruments use only one of these clefs, but the piano for example combines the two together as follows: The next image shows how notes are placed on the staffs in relation to their pitch. Below is a picture of a piano/keyboard with the clefs and notes written over the top: D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E * The diagram above shows all of the white notes on the piano written on the staff. Notice that the lower pitch notes on the left of the piano move in an ascending order to the higher pitch notes on the right side. Often in music, notes have to be written below or above the lines on the staff, these notes appear on extra small lines called ledger lines. For example the middle C (marked above with a * ) can be written as either one ledger line above the bass clef or as one ledger line below the treble clef. Pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G) and follow that same order for both the treble and bass clef. 1 Some standard acronyms to help remember the notes on a staff are: The smallest interval used in Western music is the half step. A visual representation of a half step would be the distance between a consecutive white and black note on the piano. There are two exceptions to this rule, as two natural half steps occur between the notes E and F, and B and C. A whole step is made up of two half steps. Music also contains notes that we call "Accidentals", these consist of symbols being placed next to the notes of the staff such as a (flat) or a (sharp). A sharp raises a note by a half-step, and a flat lowers it by the same amount. A natural is an accidental which cancels previous accidentals and represents the unaltered pitch of a note. Below is an example of how these symbols look next to notes on a staff: Accidentals on a Piano are found on the black keys. The C# D# C D The F# E G# F G A A# B (flats) are as follows: Db Eb Gb Ab Bb CD E F G A B 2 sharps are as follows: Rhythm and Note Durations There are many different notes in contemporary music: 4 beats 2 beats 1 beat 1/2 beat 1/4 beat A note value may be augmented by adding a dot after it. This dot adds the next lower note value, making it one and a half times its original duration. 1 beat + ½ beat = 1.5 beats 2 beats + 2/2 beats = 3 beats Time Signatures The majority of the contemporary rock and pop music is written in a time signature of 4/4: The top number tells us how many of the specified notes are in a bar and the bottom number tells us what duration (ie: how long) that specified note is. For example in 4/4 Time the top number tells us there are 4 notes in a bar and the bottom number tells us that each note is 1/4 of the length of the bar, or more simply put a quarter note. Therefore, we can tell that a song written with a 4/4 time signature is made up of bars (musical units a song is divided up into) which contain 4 quarter note long beats. Here are some examples of Time Signatures and notes contained within their measures: 3 Key signatures A key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a line of musical notation, although they can appear in other parts of a score, notably after a double barline. A key signature will have either sharps or flats, but there will not be any key signatures with both: Dynamics Dynamics refers to the volume of a note/piece/sound The two basic dynamic indications in music are: n p or piano, meaning "soft" n f or forte, meaning "loud" More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by: n mp, standing for mezzo-piano, meaning "moderately soft" n mf, standing for mezzo-forte, meaning "moderately loud“ n pp “pianissimo” meaning “very soft” n ff “fortissimo” meaning “very loud” Two Italian words are used to show gradual changes in volume. Crescendo, abbreviated cresc., translates as "gradually becoming louder", and diminuendo, abbreviated dim., means "gradually becoming softer". The alternate decrescendo, abbreviated to decresc., also means "gradually becoming softer“. 4 Tempo Tempo (Italian for time) is the speed/pace of a given piece. The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM). This means that a particular note value (for example, a quarter note or crotchet) is specified as the beat, and the marking indicates that a certain number of these beats must be played per minute. The greater the tempo, the larger the number of beats that must be played in a minute is, and, therefore, the faster a piece must be played. Basic Tempo Markings: n Largo – broadly (40–50 BPM) n Adagio – slow/stately (literally, "at ease") (51–60 BPM) n Adagietto – rather slow (61–80 BPM) n Andante – at a walking pace (61–80 BPM) n Moderato – moderately (81–90 BPM) n Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (105–132 BPM) n Presto – very fast (168–177 BPM) Copyright © 2015 Alex Cairns 5