The note stem is a thin line that extends either up or down from the note head. The line extends from the right if pointing upward or from the left if pointing downward.
As a rule, any notes at or above the B line on the staff have downward pointing stems, those notes below the B line have upward pointing stems. The note flag is a curvy mark to the right of the note stem. Its purpose is to tell you how long to hold a note. Start with a closed note head with a stem. An open note head with a stem is a half note , and it gets two beats. There are other ways to extend the length of a note.
So, a half note with a dot would equal a half note and a quarter note; a quarter note with a dot equals a quarter plus an eighth note. A tie may also be used to extend a note. Two notes tied together should be held as long as the value of both of those notes together, and ties are commonly used to signify held notes that cross measures or bars.
The opposite may also happen, we can shorten the amount of time a note should be held, relative to the quarter note. Faster notes are signified with either flags , like the ones discussed above, or with beams between the notes. Beams do the same while allowing us to read the music more clearly and keep the notation less cluttered. A rest , just like a note, shows us how long it should be held based on its shape.
To play music, you need to know its meter , the beat you use when dancing, clapping or tapping your foot along with a song. The top number tells you how many beats to a measure , the space of staff in between each vertical line called a bar. The bottom number tells you the note value for a single beat, the pulse your foot taps along with while listening. In addition to your note values and time signature, the last piece to feeling the rhythm is knowing your tempo or beats per minute.
Tempo tells you how fast or slow a piece is intended to be played, and often is shown at the top of a piece of sheet music. Likewise, a tempo of would double the speed at 2 notes every second. Musicians use a tool, called a metronome, to help them keep tempo while practicing a new piece. Click here to see an online metronome tool , and click on the circles next to the BPM values to see how a tempo can speed up and slow down.
The interval between the first note of your C major scale and the last is an example of an octave. The C major scale is very important to practice since once you have the C scale down, the other major scales will start to fall into place.
Each of the notes of a C major scale corresponds with a white key on your keyboard. But, what about the black keys? The distance between the C and the D keys in your C scale is a whole step, however, the distance between the E and the F keys in your C scale is a half step. All major scales are comprised of the following pattern of tones: whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step.
If you were to start the scale on a note other than C, you would need to add sharps or flats to maintain this pattern of tones. As you now know, there is a whole-step between A and B, but in a major scale, that distance needs to be a half-step. Therefore, we lower the pitch of the B by a half-step to B-flat.
For the record, in a written scale, you never have two notes containing the same letter name. In the F-major scale, you would never see the B-flat written as an A-sharp. The distance between the second and third notes of a major scale is a whole-step. Since there is only a half-step between E and F, we need to raise the F by a half-step to an F-sharp.
The same is true between the sixth and seventh notes of the scale, which is why there is a written C-sharp. Every major scale has a relative minor scale. A relative minor scale shares the same key signature as its major scale, but it begins on the sixth note of the major scale. For example, A is the sixth note of the C-major scale, which makes A-minor the relative minor scale of C-major.
Look at the F-major and D-major scales above? What is the relative minor scale for each of those major scales? Hint: find the sixth note of the scale. Because you are using the same key signature as a major scale, but starting on the sixth note, there is a different pattern of whole-steps and half-steps.
Take a look at the A-minor scale below. All natural minor scales are comprised of the following pattern of tones: whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step. You may be wondering why this scale is called A-natural minor, and not simply A-minor. That is because there are three types of minor scale. The natural minor scale makes no alteration to the notes in the indicated key signature; in other words, there are no accidentals.
In the harmonic minor scale, the seventh note of the scale is raised by one half-step. In the A-harmonic minor scale, the G becomes a G-sharp. The third type of minor scale is the melodic minor scale. This one is a bit tricky, because it is different ascending than descending.
All scales discussed previously are the same ascending and descending. In the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh notes of the scale are raised by a half-step going up and return to their original pitch, as indicated by the key signature, on the way down.
An extremely helpful device to remember all of the different major and minor scales and their flats or sharps is called the Circle of Fifths. This is the best friend of many students studying music theory. Valerie November 6, Log in to Reply.
Thank you for these articles, that have been a great help to me. I use this to remember the key signatures. Ronald Warner December 12, Log in to Reply. Very helpful review of terms I first learned 70 years ago. I am now back to playing tuba in a community band, Bflat tuba at years-old.
Thanks so much. Incubo Razvan October 6, Log in to Reply. You must log in to post a comment. You must be logged in to post a comment. Skip to content. Staff The foundation of the written musical language is the staff. Clefs and Note Names Each line and space of the staff correspond to a musical pitch, which is determined by the clef. The note names on the spaces of the treble clef spell out F-A-C-E.
Ledger Lines Ledger lines are used to notate pitches below or above the regular lines and spaces of the staff. Middle C in treble clef Middle C in bass clef Ledger lines are used sometimes in music notation because it makes the notes easier to read than constantly changing between clefs.
For example, writing the following on the treble clef staff is the same as writing. Flat sign The symbol that looks like a pound sign or hashtag is a sharp sign. Sharp sign If a sharp or flat precedes a note at the beginning of a measure, that note remains sharp or flat for the entirety of the measure.
Example 1a If the note is no longer supposed to sound sharp or flat, it will be preceded by a natural sign. Example 1b Remember, accidentals only apply within the given measure. To read more about them check out our post on how to play musical duplets here.
Most people will focus on memorising all the notes and think that they have to know them all before starting to play music. I find the best way to really learn how to read music and learn all the notes is to do it as much as possible. If you want to keep learning, check out my other free music theory lessons here.
Last updated 6th February Table of Contents. A quick guide to musical notes. Written by Dan Farrant. Dan Farrant, the founder of Hello Music Theory, has been teaching music for over 10 years helping thousands of students unlock the joy of music. Since then he's been working to make music theory easy for over 1 million students in over 80 countries around the world. Sign up for our Newsletter.
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