READING
MUSIC – PITCH
Western
music can be expressed in a written language called notation. The main purpose
of notation is to convey as accurately as possible the proper way to perform
the musical ideas of the composer. Notation’s first and main goal should be
clarity of communication. Notation of our musical system has evolved over time,
and the five-line staff that we use today came into wide use in France in the
sixteenth century. Earlier versions of the staff with four lines are found in
much of the Roman Catholic chant literature of the Middle Ages. The
staff—whether four or five lines—allowed for the notation of exact pitch, but
didn’t make any provisions for the notation of rhythm. Rhythmic notation will
be taken up in the next chapter.
Generally
speaking, most music is made up of two aspects: pitches and rhythms. The
pitches are arranged in different orders to form melodies, or played
simultaneously in different configurations to create harmonies. These unique
patterns make one song recognizable from another.
Pitches
are notated on something called a staff.
It has five lines and four spaces in between those lines:
(The
plural of staff is staves.)
The
notes themselves are usually small ovals, sometimes filled in, and sometimes
open. These ovals either appear on a line (with the line going through the
middle) or in the space between lines. We identify note names based on where
the ovals are placed.
Often,
notes have lines extending up or down from the oval called stems. Right now,
we’re just concerned with the ovals since they indicate what pitch must be
played.
We
use seven letters to name our pitches: A, B, C, D, E, F, G. These pitches
repeat in a cycle as you ascend or descend. Every eighth note will have the
same letter. You can easily see this on a keyboard:
C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C |
Notice
that C is going to be the pitch just to the left of a set of two black keys. In
roughly the center of a piano keyboard, there is a C we call Middle C. This pitch helps orient us when we are trying to find the notes
of a melody.
Our
system of notation indicates specifically where a note should be played. A note
that indicates G on the staff indicates a specific G. The positioning on the
staff indicates definite positioning on the keyboard or other instrument. To
help us talk about exact positioning on the keyboard, we can assign numbers to
the octaves on the piano. The lowest C is called C1, the second C is C2, and so
forth. Middle C is C4.
So
the D next to C4 is going to be D4, followed by E4, F4, G4, A4, B4, and then
the next octave begins with C5.
You
might wonder how a staff can notate all of the notes on the piano. Well, because
we have so many pitches to notate, we use clefs
to help us expand the use of the staff. Instruments that play in higher ranges
(violin, trumpet, flute, etc.) use the trebleclef or G clef, as does the right hand of the piano.
That
clef is actually a very fancy-looking G. Look at the evolution of the G clef:
In
each case, notice that the lower curve of the G is shaped around a line. The
note G is placed on this line. The clef is indicating where the G will be.
Lower
instruments (tuba, double bass, etc.) and the left hand of the piano read off
the bass clef or F clef:
As
its name suggests, this clef used to be just a plain-looking F. Then it got
decorative. The dots of the clef (which used to be the short lines of the F)
indicate the line where the note F is placed.
Let’s
look at the lines. The lines of the treble clef staff are—from the bottom up—E
(line 1), G (line 2), B (line 3), D (line 4), F (line 5).
Sometimes
people use the mnemonic device “Every Good Boy Does
Fine” to remember the lines of the treble clef.
The
spaces spell out a word:
They
spell out FACE. F (space 1), A (space 2), C (space 3), E (space 4)
Notice
that when you work from the bottom of the staff upwards, the letters go forward
in alphabetical order. When you work from the top down, the letters go
backwards.
The
lower a note on the staff, the lower (more to the left) it will be played. The
higher on the staff, the higher (more to the right) the note on the keyboard.
The
lines for the bass clef staff are, from the bottom up, G (line 1), B (line 2),
D (line 3), F (line 4), A (line 5)
The
spaces are A (space 1), C (space 2), E (space 3), G (space 4)
So
far, we have learned about the notes on the staff, but there is a way to extend
the staff and that is through the use of ledger
lines. Ledger lines are short lines that occur above and below the staff
and extend the range that the staff covers. For instance, in treble clef, the
top line is F. If we put a note above the staff—just sit it on top of the
staff— get the G, which is 12 white notes above middle C (counting middle C as
1, count twelve white notes up to G). Adding a ledger line, we can notate A. We
can put a pitch on top of this ledger line and get B. If we continue to go up
and we add another ledger line with a note on it, we get C.
