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The Musical ABC's and How to Read Them

 

Be sure to use the Glossary if you come across a term you're not familiar with:
Glossary

    All music is made up of a finite number of musical notes known as the musical ABC's. I did not make up that term, but it is a convenient way to refer to every note in every piece of music ever written or played. Since the art of music is the manipulation of these 12 notes (for now), I have decided to begin by showing you each letter name and its place on the Staff.

    Notice that the letters can be used more than once. Actually, they can be used about 5 or 6 times. They just start over at A when they get to G. The letters A to G make up 7 of the 12 notes I just mentioned. The other five are discussed in Section 1a. For now, though, you only need to learn these 7 notes and their place on the Grand Staff. You may have seen something similar to this at some point. I suggest you learn it and memorize it. In the next section when we move into rhythm, you will still be memorizing and internalizing these notes and their positions on the staff. Also notice the direction of the stems! The note heads placed on the 2nd space and below have stems that go down. The note heads on the 3rd line and above go up. Actually, the 3rd line can go either way, depending on which direction the others notes are facing, but I didn't make it go up in this picture.

    *** Tip: if you're having trouble learning these notes, try using note cards. Draw a staff and one note on each note card. Make several note cards for every note. Then, anytime you find you have an extra 5 minutes, take them out and quiz yourself quickly. If you look stupid doing this in the checkout line at the store, don't worry about it. Others have done it in the past, many more will do this in the future. The point is you must learn these!

    A useful little bit of info you may want to have is what to call the parts of the note. 

    This can be helpful for future reference so make a note of these terms. The explanation on beaming the flags of notes together is further toward the bottom of the page.

Rhythm

    Now that you are learning how to identify each note on the staff, you need to know how long to hold out each note, or its duration. The duration of the notes in a song is just as important as the pitches of the notes. You could play a song with every pitch right on the money, but if you don't play it with the correct rhythm, no one will recognize the song. All that to say that this is more important stuff you really need to know if you want to learn music theory.

    When figuring out the rhythm of a piece of music, the musician has several things to look at. Fortunately, these become second nature after awhile.

    The first thing you will see in the piece is the Time Signature. The time signature is made up of two numbers, one on top of the other. The top number indicates how many beats are in a measure. The bottom number indicates what kind of note gets the beat. For example, the most common:

    Time Signatures will typically be displayed at the beginning of each piece. However, some tricky composers have been known to change the time signature in the middle of a piece, so watch out.

    All music is based on a pulse or a beat. The specific rhythm of the music determined by the number of beats in a measure and the rhythmic value assigned to each note (a.k.a. the time signature) indicates what meter the music is in. In other words, the meter is useful for indicating which beats are strong or weak. I'll explain in a moment why you need this information, but first you need to know what the types of meter are called and how to figure out which one is being used.

    First, we will deal with three of the most common Simple Meters.

Simple Duple Meter: Two beats in each measure, the first being the strongest... or every other beat is a strong beat.

Simple Triple Meter: Three beats in each measure, the first being the strongest. Every third beat is a strong beat.

Simple Quadruple Meter: Four beats in each measure, the first being the strongest, the third being the second strongest.

    **** Knowing what meter a piece is in helps when you begin to learn about phrasing. A phrase is the same as a musical sentence, and much like a sentence, there are certain places where the speaker uses inflection and voice tone to convey different ideas. For example, say this sentence out loud: "What did you say?" Depending on where you place the inflection of your voice, this sentence can be a honest question, a thinly veiled threat, a sarcastic remark, or any number of things. All those meanings are derived simply from the way the sentence is phrased. The same holds true in musical sentences. If you know that a piece of music is in Simple Duple meter, you will want to play it and emphasize the first beat of each measure, or every other beat. Otherwise, the piece can sound like Simple Quadruple with an over emphasis on the third beat, or a Simple Triple with pick-up note, or any number of other meters that we will discuss in a moment. If this is getting a little heavy right now, don't worry about it. This is really simple once you work with it a little.

