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Noteworthy A Short Lesson on Musical Notation
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Articles on Music | Topics: music, musical
by Bambalina Ingram
Noteworthy A Short Lesson on Musical Notation
Musical notation is an alternative language used to help musicians know when to play, what to play, and how to play it. The following is a short lesson about musical notation, which will help you interpret both most classic and contemporary sheet music.
Reading music really is not that hard if you know exactly what each musical symbol actually means. The major groups of musical symbols that you need to know in musical notation include the following:
Staff: This is a small set of five lines and four spaces on which musical notes and other symbols are placed. A staff is usually organized into measures, which are divided by what is called bar lines. Each line represents a key in which music is played.
The order of the keys that are represented on a musical staff from bottom to top are as follows: e, g, b, d, f, and the spaces of the staff also represent keys in which music are played. The spaces of the musical staff are represented by the letters f, a, c, and e.
Each measure (the space between two bar lines) usually contains 4 beats, of either notes or rests, which also are indicated by a musical symbol. See more about notes and rests below.
As you can see, the above image looks pretty bland without any further musical language written on it (also note that the staff does not have letters written on professional music, but is sometimes written on beginners and intermediate music). As you add more and more items to this staff, it will look more like music. You will see examples of what other musical symbols look like place on a staff starting in the next paragraph.
Treble Clef: One other item that you will need to know about when reading sheet music is about the treble clef. This is the fancy-looking character always appears at the top left hand part of each line of musical staff.
Bass Clef: The bass clef is also another crucial part of most sheets of music, especially in piano music. The bass clef is also known as the "f clef". This is because the two dots of the clef encase the line of the staff that represents the note "f". The bass clef staff usually represents the lower voices and lower pitches instruments, and the treble clef usually represents the higher pitches voices and instruments.
The bass clef staff in music usually runs below the treble clef staff simultaneously. This will help the user see exactly which treble and bass notes are played at the same time when playing piano. For those who play instruments other than piano and for those who sing the double staff consisting of the bass and treble clefs helps each person see how their part lies in relation to other people's music performance parts.
The uses of both the treble and base clef staffs are like a script which each musician and/or singer follows very closely.
Key Signature: The key signature is what determines in what key a song will be played. The key signature is noted by symbols called "sharp" signs or "flat" signs, which are usually displayed just to the right of the clef sign in the musical staff.
The use of a key signature in music helps indicate that the note will be raised or lowered a half step a repeated amount of times. In order to understand this more fully you can read articles about the circle of fifths. These are displayed in music theory books and manuals.
Notes: These are what make up the melody and harmony of a song. One note can be played at a time and several notes can be played at a time to make up a musical composition. Musical notes that are most often used in music include the whole note (usually 4 beats), the half note (usually 2 beats), the quarter note (usually 1 beat, 4 per measure), the 8th note (usually 1/2 beat, 8 per measure), and the 16th note (usually 1/4 of a beat, 16 beats per measure).
| Bit of History |
People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around—the music and the ideas.
| —Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941) |
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The value of each note depends upon which time signature a piece of music is played in. The time signature of music is how many beats are per measure and which note gets the beat. In the case of the time signature being that of 4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets the beat.
Chords: These musical symbols represent a combination of two or more notes that are played at the same time. Chords are what produce beautiful complex harmonies that are pleasing to the ear (in most cases). This notation is placed on a musical staff, usually with notes stack upon one another, and/or attached to the same musical note stem. More on chords can be found in music instruction books or other articles like this one.
Rests: A piece of music also has symbols in it that let musicians know when there is a musical break for and how long the musical break is for. If a large group of people plays together often, some musicians will be playing while others are "resting". There is a different symbol for each rest. The most commonly used rests are the whole rest, the half rest, the quarter rest, the eighth rest, and the sixteenth rest. They correspond in values with the notes by the same name (i.e. quarter rest=quarter note).
Other Musical Symbols: You can also learn countless other musical symbols to help you know in which style the music is played. For example, a dot above a note means that you play the note in a short and separated style, and a small dash above the note indicates to play it in a smooth style. You can study music books and read more articles such as this one to help you learn all these important components of musical notation.
Musical Terms: There are also various other words that are written in music, such as largo, or allegro, which indicate what you should do with the music. Allegro and largo are two different speeds in which you can play music. There are about 9 different words altogether representing how fast you should play a piece of music. Largo is one of the slowest speeds to play a piece of music in, and allegro is one of the faster speeds to play music in.
Other musical terms include pianissimo, which means to play very softly, and forte which means to play very loudly. These also have abbreviations to them, "pp." Is often an abbreviation used for pianissimo, and "f" is often the abbreviation used for loud.
This is not a complete list of musical terms but it is the basics and is what will help you learn how to play an instrument. It can also help you learn rhythm and timing if you are a vocalist, drummer, or dancer.
Once you have learned the above aspects of musical notation, you will be on your way to becoming a master. Not only can you learn to play very well if you learn these basics about music, but you will then be able to write and compose your own music. This may take awhile, but you can learn.
For now, though, you will have gained an understanding of how music pieces are arranged and what the meaning of each musical symbol is. You can find images of examples of each piece of musical notation if you look in various music theory books.
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