Musical Terms! Sheet Symbol Name Description Whole Note 4 beats of sound. We say “Toh” ! Half Note 2 beats of sound. We say “Tu” ! Quarter Note 1 beat of sound. We say “Ta” Eighth Note 1/2 beat of sound. We say “Ta OR Di” ! Whole Rest 4 beats of silence. ! Half Rest 2 beats of silence ! Quarter Rest 1 beat of silence ! Eighth Rest 1/2 beat of silence Simple Meter Time Signatures TOP Number: number of beats in a measure. BOTTOM Number: 4=Quarter note is the beat unit. Breath mark short pause. Usually as a marking of phrase or breathing. Fermata Seen above a note or rest. Indicated holding the note until cut off by the director. tenuto a line above or below a note indicated a slight emphasis. caesura indicates silence General Pause indicates a silence of significant length ! tie curved line that connects two or more notes of the same pitch. Often extends duration over bar lines. Extension Dots written to the right of a note. Increases the duration of the note by 1/2 of the original value. pianissimo very soft pp piano soft p mezzo piano moderately soft mp mezzo forte moderately loud mf forte loud f fortissimo very loud ff crescendo gradually louder decrescendo gradually softer ritardando gradually slow down the rit. tempo accelerando Gradually speed up the accel. tempo poco little poco poco a poco little by little poco a poco Legato Smoothly Accent Accent a note, sudden stress Stacatto Shortly Sharp Key Signature Find the letter name of the sharp. Then go up one letter name. That is the name of your key. Flat Key Signature The second to last flat is the name of your key. If there is only one flat, it is the Key of F..