    In addition to these simple meters, there are also compound meters. In compound meter, the beat is subdivided into 3 parts instead of 2. The 6/8 time signature is the most common compound meter. Most people I know, including myself, will count this 1 2 3 4 5 6 .. etc. However, if you want to get this question right on a test, you would have to divide it into 3 parts. Instead of looking like this: 

1 2 3 4 5 6   or   1 + 2 + 3 +

    It'll look like this: 

1 + a 2 + a

    Much easier to count, right? This would be called a compound duple because it's divided into 3 equal parts (making it compound) and it has two beats (making it a duple meter.) How do I get this? Look at the first picture. See how they are grouped into 2's? Like we said earlier, simple meters are subdivided by 2. Compound meters are subdivided by 3. Cheater: As a general rule, any time signature with a top number greater than 5 will probably be a compound meter. Then, take the top number and divide it by 3. This is your new top number. Take the bottom number, figure out the value of the note and go to the next highest value, then put a dot behind it. Here's an example in 6/8 time:

   6 / 3 = 2
   8 the note value for 8 is the 1/8 note. The next highest value would be the quarter note. Now dot it and you're done.

    So it ends up looking like this - 2/

How to Count These Rhythms.

    In 4/4 time, each quarter note gets 1 beat. To sub-divide into eighth notes, you count an + (pronounced "and") in between each number (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +). The "a" (pronounced "ah") and "e" ( "ee") work the same way. When you want to sub-divide the quarter notes into 1/16 notes, each syllable gets one 1/16 th note, and you count: 

 

1 e + a (= 1 quarter note) 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a.

    To count triplets ( 1 quarter note divided by 3) or counting in a compound meter like the 6/8 compound meter example from above, you count: 

 

1 + a 2 + a.

    Another way to count this would be with these different syllables: 

 

1 la le 2 la le

    The syllable doesn't matter. Just the rhythm and the beat. The last method for counting sub-divisions is the trickiest one. This example deals with the sub-division of a dotted quarter note in a 6/8 time signature into 1/16th notes. Since 6/8 is compound, the dotted quarter note gets the beat. The first sub-division into eighth notes would be like I said earlier (1 + a 2 + a or 1 la le 2 la le) then the sub-division of that into 1/16th notes would be: 

1 ta la ta le ta 2 ta la ta le ta

    Each syllable again representing a 1/16th note. 

Note Values

    Next, comes the note values. Each note has a rhythmic value assigned to it in the time signature, but they also have a set value which is illustrated in the way they are divided. Divided is a good word because to figure out the set value of a note, you simply start with a whole note and divide by 2 on down the line. 

    ...etc., etc., ad infinitum... theoretically dividing an infinite number of times, though if you do, you have way too much time on your hands.

    Now that you know this information, simply refer to the bottom number of the time signature, which tells you which of the notes above gets a beat of one, and use this as the reference. For example, in 4/4 time, the quarter note will get a beat of one. In 3/4 time, the quarter note will get a beat of one. In 2/2 time, the half note will get a beat of one. Then, say we're in 4/4 time. We've just said the quarter note gets 1 beat. So how many beats will two quarter notes equal? 

    And you can use any combination of these notes in any order to get the number of beats you want in each measure. 

    Easy right? The tricky part to this is the dotted notes. We touched on them briefly earlier in the Compound Meter section, but now I'll explain them in more detail. The dot adds half of the value of the note in front of it. The quarter note gets 1 beat in 4/4 time, so the dot would represent a 1/2 beat. Add these two numbers together to get the full value of 1 1/2 beats in 4/4 time.

    Another example: Take the dotted half note. A half note by itself is worth 2 beats in 4/4 time, half of 2 is 1, 2 + 1 = 3 beats in 4/4 time.

    Now your turn: Take a dotted quarter note in 6/8 time. How many beats will it get?

