STUDY GUIDE MUSIC THEORY THE STAFF The Staff is the basis of written music. Notes are written on the staff. A Staff consists of 5 lines with 4 spaces between them as shown below. Always count from the bottom to the top of the staff. BARS and MEASURES The vertical lines on the staff are called Bar Lines. Bar Lines are used to divide the staff into Measures. Thick double bars are used to mark the end of a piece of music. Measures are frequently referred to as “Bars”. In the example below you can see three single bar lines. LEGER or LEDGER LINES When you need to put pitches above or below the staff, a short line is added above or below the staff. In the example below, there are two leger lines above the Staff and two below. CLEFS A Clef is a symbol used in musical notation that assigns the pitch of notes to lines and spaces on the Staff. A clef can be thought of as assigning a certain pitch to a specific line or space on the staff. The figure below is a TREBLE CLEF. Notice that the big curve of the Treble Clef curls around the second line from the bottom of the staff. That second line is the pitch G. That gives us the other name for the Treble Clef which is the G CLEF The figure below is a BASS CLEF. Notice that the two dots to the right of the Clef are on either side of the fourth line from the bottom of the staff. That fourth line is the pitch F. That gives us the other name for the Bass Clef which is the F CLEF. GRAND STAFF or “SYSTEM” When staffs with bass and treble clefs are connected by a bar line and a brace, they become the Grand Staff. This greatly increases the range of pitches that can be noted. It is possible to combine more than two staffs into one System. Sometimes a musician will see as many as fifteen or more staffs in one System. PITCH Pitches are musical sounds that have letter names. There are only seven letters used in naming pitches. Those seven letters are: A B C D E F G. The letter named pitches are shown below on a short keyboard – you can see there are white and black keys. The black keys are either in groups of 2 or 3. If you look at the group of any two black keys, you will see that the pitch C is always the white key just to the left of the two black keys. HOW NOTES SHOW PITCH The pitch a note indicates is shown by where the note is located on a staff. Look at the whole notes on the lines of the staff below. You will see a Treble Clef on the staff. The pitches on each line are in blue letters. The whole notes in the spaces show pitches also. They are in red letters. Below you will see whole notes on the lines and spaces of the Staff with the Bass Clef. The line names in the Bass Clef staff are in blue and the space names are in red. As you can see below, there are pitch letter names for every line or space on the staff. The two different CLEF signs change the names of the five lines and spaces. Not only that, there are pitch letter names for notes that are placed above and below the staff. Since there are only 7 Letter Names for Pitches, those letters are repeated over and over. Depending on the Clef and whether a note is on a line or a space will determine the Letter Name for the Pitch. Remember the Treble Clef is the G Clef. That way you can always know that the second line of the Staff with the Treble Clef is for the Pitch G. Also remember the Bass Clef is the F Clef. That way you can always know that the fourth line of the Staff between the two dots of the Bass Clef is for the Pitch F. HALF STEPS and WHOLE STEPS When you look at the keyboard below, you can see that the pitch letter names are repeated across the keyboard. This is because there are only 7 Letters used for all of the pitches used in music. Any key that is right next to another key is a HALF STEP apart. It doesn’t matter if it is black or white. Look at the keyboard below and you can see that from E to F, there is nothing in between. They are a half step apart. The same is true from the B key to the C key. But if you want to play a half step up from C, you must play the black key just to the right of it. That key is called C Sharp (which is written like this - C#). So, C and C# are a half step apart. Look at the key marked D on the keyboard below. If you want to play a half step below D, you would play the black key to the left of D. That key is called D Flat (which is written like this - D ). So, now you have learned two other names for musical symbols and what they do – Flats and Sharps. FLATS lower the pitch of the note by one half step. SHARPS raise the pitch of the note by one half step. So, what is a WHOLE STEP? It is the distance between two pitches or keys that are two half steps apart. Look at the keyboard below and you will see that the whole step from C to D has a black key in between them. So, C to D is two half steps apart or a total of a WHOLE STEP. Remember that a WHOLE STEP always has one other key in between. MAJOR SCALE If you play the keys from one C to the C above or below it, you will have played a scale – a C Major Scale. This is true if you play from any letter name to its repeated letter above or below (D to D, E to E, F to F). There are eight tones in the major scale. However, there is something you must know before you try that, and that is the SCALE PATTERN of whole steps and half steps. To play a Major Scale, you start on any key and then proceed as follows: Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step Let’s say you start on the C Key. The next key you would play is D which is a whole step higher than C. Next you would play