It
works the same way below the staff. In treble clef, the note on the bottom line
is E. The note that looks stuck to the bottom of the staff is D. Add a ledger
line to get middle C. Put a note below this ledger line and you get B. And so
on.
Here
are some ledger lines for the bass clef:
Ledger
lines can be used with all clefs. A composer might not want to use too many ledger
lines because they can be hard to read, especially if there are a lot of them.
There are ways around this, of course, but the most important is to make sure
you are using the appropriate clef for the instrument and range of the piece.
Some
instruments read off of only one clef and one staff. The trumpet, for example,
can only produce one note at a time, and with ledger lines, its entire range
can be expressed on the treble clef. The piano, by contrast, uses both treble
and bass clef staves because a player traditionally uses two hands—the treble
clef indicates what the right hand does and the bass clef indicates the notes
for the left hand—and because the piano covers such a wide range.
When
these two staves are put together for, say, piano music, they are connected by
a curly brace. This configuration is called the Grand Staff.
Middle
C (also known as C4) can be found in between these two staves. Middle C is the
first ledger line below the treble clef, and the first ledger line above the
bass clef. It’s not actually in the middle of the two staves; when it’s meant
to be played by the right hand, it’s closer to the treble staff. When it’s
meant to be played by the left hand, it’s closer to the bass clef. The first
note in this example is Middle C. If a pianist were to play this example, his
or her thumbs would both play the same note on the first beat.
Using what you’ve already learned, can you name the notes on the treble
and bass clef and find them on a piano?
____________ ___________ __________
__________ __________ ____________
____________ ___________ __________
__________ __________ ____________
There is a third clef that is used less often, called the C clef. This is a movable clef, which
means that it can—unlike the treble and bass clef—can actually move up or down
on the staff. Wherever the point of the middle of the clef is, that is where
middle C is.
In
this case, the C clef is showing that that middle C will be written on the
middle line of this staff. This positioning of the clef, called alto clef, is
the most common. It is used for notating viola music, among other things.
C
clefs in different positions were used originally for vocal parts. Alto clef
and tenor clef are still used for the indicated instruments. Here are all of
these movable clefs (with middle C indicated in each).
Soprano clef | |
Mezzo soprano
clef | |
Alto clef
(viola, alto trombone) | |
Tenor clef
(upper ranges of bassoon, cello, double bass, trombone) | |
Baritone clef |
In
each case, the point of the clef indicates middle C. The moving clef for the
different voice types isn’t as common in vocal music as it once was. These
days, sopranos, altos, and tenors often read treble clef (the tenors sing an
octave lower than what is written), and the baritones and basses read off the
bass clef.
See
if you can identify the notes on the C clef:
____________ ___________ __________
__________ __________ ____________
Remember:
Treble
clef covers the range from C4 and above (although some ledger lines can go
below C4).
Bass
clef covers the range from C4 and below (some ledger lines can go above).
C
clef covers the range immediately around C4.
It
is very important to know exactly where a notated pitch is played.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Identify all of the note names for the white keys on this
keyboard:
Practice drawing the treble or G clef (draw 10 of them):
Practice drawing bass or F clef (draw 10 of them):
Practice drawing the C clef (draw 10 of them):
READING
MUSIC – RHYTHM
The
last chapter dealt with the notation of pitches on the staff. Historically,
we’ve had pitch notation for much longer than we’ve had rhythmic notation. One
of the first people to suggest rhythmic notation suggested that the shape of
the note could tell you its duration. Our system today has numerous indicators
of rhythmic notation (although not, strictly speaking, the shape of the note),
among them: stems, flags, beams, and dots. But we’ll get to these in a moment.
When
you hear many songs, you are able to tap your foot or clap your hands to them.
What you are tapping and clapping is the pulse
or the beat. On top of that, you
have the patterns of durations that are specific to the song. That’s called the
rhythm. Each song has a unique
rhythm.
Rhythms
are made up of durations. Each note in a piece of music will have a specific
duration. Some notes are held for a long time, some are held for a short time. But
music isn’t constant sound all the time. We also have periods of silence as
well. Sometimes silence can last for a few beats, or sometimes it’s just enough
time to take a quick breath before the next phrase.
If
notes are sounds, then rests are
silences. We count the duration of notes or rests in beats.
Beats
are organized through meter. A
composer, when writing a song, will decide that he or she wants the pulse to be
in groups of 2, 3, or 4 beats. The pulse itself is just a steady beat, so how
do we perform these groupings? By accenting certain beats of the pulse. If we
emphasize the first beat of every three, as in ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, we
will indicate triple meter. (For the time being, we will use the quarter note
as our beat.)