    Did you say 1 beat? If so, you're right. Since 6/8 is a Compound Meter, the eighth note won't get the beat. You have to go to the next highest note value which is the quarter note and dot it. So the dotted quarter note gets 1 beat in 6/8 time.

    The last of the basic notations you may encounter are the rests. As the name states, a rest is a rest in the music. Say you're in 4/4 time and composing a piece. The melody or soprano line has a measure in which you'd like them out on the 4th beat. If you wrote the line like this: 

    ... no one would know what you were talking about. A rest is missing from the 4th beat of this measure. A quarter rest, to be exact. We give rhythmic values to the rests just as we do for the notes which indicate pitch. 

 

The Beam Shows the Beat

    Next, I want to discuss the rules concerning the notes with flags and how to beam them. Lets work with the eighth note, which has one flag. 

    The rule to remember here is "The beam shows the beat." For instance, if you were in 4/4 time, the maximum number of eighth notes you could have in a measure would be 8. Now, how would you beam them? Like this: 

 

or this:

    You would have been more nearly correct had you picked the second one. The reason is this: since the beam shows the beat, the first one sounds like 1 e + a 2 e + a (2/2 time signature) and the second one sounds like 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + , which is the way you would want to count a 4/4 measure of eighth notes. Also, you must remember to never begin a beam on an up beat (an + when counting). Why not? Because the beam shows the beat (that is, the down beat) and beginning a beam on an up beat would make the up beat look like the down beat, the piece would go into a syncopated feel, cause massive brain hemorrhaging to all involved, and end all life on this planet as we know it. In other words, don't do it.

    Now for the ties. Ties are used to link two or more notes of the same pitch together to lengthen their duration. Ties are helpful for holding out note's duration into new measures. For instance: 

    Notice that the first two quarter notes are just hanging out taking up 1 beat apiece. Then comes a note that you want to have a duration of 4 beats. In 4/4, you can only have 4 beats per measure, so you can't really use a whole note. The easiest way to solve this problem is illustrated here. Simply take two half notes (2 beats apiece = 4 beats) and tie them together across the bar line. When you tie a note, remember that the purpose is to lengthen the duration of the note. Therefore, it wouldn't make sense to play the second note. Just let it ring until the beginning of the 3rd beat in the 2nd measure. 

 

 

The Staff

    Before we move into the really fun stuff, we need to discuss the other parts of the staff.

    First, here's a staff with the lines and spaces numbered from bottom to top. I'll use this as a reference for now, but soon we need to move towards referring to each line and space by its pitch designation. I hope you're still flipping those note cards I mentioned in Section 1.

 

The Clefs

 

    The first clef is a Treble Clef. It's also called a G clef. Notice how it loops in a counter-clockwise motion around line 2. This indicates that line 2 is "G" on this clef.
    The next clef is the Bass clef (a.k.a. the F clef.) Line 4, located between the two dots, is the F in this clef.
    The next two clefs are called the Alto Clef and the Tenor Clef, respectively. They are both also known as C clefs because the they show where the C is located. The Alto clef's C is line 3, while the Tenor clef's C is the line 4.

The Repeat Symbols

    Just as the name implies, you repeat the section you're in once more. Remember, you have to watch for both halves of the repeat to know where to start repeating. Here's what they look like:

 

Ledger Lines

    Ledger lines are the lines which extend the range of the staff to indicate higher or lower pitches.

    Notice that it is not necessary to enclose a pitch with a ledger line, such as with the pitches G, B, and D.

The Octave Symbol

    Octave: The distance between one note and the next note of the same name, either higher or lower in pitch.
    Composers can use the octave symbol to specify a pitch in a different octave. Sometimes ledger lines can get out of hand. The octave symbol can help clean it up.

    For example:

 

and

    Notice that when the octave symbol is placed above the staff, it indicates that the pitches are 1 octave higher and uses the abbreviation 8va. On the other hand, when the octave symbol is placed below the staff, it indicates that the pitches are 1 octave lower. The abbreviation 8bassa is sometimes used to indicate the lower octave pitch, but the placement above or below the staff is the key here.

