Lesson 1: Structure - Review

  1. Music Notes
    • Every note has 2 parts: head and stem, except the whole note, which does not have a stem.
    • The beat value of a note is determined by the shape of its head and stem.
    • The pitch of a note is determined by the position of the note head on the bars of standard music notation.
  2. Music Bars
    • All music bars must have 5 lines. A cluster of 5 lines is called a staff.
    • Each staff displays notes played by one musical voice. When a brace connects two staves together, it is called a compound staff and the two musical voices must be played simultaneously.
    • Every line/space represents one unique pitch.
    • The higher a note's position is on the staff, the higher the pitch that it represents.
    • Extremely high/low tones that do not fit on the existing lines must be written with a short line to represent their position on the staff had there been more lines.
  3. Measures
    • Measures are sections of staves
    • All measures within the same music piece contain the same number of beats.
    • Measures gives us the structure for rhythm.
    • Double bar lines at the end of a measure signify "the end."
  4. Clefs
    • Clefs appear at the beginning of all staves. They denote the range of high/low pitches of notes on their staves.
    • Notes on the Treble Clef are high tones.
    • Notes on the Bass Clef are low tones.
  5. Key Signature
    • The Key Signature is the collection of symbols placed after the Clefs symbols.
    • It is optional in music notation.
    • It is used to consistently raise/lower the pitch of a group of notes.
  6. Time Signature
    • The Time Signature contains two numbers and is written after the Key Signature. It is required in all forms of standard music notation.
    • The top number of a Time Signature describes the number of beats per measure, and the bottom number describes what note gets one beat.
    • Most problems arise from lack of understanding of the bottom number.
  7. Tempo
    • The tempo is the speed of a piece.
    • The top number of a Time Signature describes the number of beats per measure, and the bottom number describes what note gets one beat.
    • Most problems arise from lack of understanding of the bottom number
  8. Dynamics
    • Dynamics describe the loudness or softness of a piece.
    • Dynamics terms can be found almost anymore, though they are commonly found between staves or directly above notes.


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