Theory of Music
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MUSIC THEORY 1. Staffs, Clefs & Pitch notation Naming the Notes Musical notation describes the pitch (how high or low), temporal position (when to start) and duration (how long) of discrete elements, or sounds, we call notes . The notes are represented by graphical symbols, also called notes or note signs . In English-speaking countries, the pitch names given to a row of notes steadily rising in pitch are drawn from the the first seven letters of the Roman alphabet: A B C D E F G In the Netherlands, the letters A to G are also used, but otherwise the 'Dutch' system follows the 'German' system, so-called because it originated in Germany, which also uses H. Staff or Stave The note signs are placed on a grid formed of horizontal lines and spaces. This grid is called the staff or stave . The plural of either word is staves . Although, in the past, staves could have many different numbers of lines, today the most common staff format has five lines separated by four spaces and is know as the pentagram . When numbering the lines, it is a widely used convention to number them from the bottom ( 1) to the top ( 5) of each staff. The spaces between the lines are numbered too, again from the bottom ( 1) to the top ( 4). Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 1 Music is read from 'left' to 'right', in the same direction as you are reading this text. The higher the pitch of the note , the higher vertically the note will be placed on the staff . Such notation is called diastematic or intervallic Placing Notes on the Staff Note signs may lie on a line (where the line passes through the note-head), in the space between two lines (where the note-head lies between two adjacent lines), in the space above the top line or on the space below the bottom line. Leger or Ledger Lines Note signs outside the range covered by the lines and spaces of the staff are placed on, above or below supplementary lines, called leger (or ledger ) lines, which can be placed above or below the staff . Where two or more consecutive notes are written using leger lines, in order to make the notes easier to read, the lines for each note are always horizontally separated from those of the note following. Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 2 The Clef Sign To set the pitch of any note on the staff a graphical symbol called a clef (from the Latin clavis meaning key), clef sign or clef signature , is placed at the far left-hand side of the staff . The clef establishes the pitch of the note on one particular line of the staff and thereby fixes the pitch of all the other notes lying on, or related to, the same staff . It is common practice to visualise each clef as a part of a much larger grid of eleven horizontal lines and ten spaces known variously as the Great Staff , Grand Staff , Great Stave or Grand Stave . Note the relationship between the Great Staff and most commonly used clefs , treble (top left in the picture below), bass (bottom left in the picture below) and alto (right in the picture below). It should be stressed that, historically, there never was a staff of eleven lines. It is solely a 'construct' or 'device' used by theorists to demonstrate the relationship between various staves and clefs . The note we call middle C and which lies in the middle of the alto clef (for clarity, it is shown in red), lies one line below the five lines of the treble clef and lies one line above the five lines of the bass clef . The Treble Clef The treble clef is also called the G clef or G2 because the centre of the clef curls around the the horizontal line (2), marked in red in the diagram below, associated with the note G above middle C. The treble clef symbol is actually a stylised letter G. When drawing this symbol freehand it is easiest to start from the bottom of the symbol and end with the curl around the G line. Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 3 The Score We meet terms like 'letter', 'word', 'sentence', 'line', 'paragraph', 'page', 'chapter' and 'book' when examining the structure of a work of literature. Except in unusual circumstances, structure has nothing to do with content. In music we have terms that serve a similar function; so, for example, ' note ', ' bar ', ' line ', ' section ', ' movement ' and ' score '. A composer creates a musical work, what we call a score , which has various structural elements. The Hexachord The solmisation syllables were applied to sequences of six notes (e.g. C - D - E - F - G - A) called hexachords (Greek: hexa = six, chorde = string or note). There are three hexachords starting on the notes g, c and f. The note letter names of the upward scale from gamma ut then read gamma , A, B, c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c' , d' , e' , f' , g' , a' , b' , c'' , d'' , e'' As it happens, middle C , lies just about in the middle of the standard piano keyboard and for this reason most pianists assume that the description 'middle' is a reference to this accident of piano manufacture. The term 'middle' is applied only to the note c and not to the register within which it lies. Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 4 Naming the Octaves The convention for naming octaves is fairly arbitrary but can be useful when considering how chords, that is groups of notes played together, sound. Keeping the notes well spread apart significantly strengthens the effect of a chord. Each note C is said to be in a different register . Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 5 2. Notes & Rests Duration Where the vertical position of a note on a staff or stave determines its pitch, its relative time value or duration is denoted by the particular sign chosen to represent it. This is the essence of proportional or mensural notation , first developed in the eleventh century. The coin & paper money you use to pay for goods & services are good examples of relative value. While in England 100 pence = 1 pound and in the United States the cent and dollar are similarly related (100 cents = 1 dollar) in neither case do you know the 'absolute' value of a currency or of its 'denominations'; for example, how many dollars = 1 pound. So it is with musical 'denominations'. The signs do not give duration in units of time, minutes or seconds. The Anatomy of a Note Sign • note (sign) • rest (sign) • stem • flag, hook In music the denomination of 'coinage' is the note or note sign . One can use either term. Each note sign is a construct of three distinct parts. The notehead , whose position on the stave actually sets its pitch, can be open (white) or closed (black). For all notes except the double whole note and whole note, each note has a stem or tail and, for the notes of shorter time-value, a hook or flag , one for a eighth note, two for a sixteenth note, and so on. The stem can rise from the notehead , in which case it lies on the right-hand side of the notehead , or fall from the notehead , in which case it lies on the left hand side of the notehead (see two quarter notes). In either case, the flag or hook lies on the right-hand side of the stem (see two eighth notes). Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 6 Two quarter notes: Two eighth notes: When placed on the stave , a note sign will be placed either on a line or on a space between the lines. The position indicates the relative pitch of the note . If the note lies above or below the stave then it will lie on, above or below auxiliary lines called leger or ledger lines. Notice how the position of the note on the stave generally determines whether the stem 'rises' or 'falls' from the notehead . Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 7 Chart of Note and Rest Signs If the notes are listed in decreasing time value , longest to shortest, each is half the duration of the one immediately before it. The table of 'denominations' below shows the note with the longest duration at the top and that with the shortest duration at the bottom. The Note Sign English American number equal to 1 semibreve 2/1 breve or brevis double-whole 1 semibreve whole note 1/2 minim half note 1/4 crotchet quarter note 1/8 quaver eighth note 1/16 semiquaver sixteenth note 1/32 demisemiquaver thirty-second note 1/64 hemidemisemiquaver sixty-fourth note 1/128 semihemidemisemiquaver or one hundred and twenty- quasihemidemisemiquaver eighth note Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr. Brian Blood 8 Rest Rest English American number equal to 1 semibreve 2/1 breve rest double-whole rest 1 semibreve rest whole rest 1/2 minim rest half rest 1/4 crotchet rest quarter rest 1/8 quaver rest eighth rest 1/16 semiquaver rest sixteenth rest 1/32 demisemiquaver rest thirty-second rest 1/64 hemidemisemiquaver rest sixty-fourth rest 1/128 semihemidemisemiquaver one hundred and twenty- rest eighth rest Redaction and Publishing Marzenna Donajski © Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online by Dr.