E which is a whole step higher than D. After that you play the F Key which is only a half step higher. Following the pattern of W,W,H,W,W,W,H would take you all the way to the top C and you would have played a major scale. Here is the outline of the whole scale. C–D D–E E–F F–G G–A A–B B–C Whole Step Whole Step Half Step Whole Step Whole Step Whole Step Half Step NOTES AND RESTS Notes represent the length of time a pitch will be heard. Each note will be equal to a certain number of regular beats. Rests represent the length of time of silence in music. Each rest is equal to a certain number of regular beats. Sometimes, when there is more than one eighth note or sixteenth note, they can be written without their flags. They can be connected with one crossbar for eighth notes, and two crossbars for sixteenth notes. Two Eighth notes Two Sixteenth notes THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HALF AND WHOLE RESTS A Whole Rest Looks like this a dark rectangle attached to a bar line, hanging down from the 4th line of the staff. The half rest looks like this a dark rectangle sits on the third line of the staff. TIME SIGNATURES The way we find out what the value of a note is for any piece of music is from the time signature which appears at the beginning of the music. Time Signatures A time signature shows two things: 1. How many evenly spaced beats per measure there are in a measure 2. What kind of note gets one beat. The top number of the time signature shows how many beats there are per measure. The bottom number of the time signature shows what kind of note gets one beat. In the example shown above, the top number shows that there are four evenly spaced beats per measure and the bottom number shows that the quarter note is equal to one beat. If the Bottom Number is: 1 2 4 8 16 The Note that gets one beat is a: Whole note Half note Quarter note Eighth note Sixteenth note SINGING WITH “DO RE MI” SOLFEGGE or SOLFEGE If you ever saw the movie “The Sound Of Music” you might remember a song, “Doe, A Deer” when everyone learned how to sing a scale using something called Solfegge. This is a system that uses different syllables to sing a scale. Each syllable represents a particular step of the scale. Here are the Solfegge syllables for the Major Scale. DO RE MI….FA SOL LA TI….DO If you were to sing the eight tones of the major scale all the way up and down, then you would sing the Solfegge syllables up and down the Major Scale like this: DO RE MI FA TI LA SOL DO TI LA SOL FA MI RE DO Remember that the Major Scale has the scale pattern of whole steps and half steps as follows: Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step In writing it out, you can abbreviate it as W, W, H, W, W, W, H. THE CHROMATIC SCALE If you were to play only the half steps from C to C, or D to D, then you would have played something called a CHROMATIC SCALE. A Chromatic Scale is made up entirely of half steps. Look at the keyboard shown below and imagine what the sound would be if you played the C, then C#, then D, then D# and so on until you reached the top C. You would have played 13 keys. Remember, there are 13 tones in a CHROMATIC SCALE. The solfegge syllables for a CHROMATIC scale are: DO DI RI FI SI LI RE MI….FA SOL LA TI….DO RA ME SE LE TE Note the major scale solfegge syllables are in red. The ascending half step solfegge syllables are indicated by the up arrow, and the descending half step syllables are indicated by the down arrow. INTERVALS An Interval is the distance between pitches and is most often expressed as an ordinal number (second, third, fourth, etc.). The number represents the number of pitch names (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) from the first to the second pitch. Remember, an interval is the distance from the FIRST to the SECOND PITCH. For example, the whole step F to G contains two pitch names, F and G. This interval is called a second. The interval from F to A contains F, G and A three pitches, therefore, it is called a third. The interval containing eight pitch names (from C to C or from G to G) is called an OCTAVE. It is the only interval not expressed as an ordinal number Intervals can also be determined using solfegge syllables. For instance DO to RE represents the interval of a second, DO to MI, the interval of a third, DO to FA the interval of a fourth, etc. DO to DO represents the interval of an OCTAVE MAJOR, MINOR, PERFECT INTERVALS Intervals not only have numbers like 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc., they also have characteristics such as Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented and Diminished. It takes a while to catch on to all this, so be patient if you don’t get it at first. When you’re tested on it, the grade won’t be so important that it wrecks your grade in choir. Remember all those solfegge syllables that we learned last semester? Well here they are again. If we look first at the major scale solfegge, the intervals are either Major or Perfect. For example, when you sing from DO to RE, the interval is a Major 2nd. DO RE MI FA SOL LA TI DO When you sing from DO to MI, the interval is a Major 3rd. DO RE MI FA SOL LA TI DO After that, however, there is a change in the characteristic of the interval because DO to FA is a Perfect 4th. DO RE MI FA SOL LA TI DO If you keep singing from DO to each of the higher solfegge syllables in the Major Scale, the name of the interval keeps changing. Here is the list from the beginning: DO DO DO DO DO DO to to to to to to Major 2nd