Toronto Conservatory Text Book Series No. 1 MUSICAL RUDIMENTS By LEO SMITH MUS. BAC. MANCHESTER, ENG. HON FELLOW OF THE ROYAL MANCHESTER COLLEGE OF MUSIC 75 ce n t s Boston, M ass. THE BOSTON MUSIC COMPANY NEW YORK: G. SCHIRMER CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Preliminaries; So u n d s; N o ta tio n i II. Sc a l e s ....................................................... 10 III. In t e r v a l s ............. ............ 27 IV. T ime an d R h y t h m ............................. 36 V. C om pressed an d O pen S c o r e ; - the C -C l e f ; T ransposition .. 51 VI. Orn am en ts; A g r e m e n s; G r a c e s .. 60 VII. T r ia d s; the C ommon C hord an d its In v e r s io n s; th e D o m in an t- S even th .............................................. 70 VIII. M a r k s of E x p r e s s io n ; I ta lia n V o c a b u l a r y ; A bbreviations ; D e f in it io n s ........................................ 81 Questions and E x er cises (C hapters I - V I I I ) ........................................ 99 Copyright, 1920, by The Boston Music Co. B. M. Co. 6418 MUSICAL RUDIMENTS CHAPTER I PRELIMINARIES; SOUNDS; NOTATION 1. Music, according to a French philosophi­ cal school, is “ The art of thinking in sounds.” The formulating of such sounds into artistic design so as to establish a counterpart with utterance and thought1 and reflection of life, con­ stitutes the story of music and is of fascinating interest to those who would pursue it. With the exception of certain folk-music which has never been written and consequently not standardized to our laws of rhythm, and, to a certain extent, pitch, such music as we know of to-day may be briefly described as a “ written art music,” 2 and the requisite preliminaries for the study of the same constitutes its rudiments. Musical rudiments usually begin with definitions of sound and pitch. 2. Sound has been defined as; “ Vibration affecting the brain through the sensitive nerves of the ear.” 3 When such vibration is con­ stant and regular it becomes musical, in con­ tradistinction to irregular vibration, which is merely noise. The study of the nature and laws of sound belongs to the science of Acoustics, and will not be treated in this work. But it is neces­ sary to state that Pitch — technically, the fre- 1 Sir Hubert Parry 2 Percy Grainger. 3 Henry Hiles. 1 2 Musical Rudiments Preliminaries; Sounds; Notation 3 quency of vibration — depends on the rapidity 5. The pitch of notes is further indicated by of the vibrations emitted by the sounding body. the use of additional short parallel lines above Thus high and shrill sounds are made by quick or below the stave, known as “ ledger-lines” vibrations; but as these become slower the pitch (or “ leger-lines” ) and by the addition of “ clefs,” of the sound drops and gives lower and deeper literally “ keys” to the stave, placed at the begin- sensations. ning of each stave. Notes are written both on the 3. The art of expressing music in writing has Clefs and Ledger-lines been systematized under the heading of Nota­ tion. Notation has been divided into two classes: (1) Phonetic, and (2) Diastematic or etc. “Notation by intervals.” The first of these, as the word implies, concerns the use of letters, words and numerals, and, as will be explained lines and in the spaces, also on and above the later on, signs denoting Time and Rhythm. The ledger-lines, if proceeding upwards, or, on or second, in contradistinction to the first, employs below if proceeding downwards. As the relative no letters or words, but expresses the musical position of the notes rises so does the pitch, and, idea by the relative position of certain signs. vice versa. To perform this last-named function, signs must 5a. The idea of fixing the pitch of a given therefore be written so as to give a relative pitch- ound by means of a horizontal line, dates from value (high and low sounds), and a relative time- about the year 900. The adding of more lines, value (the duration, in seconds, or fractions —also clefs, known then as “ claves” or “ keys,” — of a second, during which the sound remains proceeded only after centuries of thought. In audible.) the 15th and 16th centuries four lines were used 4. Signs, thus used are known as “ notes,” a for Plain-song, six lines for organ music and five word derived from the Latin nota, — a sign or lines for other vocal music. With the coming