1 | 2 | 3 |
If
we emphasize the first of every four beats, as in ONE-two-three-four,
ONE-two-three-four, we will be in a quadruple meter.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
The
groups of beats are shown visually by the use of measure lines. A measure contains the appropriate amount
of beats for the meter. A piece of music may be made of thousands of measures,
each one containing the same amount of beats. In this example, there are three
measures, demarcated by vertical lines. The double bar line after the third
measure signifies the end of the section (and many times, the end of a piece.)
á | á |
One
of the best ways to keep time while performing rhythms is to conduct the beats, which has a distinct
advantage over just tapping your foot. In conducting, each beat is represented
as a different point in space. You can visually see where all the beats are
when you conduct, therefore conducting can help you keep track of the beats
going by. We have three basic conducting patterns: patterns for two beats,
three beats, and four beats. These patterns will be appropriate for many
meters.[2]
This is the pattern for duple meter. The downbeat
(the first beat of a measure) occurs as the hand hits the lowest point on the
pattern. The second beat is hit on the upswing.
This is the pattern for triple meter. The downbeat is in the center—think of it as lining
up with your belly button. The second beat is out the right, and the third beat
happens on the upswing.
This is the pattern for quadruple meter. Notice how it makes a kind of cross. Again, the
downbeat is in the center. Beat 2 is to the left, beat 3 is over to the right,
and beat 4 happens on the upswing. Notice that the beat right before the
downbeat is always on the upswing. We call this beat the upbeat.
How
do you know which pattern to use? We look at the time signature.
The
meter is indicated at the beginning of a piece through a time signature, which consists of two numbers, one on top of the
other. (Note: this is not a fraction.) Here is an example:
The
top number indicates how many beats will be found in each measure and also
tells you what conducting pattern you should use. In this case, you’d use the
triple meter pattern.
The
bottom number of the time signature indicates what kind of beat is the main
unit of measurement. In order to understand what the bottom number means, we
need to know about the different note durations that are possible.
Here
are the whole note and the whole rest. In the time signature 4/4—a
very common time signature—both the whole note and whole rest are held for four
beats:
1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
The
whole note is just an oval note head that is not filled in.
The
rest is like a little rectangle stuck to the bottom of the fourth line.
The
whole rest also has another important job: when a measure of any time signature
has no notes in it, a whole rest is used to denote a full measure of rest.
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, but it’s used a lot, so you
should know about it.
In
4/4, the half note is held for 2 beats, and each half rest is two beats as well:
1 2
1 2 | 1 2 |
The
half note has a clear note head and a stem. Notice that the half rest is
slightly different from the whole rest. It’s now touching the top if the third
line.
Note
about stems: a stem on a note can point upwards or downwards depending on where
the note is on the staff. Notes found above the middle line usually have their
stems pointing downward. Notes below the middle line usually have their stems
point upwards. Notes on the middle line can have stems that go in either
direction. Stems up or down do not change the duration or pitch of the note.
The
quarter note has a filled-in note head and a stem. In 4/4, the quarter note is
held for 1 beat. Here are four of them and here is the quarter rest:
|
The
eighth note is just a half a beat long. Here is a single eighth note and a
single eighth rest:
Notice
that it has a flag on the stem to distinguish it from the quarter note.
When
we count eighth notes in 4/4, we count them as 1-and-2-and (since there are two
of them in a beat):
1
+ 2 +
Since
two eighth notes make up one quarter note, they are often found in pairs. When
two or more eighth notes are next to each other, they are sometimes connected
with a beam. The beam does not
change the duration, but it makes multiple eighth notes easier to read.
In
4/4, the sixteenth note is one quarter of a beat (.25 of a beat), which makes
it twice as fast as the eighth note. The sixteenth note gets its name because
sixteen of them can fit into one whole note. In other words, in the time it
takes to perform a single whole note, you can perform sixteen sixteenth notes.
A single sixteenth note has a filled-in note head and a stem with two flags. Here
is a single sixteenth note and a sixteenth rest:
When
two or more sixteenth notes are next to each other, they can be connected with
two beams. We count them one-ee-and-a, two-ee-and-a:
1
e + a
2 e +
a
In
meters like 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, we often find sixteenth notes in groups of four.