Major 3rd Perfect 4th Perfect 5th Major 6th Major 7th RE MI FA SOL LA TI th th Only the intervals of 4 and 5 are labeled as Perfect. All the others are Major. Now things get somewhat more complicated because we also have intervals that go from DO to some place in the Chromatic Scale. Do you remember this diagram? DO DI RI FI SI LI RE MI….FA SOL LA TI….DO RA ME SE LE TE If you sing from DO to RA, the interval is a minor 2nd DI RI FI DO RE MI….FA SOL RA ME SE SI LI LA LE TI….DO TE If you sing from DO to ME, the interval is a minor 3rd DO DI RA RI RE FI MI….FA ME SI SOL SE LI LA LE TI….DO TE If you sing from DO to FI, the interval is an AUGMENTED 4th or “TRITONE”. (Remember that 4ths and 5ths are Perfect intervals in the major scale solfegge? In the Chromatic Solfegge they will be Augmented or Diminished.) DI RI DO FI SI LI RE MI….FA SOL LA TI….DO RA ME SE LE TE If you sing from DO to SE, the interval is a DIMINISHED 5th or “TRITONE”. (Remember that 4ths and 5ths are Perfect intervals in the major scale solfegge? In the Chromatic Solfegge they will be Augmented or Diminished.) DI DO RA RI RE ME FI MI….FA SI SOL SE LI LA LE TI….DO TE Here is a list of the intervals if you keep singing from DO to each of the higher solfegge syllables in the Chromatic Scale. DO DO DO DO DO DO to to to to to to RA ME FI SE LE TE minor 2nd minor 3rd Augmented 4th - Tritone Diminished 5th - Tritone minor 6th minor 7th Please note that some of the chromatic solfegge syllables are left out. Don’t worry about those right now. Please note also that the intervals of 4th and 5th in the Chromatic Solfegge have names other than minor. KEY SIGNATURES When you read music a key signature will appear at the beginning just after the clef and before the time signature. This lets you know what scale you would be using for the song. The easiest one is C Major because it has no sharps or flats. Key Signature Major Key Look! No sharps and No Flats So it has to be C MAJOR C Major No sharps or flats FLAT KEYS Flat Key Signatures Major Key F major symbol ( 1 flat B major 2 flats E major 3 flats A major 4 flats D major 5 flats G major 6 flats C major 7 flats Please note that F Major is the only flat key that does NOT have the flat ) in its name. SHARP KEYS Sharp Key Signatures Major Key G major 1 sharp D major 2 sharps A major 3 sharps E major 4 sharps B major 5 sharps F♯ major (♯) in their names. 6 sharps C♯ major 7 sharps Please note that only F♯ major and C♯ major have the sharp symbol ACCIDENTALS Accidentals change the pitch of a note by raising or lowering it by one half step, but only in the measure where the accidental appears. Accidentals stay in effect for all notes of the same pitch for the rest of that particular measure. The effect is to temporarily change what the key signature tells you. Remember that only one measure is affected by accidentals. Here are the three accidentals you need to know. FLATS lower the pitch of the note by one half step. SHARPS raise the pitch of the note by one half step. A NATURAL SIGN cancels out any previous sharps or flats and returns the note to the original pitch of the key signature. TIE and SLUR MARKS Ties and slurs have different effects on two or more notes. TIES connect notes of the same pitch, essentially forming one longer note. SLURS indicate that notes under the slur should be sung without any breaks. The first set of notes above shows a TIE, the second shows a SLUR. The example below of a TIE shows that two dotted half notes should be sung for a total of six beats without a break in the sound. DOT A dot after a note increases the value of a note by half the note’s original value. If a note is worth four beats, then the dot would be worth two beats. The total value of the dotted note would then be six beats. In the example below, you can see a dotted half note. This would be sung for the same length of time as if you were to tie a half note to a quarter note. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HALF AND WHOLE RESTS A Whole Rest Looks like this a dark rectangle attached to a bar line; it hangs down from 4th line of the staff The half rest looks like this a dark rectangle sits on the 3rd line of the staff. DYNAMICS – The range of volume - This symbol is pianissimo, it means very quiet. - This symbol is piano, it means quiet. - This symbol is mezzo piano, it means moderately quiet. - This symbol is mezzo forte, it means moderately loud. - This symbol is forte, it means loud. - This symbol is fortissimo, it means very loud. - This sign is an indication for a crescendo meaning to gradually become louder. “Crescere” is the Italian verb meaning “to grow”. - This sign is an indication for a decrescendo meaning to gradually become quieter. MUSICAL TERMS - Sforzando - A sudden, strong accent. - Fermata – A sign above a note that indicates to hold the note longer until conducted to stop. Chord A combination of three or more pitches sounding at the same time. “Common Time” - Another name for the 4/4 TIME SIGNATURE, it is written on the staff as a large capital C. “Cut Time” - Another name for the 2/2 TIME SIGNATURE, it is written as a large capital C with a line drawn vertically through it. Dissonance A combination of sounds that produce harsh, discordant results, and increase the desire for resolution. Enharmonic Two notes that are written differently but have the same sound. C = D Here is an example of two enharmonic pitches Subito Suddenly Unison When singers or instrumentalists are singing or playing exactly the same pitches at the same time.