Pitch Identification

    Pitch is a result of the vibration of a certain frequency. The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. We refer to some of these as note names rather than their frequency to simplify things. (ex. 440 Hz = A) These note names, along with their sharped and flat brothers, make up the Musical ABC's. However, there are only 12 of these note names and anyone who has played on a piano or guitar knows that there are a few more than 12 different pitches that can be played. This is why note names have to be applied to more than one pitch. To discern between two different pitches that share the same name, we use a system based on the pitch's location on the keyboard or on the staff. 

    C is the pitch we use for reference when using this system. Middle C is known as C4 and indicates the beginning of the 4th octave. Each note name between it and C5 are also in the 4th octave. (C#4/Db4, D4, D#4/Eb4, etc.) C5 marks the beginning of the 5th octave and each note name between it a C6 are in the 5th octave, and so on.

    This system is helpful when you are referring to a specific pitch.

Accidentals

    As I said earlier, there are 7 letters of the alphabet that we use to refer to pitch. These pitches can be slightly altered by adding accidentals which creates 5 new notes. The "#", or sharp, indicates that a pitch should be raised a half step. A "b", or flat, indicates that a pitch should be lowered a half step. Think of a piano. Keep in mind that a half step is the space from one key to next, either white or black.

   Now, the white key to the left of the two black keys is C. The next black key to the right is C#. It's also called Db because these two notes are enharmonic equivalents. Enharmonic equivalents are two notes names that happen to share the same pitch frequency. Keep going to the right. The next white key is D, the next black key is D# (or Eb), then the next white key is E. Now things change up a little. There is a natural half step between E - F and B - C. That is why there are no black keys after the B and E. You might think that B and E have no #'s (and that C and F have no b's), but that is not exactly true. B and E do have sharps. They just happened to be enharmonic equivalents of C and F, respectively. You may be wondering how to tell the difference between the enharmonic equivalents and when to use one or the other. This will make much more sense when we get into key signatures and scales.

 

 

Intervals

    To understand scales, you must first understand intervals.

Interval: The distance between two notes.
    Intervals can be melodic (played separately)

   or harmonic (played at the same time). 

    They can be chromatic (involving two pitches of the same letter name) 

    or diatonic(involving two pitches of different letter names.) 

    Interval values are referred to using numbers and can be more specifically referred to as M (Major), m (minor),A (Augmented), or d (diminished). This is probably one of the most important distinctions between the different kinds of intervals. Lets take a closer look at these using C as the relative starting pitch...

    The pi symbol represents what is know as a tritone. A tritone is the interval between a P4 and P5 (an A4 or a d5.) It's called a tritone because there are three whole steps between it and the starting pitch.

    Notice these are intervals relative to the starting pitch "C". Whatever the starting pitch is, the interval a half step up would be a minor 2nd (m2), 1 whole step would be a Major 2nd (M2), and so on...

    Another interesting thing to point out is difference between the Perfect and Major intervals. You may be wondering why there is a Major 3rd, but not a Major 4th. It's called a Perfect fourth instead. Also, I mentioned that there are Augmented and diminished intervals, but there were none shown on the piano above. Look at the image below:

and... 

    First, ignore the lines. The letters illustrate the different values of the intervals and the order they appear. For example: take a M2, go up a half step. Now you have an Augmented 2nd. Okay, now take a M2 and drop it a whole step. That's going to be a diminished 2nd.
    Now, look at the lines. Sometimes, you will need to invert these intervals. There are a few reasons why you would want to do this, but for now just know that the easiest way to do this is to take the value of the interval and subtract from 9. The value of any inverted intervals will always equal 9. Then, refer to the chart. Find the interval quality and trace the line. This is the new interval quality.

