Download June 27 - UCSB Music

6/27/06
More on Clefs
The treble and bass clefs represent different areas of the pitch continuum. The notes on
the G clef sound higher than those on the F clef. The grand staff represents this
relationship, since it uses both clefs to express a “wider” pitch space. Music for the piano
is written on the grand staff because it has a very wide range:
The grand staff is broad, but even it does not account for all the pitches we hear in music.
If a pitch is very high, it might appear above the top staff. Likewise, a very low-sounding
pitch will appear below the bottom staff. In order to be clear, these pitches are written
with ledger lines. Ledger lines help to tell us how far above or below the staff the note it.
These pitches are also easy to name because the letter-names of pitches continue in both
directions in s cycle…
Intro to Intervals
The diatonic scale is comprised of 7 notes (+ the octave) that are all related by step. That
is, the note adjacent to any other note will be above it or below it in the closest proximity.
If the first note in a scale is in a space, the next note will be on the line above that space,
and the next not will be in the space above that line, etc. This way, the notes move up the
scale stepwise.
In short, the distance between adjacent notes is called a step. Two notes that are not
related by step are related by leap. For example, the distance between C and F is a leap,
and the distance between D and E is a step.
Not all steps and leaps are the same size. We will talk more about leaps later!
There are two types of step: tone and semitone (also known as whole step and half step,
respectively). A tone = 2 semitones.
There are two semitones in the diatonic scale: E-F and B-C. These are called diatonic
semitones because they are native to the diatonic collection (the notes derived from the
monochord). Since they are in the scale, they have different note names. Let this be the
main characterization of diatonic semitone: two notes with different letter names related
by semitone.
This is different from chromatic semitones, which is the relationship between two notes
with the same letter name related by semitone. The pitches G and G# are related by
chromatic semitone.
The black notes on the piano are pitches that are a semitone away from the white notes
adjacent to them. One black note, therefore, can have 2 names. The black note between
G and A can be called G# (raised, or sharp G), or Ab (lowered, or flat A). When written,
these two note names are very distinct, and have individual musical meaning in context.
But since they sound the same (they are the same black key), they are called
The following diagram might clarify these classifications:
2 types of interval:
2 types of step:
2 types of semitone:
Step
Tone
(Whole step)
Leap
Semitone
(Half step)
diatonic
semitone
Homework assigned:
Page 17, exercises 3-5, 3-6, 3-7
Page 25, exercise 4-6
chromatic
semitone