It makes sense to use this grouping since four of them can fit into one quarter
note. In 4/4, a group of four sixteenth notes takes up one beat.
Eighth
notes and sixteenth notes can be beamed together to make them easier to read.
If you see them together, note that the eighth notes will always have a single
beam, while the sixteenth notes will have a double beam.
Sometimes
you will see a dot after a note. The
dot increases a note’s duration by half of its original value. For instance, a
dotted half note will be worth the original two beats PLUS another beat. The
dotted quarter note is worth one and a half beats because it takes the original
value (1 beat) and adds half of that (1/2 beat). The dotted eighth note is
worth ¾ of a beat because the eighth note is worth half of a beat and the dot
adds a quarter of a beat.
3 beats | 1 ½ beats | ¾ of a beat |
Let’s
take another look at that time signature:
We
know that the “3” on top means that the composer has chosen a triple meter. It
will feel like there’s a slight accent on the first beat of every group of
three: ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three. The “3” also means that we will use the
three pattern to conduct the beat.
The
“4” on the bottom indicates that the quarter note is the main unit of
measurement. There will be the equivalent of three quarter notes in each
measure. The “4” in this case is standing in for the quarter note:
In
simple terms:
The
top number tells you how many beats in each measure.
The
bottom number tells you what kind of note is the beat.
Here’s
another example:
There
are three beats in each measure, and you’ll use the three-beat conducting
pattern. But now the “8” on the bottom is telling you that the beat is now
represented by an eighth note:
The
following is a rhythm written in 3/4. We can use numbers to count the
durations:
1
2 + 3
1 + 2
3 1 e +
a 2 +
3 1 2 3
+
The
following is a rhythm written in 3/8. Let’s count the durations using numbers:
1
2 3 1
2 3 1
+ 2 3
1 e + a 2 3
Both
3/4 and 3/8 are triple meters, but the beat unit is different. Said another
way, in 3/4, we’re conducting quarter notes; in 3/8, we’re conducting eighth
notes.
Because
4/4 is such a commonly used meter, composers sometimes use this symbol instead
of 4/4:
Think “C” for Common time.
In
each measure in 4/4, there is the equivalent for four quarter notes. Why do we
say “the equivalent of four quarter notes?” Because rhythm can be much more
interesting than just four quarter notes in each measure. Just as you can make
change for a dollar in many ways, you can write different rhythms for a single
measure. Here is a rhythm in 4/4. This example represents many different note
values:
Let’s
look at the different note values in the most common time signatures:
Note | Rests | Note name | | ||
Whole | 4 beats | 8 beats (too
many beats for 1 measure in this meter) | 2 beats | ||
Dotted half | 3 beats | 6 beats (full
measure) | 1 ½ beats | ||
Half | 2 beats | 4 beats | 1 beat | ||
Dotted
quarter | 1 and ½ beats | 3 beats | ¾ of a beat | ||
Quarter | 1 beat | 2 beats | ½ of a beat | ||
Eighth | ½ of a beat | 1 beat | ¼ of a beat | ||
Sixteenth | ¼ of a beat | ½ of a beat | 1/8 of a beat |
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Place measure lines in the following 3/4 rhythm. Put a
vertical line after every third beat:
Place measure lines in the following 4/4 rhythm. Put a
vertical line after every fourth beat:
Place measure lines in the following 3/8 rhythm. Put a
vertical line after every third beat. (In this case, the eighth note is
the unit of measurement and it is counted as the beat):
See if you can guess the most likely meters of these
examples based on how many beats are in each measure:
Possible meter: _______________
Possible meter: _______________
Possible meter: _______________ (this one is tricky!)
WHOLE
STEPS, HALF STEPS, AND ENHARMONICS
You
have learned how to read pitches on the staff, and you have seen that the
pitches you have learned so far make up the white notes on the keyboard. Now we
are going to learn about the other notes on the keyboard.
An accidental is a symbol that changes how
a note is played. An accidental will appear in front of a note to let you know
that the basic pitch must be altered. The three most common accidentals are the
sharp, the flat, and the natural.
A sharp is an accidental that raises the original note
up a half step. A half step is the
smallest distance you can travel on the keyboard. So when you see this:
ê
You know it
means the note a half-step to the right of D. Find D-sharp (D#) just to the
right of D. Remember that when we say “up” or “above” we mean to the right on
the keyboard. |
A flat is an accidental that lowers the original note
down a half step. So when you see this:
ê
You know it
means the note a half-step to the left than E. Look at E-flat (Eb) on this
portion of the keyboard. It is just to the left of E. |
D-sharp
and E-flat are two different names for the same pitch on the keyboard. When
there are more than two names for a single pitch, we call those pitches enharmonic. D-sharp and E-flat are
enharmonic.