of nod. The relative time-value of notes depends printing, however, the five-line plan gradually on the shape in which they are written; but the superseded all others, it being found to present relative pitch-value is indicated by their position the least confusion to the eye. on five horizontal lines technically known either 6. The most commonly used clefs in modern as the “ Stave” or “ Staff.” music are the Treble and the Bass. The Stave The Treble-clef The Bass-clef The more ornate figure of the Treble-clef is said 4 Musical Rudiments Preliminaries; Sounds; Notation 5 to be a development of a capital G. It should of the Hindus and the Greeks. The plan of encircle the second line of the stave, which, as using the first seven alphabetical letters dates we shall soon see, indicates the note G. The less from about the 11th century, and is sometimes ornate bass-clef is a development of an old form attributed to Guido of Arrezo (Guido d’Arezzo). of the letter F. It encircles the fourth line, indicating the note F. The addition of clefs to 7. It will be seen that the treble stave includes the stave fixes the pitch-value of the notes, and notes ordinarily within the compass of the fe­ these with their letter-names should now be male voice, and the bass stave such notes as learnt. In the following example, the pitch of ordinarily fall within the range of the male voice; the last note written in the bass stave (i.e. Mid­ and further, that if the two staves were com­ dle- C) is identical with that of the first written bined with the addition of one central line, that in the treble stave. a stave of eleven lines would then be drawn, which would encompass, approximately, the entire vocal range. References, sometimes made etc. in musical works, to the Grand Stave, refer to this system of eleven lines, and are interesting GABCDEFGABC only in showing the relative value of bass- and treble-clefs. etc. CDEFGABCDEFGA Middle- C Ledger-lines give the notes of extreme compass, and the eye should be accustomed to the reading of them quickly. Middle- C etc. etc. 8. Turning to the relative time-values of notes A B C D E F G we have seen ( 4) that this depends on their F E D C B A G F shapes. In modern notation the note of the longest relative value is the Sem ibreve or 6a. The idea of borrowing alphabetical names Whole Note, which for musical sounds is a very old one, and is found is written thus: in the systems of ancient races, including those The addition of a perpendicular line denotes the 6 Musical Rudiments Preliminaries; Sounds; Notation 7 Minim or Half-note, the relative value of Thirty- Sixty- which is half Quarter- Sixteenth- second- fourth- Whole note Half-note note note note note the semibreve: Rest Rest Rests Rest Rest Rest Proceeding in relative values of fractions of the whole note we get the following: Crotchets or four of such equal­ Quarter-notes: ling the time-value The Whole note rest also indicates a period of of a whole note silence for a measure, even when such measure Quavers or Eighth- is not of the time-value notes (with one hook): of a whole note: eight of such equalling the time-value of a whole note. 10. Rests for periods Semiquavers or Sixteenth-notes (with two of two and four meas­ hooks): ures are written thus: And these signs are sometimes sixteen of such equalling the time-value of a combined: whole note. But when the period is of long duration it is And Demisemiquavers or Thirty-second-notes, indicated by the fig­ written with the ad­ thirty-two of which ure written above a dition of three hooks equal the whole note; horizontal line: to the stem: and finally, Semidemisemiquavers or sixty-four of 11. Time-values of notes and their rest-equiva­ Sixty-fourth-notes, writ­ which equal lents are increased by the use of dots. Dots are ten with four hooks: th e whole particularly necessary because our notation note. gives no note “ equal to three of the next lower 9. As soon as “ Measured Music” (see 43) denomination.”1 Thus we have a whole note, was established, the necessity for rests, i.e., but nothing to express the value of a third of periods of silence, became apparent. Rests are that. Similarly there is nothing to indicate the indicated by special signs and are named accord­ third of a half-note, quarter-note, or any other ing to the notes for which they are time-equiva­ of smaller value. By increasing the time-value lents.