musical knowledge
music notation and the elements of music
Music Notation - the symbols and words used to represent and describe sound and music.
Stave - Music is written on 5 horizontal lines called the stave
Treble clef - The curly symbol at the start of every stave of guitar music
Notes
Note symbols give us two pieces of information:
1) The 'pitch' of the note - the highness or lowness of a sound and specifically whether it is an A,B,C,D,E,F,G etcetera
2) The 'duration' of the note - the length of a sound, that is, how long it lasts.
Music notes are given alphabet letter names - A, A#, B, C, C#,D, D#,E, F, F#,G, G#
# - 'sharp' (making the note a semitone-one fret higher)
There are twelve notes in all.
Notes are written on the stave either:
in a space (between lines), or on a line (the note head is on the line).
Rests
Rests are periods of silence in music
Barlines - divide the music into bars or groups of beats
Time signature - tells us how many beats in each bar
Key signature - the sharp or flat symbols that instruct which pitches are to be played. The key of the music is often the group of pitches (or scale) upon which the compostion is created.
Music Elements - Music is made up of various elements.
Pulse or Beat - a basic unit of time. The beat or pulse is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to. It is often constant within in a piece of music, like the pulse and heart beat in animals. The words 'beat' and 'pulse' are often interchangeable.
Rhythm - a strong regular repeating pattern of sound.
Tempo - the speed of the music.
Meter - the way the beats are grouped, defined by the barlines. These are often groups of 2, 3 or 4.
Dynamics - the varying levels of volume of sound in different parts of a musical performance.
Articulation - how individual notes should be played i.e. stacatto (short and detached); legato (smooth and connected)
Stave - Music is written on 5 horizontal lines called the stave
Treble clef - The curly symbol at the start of every stave of guitar music
Notes
Note symbols give us two pieces of information:
1) The 'pitch' of the note - the highness or lowness of a sound and specifically whether it is an A,B,C,D,E,F,G etcetera
2) The 'duration' of the note - the length of a sound, that is, how long it lasts.
Music notes are given alphabet letter names - A, A#, B, C, C#,D, D#,E, F, F#,G, G#
# - 'sharp' (making the note a semitone-one fret higher)
There are twelve notes in all.
Notes are written on the stave either:
in a space (between lines), or on a line (the note head is on the line).
Rests
Rests are periods of silence in music
Barlines - divide the music into bars or groups of beats
Time signature - tells us how many beats in each bar
Key signature - the sharp or flat symbols that instruct which pitches are to be played. The key of the music is often the group of pitches (or scale) upon which the compostion is created.
Music Elements - Music is made up of various elements.
Pulse or Beat - a basic unit of time. The beat or pulse is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to. It is often constant within in a piece of music, like the pulse and heart beat in animals. The words 'beat' and 'pulse' are often interchangeable.
Rhythm - a strong regular repeating pattern of sound.
Tempo - the speed of the music.
Meter - the way the beats are grouped, defined by the barlines. These are often groups of 2, 3 or 4.
Dynamics - the varying levels of volume of sound in different parts of a musical performance.
Articulation - how individual notes should be played i.e. stacatto (short and detached); legato (smooth and connected)
