Music Appreciation

Music Appreciation Behold, the beginnings of music!

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. The Staff: • Five lines and four spaces, indicating which pitch to play • Vertical lines break the staff in to sections, called measures

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. The Clefs: • A symbol that determines the range of notes played on the staff • Found at the beginning of every staff • Two main clefs: Treble and Bass

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. The Clefs: Treble • Indicates higher notes, the top half of a piano • Called the G clef

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. The Clefs: Bass • Indicates lower notes, the bottom half of the piano • Called the F clef

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. Note Names • Each line and space in a staff has a name, corresponding to a certain note • Names differ between Treble and Bass clefs

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. Note Names: Treble • Lines: E, G, B, D, and F (Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge) • Spaces: F, A, C, and E (FACE, heh)

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. Note Names: Bass • Lines: G, B, D, F, and A (Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always) • Spaces: A, C, E, and G (All Cows Eat Grass)

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. Other Clefs: Percussion • Used for percussion instruments, on a single line staff, or sometimes a five line staff too

Five Lines and a Squiggle: That’s it. Other Clefs: C clefs • Called the movable clef • Whichever line is in the middle of the clef symbol, that line is middle C

Little Circles for the Lines, too. Notes • Symbols used to designates pitches and rhythms in music • Position in staff determines pitch • Shape of note determines rhythm (duration)

Little Circles for the Lines, too. Notes: Types • Whole Note: four beats • Half Note: two beats (half of a whole note)

Little Circles for the Lines, too. Notes: Types • Quarter Note: one beat (quarter of a whole note, half of a half note) • Eighth note: half a beat (hopefully by now you see the pattern

Little Circles for the Lines, too. Notes: Types • Notes continue in to sixteenth and thirty-second notes, but those are two small and fast to really matter right now

Little Circles for the Lines, too. The Dot! • Adding a dote to a note multiplies its duration by 1.5 • Thus, a half note with a dote is three beats (2 x 1.5 = 3)

The Antithesis of Little Circles. Rests • Just like a note, but stand for silence instead of a played pitch • Oh, they look different, too.

Now We Add Some Numbers… Time Signature • A set of stacked numbers that determines the meter of the music • Top Number: number of beats in a measure • Bottom Number: size of a note that determines what a single beat is

Now We Add Some Numbers… Time Signature: Denominator explained • Bottom number is the note determining the beat (pulse) • Common time: number is a 4, so a quarter note equals the beat • So, if the number is 8, and eighth note is the pulse/beat of the music

But What Does It Sound Like? Key • Key is an arranged pattern of notes that correspond to a tonic pitch • 12 major keys, 12 minor keys

But What Does It Sound Like? And that means what? • It just means it’s the characteristic sound of the music

But What Does It Sound Like? Key Signature • Symbols that indicate what they key of the music is • Designated by sharps or flats at the beginning of every staff • Each key has a set number of sharps or flats in it • Sharps raise a pitch, flats lower a pitch

But What Does It Sound Like? Sharps and Flats • Order of Flats: BEADGCF • Order of Sharps: FCGDEAB

Do We Have Music Now? Yes, we do. Put it all together (staff, clef, notes, measures, key, time), and you have some simple music. Though, there is much more to it than that.

The End.

Music Appreciation