Download File - Justin T. Anders

Basic Music Theory
C#
D#
Db
F#
Eb
Gb
G#
A#
Ab
C#
Bb
Db
Fb
C
D
E
E#
Cb
F
G
A
B#
B
C
There are 12 pitches in the western octave. An octave is
the distance from one pitch to the same pitch either higher
or lower. In western music, we divide the octave into 12
equal parts. We use 7 note names to differentiate:
ABCDEFG. Accidentals, Sharps (#) and Flats (b), are used to
alter these 7 names, thus producing names for the other 5
pitches.
The distance between two adjacent pitches is called a “Half
Step.” Two half steps equal a “Whole Step.”
Sharp #: raises a pitch a half step
Flat b: lowers a pitch a half step
Staff:
Barline:
5 lines 4 spaces
Separates the staff into bars/measures
Bar/Measure:
bar lines
a section of staff divided by
Treble Clef (G Clef):
instruments/voices
Bass Clef (F Clef):
instruments/voices
used for higer pitched
used for lower pitched
Rhythm Tree
Whole Note:
Half Note:
= 4 counts each
= 2 counts each
Quarter Note:
= 1 count each
Eighth Note:
= ½ count each
Sixteenth Note:
Time Signature:
beats in every
= ¼ count each
Top number indicates the number of
Measure. Bottom number indicates which note value
gets one beat.
In
time there are 4 beats per measure and the
quarter note
gets one beat...4 quarter notes per measure. To
understand the bottom number, put a one over it to
turn it into a fraction…which is
the note value’s name.
number is 8.
Put a 1 over it:
per measure.
Staff Notes:
Mnemonics:
e.g. in
time, the bottom
1/8 = eighth note, so 6 eighth notes
Every Good Boy Does Fine
Treble clef spaces- FACE
Bass Clef lines- Great Big Dogs Fight Animals
Treble Clef lines-
(or
Golly Batman Don’t Fly Away)
Bass Clef spaces-
All Cows Eat Grass
Ledger Lines extend the staff above and below.
names continue with the musical alphabet.
The note
*Notice the second system (set of staff) has a time
signature of 9/4, and there are 16 eighth notes and one
quarter note = 9 beats.
Here’s how one would count rhythms:
Notice that in the first measure you sing or play “1” and
sustain through 2,3, and 4. The same for the half notes in
ms. 2. In ms. 4 & 5 the eighth and sixteenth notes have
been “subdivided” to allow syllables for counting. When
first learning to count rhythms, first write in the counts
as above, then set a tempo (speed for the beat), then say
the counts. What you say is the rhythm that should be sung
or played.
Here’s another example:
If you play these notes on the piano with this rhythm, you
will hear “Mary Had Little Lamb”
One more example:
Notice the line connecting beat 4 of ms. 1 and beat 1 of
ms. 2. This is called a tie. It adds the value of the
notes together to which it is attached. So when you
sing/play beat 4, you would then sustain through beat one.
Also notice the rest at the end of ms. 2. Rests work just
like notes, only instead of hearing a beat of sound, you
hear a beat of silence. When counting, be sure not to sing
the number, but rather say it in your head so that the
silence is accounted for. Here are the rests and their
values:
Whole Rest:
Half Rest:
Quarter Rest:
Eighth Rest:
Sixteenth Rest:
= 4 counts each
= 2 counts each
= 1 count each
= ½ count each
= ¼ count each
Dotted Rhythms:
Adding a dot to a note or rest adds half the value of a
note/rest to the original note/rest.
e.g.
= half note (2 beats) + 1 beat (quarter note) = 3
beats
=
quarter note (1 beat) + ½ beat (eighth note) = 1 ½
beats
= eighth note ( ½ beat) + ¼ beat (16th note) = ¾
beats
= half rest (2 beats) + 1 beat (quarter rest) = 3
beats
1e& a
= 6 beats
Try some counting examples:
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
Answers