Why
would we use one name versus the other? This will become clear when we are
building scales and intervals. Right now, it’s just important for us to know
that different names exist for each pitch.
There’s
one more very common accidental, and it’s called the natural. When you want to cancel out an accidental, you place a
natural in front of the note.
This symbol means play the note as
written or cancel out a previous accidental.
The
half step is the smallest distance you can travel on the keyboard. If you
travel two half steps, you have gone a distance we call a whole step. Look again at this portion of the keyboard. The
distance from C to D is a whole step (because it’s made up of two half steps).
The distance from D to E is a whole step. The distance from C-sharp to D-sharp
is also a whole step.
Now
look at the note E on the keyboard. Notice that E and the note immediately to
its right (F) do not share a black note between them. The distance between E
and F is a half step. There is another place on the keyboard where this happens
again. Do you see it?
The
pitches B and C are only a half step apart.
Naming
the accidentals around E and F or B and C follows the same procedure.
Using what we’ve learned, label this keyboard with all of
the note names you know so far:
Can you use your labeled keyboard to identify whether the
indicated distance is a whole step (WS) or a half step (HS)? (The first one has
been done for you.)
F to G-flat ____HS_____ D-sharp to E ___________ F to G ___________
B to C ___________ B-flat to C
___________ A-flat
to B-flat ___________
E to F-sharp ___________ G to A ___________ E to F
___________
A to B ___________ C-sharp to
D-sharp___________ D to E
___________
Let’s
focus on the half step for a moment. If you move a half step either above or
below a note, you have a few choices of how to name the note on which you have
arrived.
A chromatic half step uses the same
letter name as the original pitch.
D-sharp is a
chromatic half step above D.
Going in the
other direction, D-flat is a chromatic half step below D.
A diatonic half step must use a letter
name that is different from the original note.
E-flat is a
diatonic half step above D.
C-sharp is a
diatonic half step below D.
Look
at the pitch A on the keyboard. The black note a half step above (to the right)
can be called A–sharp or B-flat.
The
distance from A to A-sharp or from A to B-flat in both cases is a half step.
When
we call the black note A-sharp, it’s a chromatic
half step.
If
we go from A to B-flat, we still cover the same distance, but we call the half
step a diatonic half step.
When
we’re dealing with the places on the keyboard where there are two white notes
next to each other with no black key in between them (B to C and E to F), we
must be extra careful. If we want a chromatic
half step above B, for example, we find ourselves at the pitch we normally call
C. But we can’t call this pitch C since we want a chromatic half step.
We want to use the same letter name for this note.
In
this case, we would call this note (the one we would usually call C), B-sharp,
because it is the note a half step above B. That means C and B-sharp are
enharmonic.
If
we wanted a diatonic half step above
B, we’d just call the pitch C.
We’re
not done with accidentals yet. There are such things as double flats and double
sharps. They’re certainly not as common as sharps, flats, and naturals, but
they do exist and they are important in some contexts.
The
double flat indicates that the
original note is to be lowered by two half steps. The double flat is indicated
by two flats in front of the affected note.
The double
sharp looks like an “X” and it indicates that the original note is to be
raised by two half steps.
Find
G on the keyboard. If we ask for a G-double sharp, where do we end up? Start
with your finger on G and move up two half steps. You should have your finger
on A, which can also be called G-double sharp.
Go
back to G. If we want a G double flat, where do we end up? Move down two half
steps from G and you end up on F. So F can also be called G-double flat.
Here
is the keyboard with all possible note names labeled. Notice that every single
note (except one) has three possible enharmonic names.
ADDITIONAL
ACTIVITIES
Write a chromatic
and a diatonic half step above the following notes. For
each given note, you should be writing in two different notes for the answer:
one with the same letter name (chromatic) and one with a different letter name
(diatonic).
For each of these pairs, indicate
whether the notes are a whole step
apart (WS), a half step apart (HS),
or enharmonic (E).
_______________ ______________ ________________ ______________ _______________ ______________
For each given pitch, notate two
enharmonic notes on the staff.
Without looking, try to draw and
label a keyboard with all the possible note names. Keep trying until you get it
right!