Example:
    We start with a M3 and want to invert it. First, 9 - 3 = 6. Then, we look at the chart above and see the line from M (Major) goes to m (minor.) So the inversion of this interval is m6.
Let's try another one.
    We'll start with a double diminished 4th we want to invert. First, 9 - 4 = 5. Then, the chart says dd (double diminished) goes to AA (double augmented.) Put them together and you now have a AA 5th.
Okay, one more.
    Start with a P4. 9 - 4 = 5. We see the P on the chart goes to... nothing. Perfect qualities don't have to change! So the new inverted interval would be a P5.

    Try playing these intervals on a piano, guitar, or whatever your instrument is. Get used to listening for these different intervals. It is essential for ear training (which is essential for playing by ear or transcribing songs from the radio.) 

Scales

    Scale: An ascending or descending series of pitches arranged in a pattern of different intervals, either whole or half steps.

    The first kind of scale we'll look at is the Chromatic Scale

    I hope you've been learning your notes from the first section. Now it's time to put that knowledge to use. As you can see, the first pitch of this chromatic scale is C. The chromatic scale moves by half steps and uses every note. However, this particular scale isn't really used as a musical scale.

    A scale that is used as a musical scale and is one that you should be familiar with is the Major scale.

    Lets look at the easiest scale, the C major scale. 

    Notice the interval values between each note in the major scale. C to D is a M2 (C, C#, D -> 1 whole step -> M2), D to E is a M2, but E to F is only a half step and is therefore only a m2. If you figure out the rest of the intervals, you'll see that the major scale is spelled M, M, m, M, M, M, m.     Spell every major scale this way, no matter what the starting pitch is. For example:

    Check the intervals. You'll see that the interval values are the same.

    Now, to simplify the next few points, you need to understand scale degrees. Scale degrees are numbers used to refer to each note in a scale. The major scale is used as the relative starting scale so each note is numbered 1 to 8 (In the C major scale, C = 1, D = 2, E = 3, etc.)

    The scale degrees are also given individual names. These can be used as reference later. The names of the scale degrees are: 

1 = Tonic
2 = Supertonic
3 = Mediant
4 = Subdominant
5 = Dominant
6 = Submediant
7 = Leading tone
8 = Tonic 

    Now, if the scale degrees in a Major scale are spelled...

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
(1 = root, 8 = octave) 

    ...then how would you spell a minor scale? Well, that would depend on which minor scale you wanted. There are three different minor scales:

    Natural minor: 1   2   b3   4   5   b6   b7   8

    Harmonic minor: 1   2   b3   4   5   b6   7   8

    Melodic minor: 1   2   b3   4   5   6   7   8   b7   b6   5   4   b3   2   1

** Note that the "b" means that you flat that particular scale degree or lower it a half step.

*** Also note that the Melodic minor scale ascends with one pattern and then descends with a second.

    Now take a look at these on the staff:

Natural Minor

 

Harmonic Minor

 

Melodic Minor

    Learn these scales. Play them on your instrument and/or on a piano. Sing them while walking across campus, sitting in your office/cubicle, standing in line at the store. Bottom line - Get these in your head!. They will be invaluable tools for the rest of your musical life!

    Now, you may be wondering what these scales have to do with playing music. So what if you know a Gm scale? What good is that? Well, it's great when you pair that information with a key signature. Key Signatures are placed at the beginning of a piece to indicate which notes in the piece will have accidentals. You may notice that each key sig. corresponds to a scale. For example, if there are no #'s or b's in the key signature, what scale has no #'s or b's? That would be the C major scale (also the "a" minor scale, but more on that later.)

    So, how do you learn each of the scales and be able to immediately know what accidentals are needed in the key? You could memorize each scale one at a time and keep a mental tally for each... or you could use the circle of fifths. The circle of fifths it exactly what it sounds like. It's a circle surrounded by notes which ascend by fifths when you follow the notes in a clockwise direction.

 

    This only looks complicated at first. When you get used to it, it will be a great tool for quickly finding key signatures. First, look at the 12 o'clock position. Remember, we've already established that the C major scale has no #'s and no b's. So, that's written above the C on the circle. The next one in clockwise order is G. As you can see, G has only 1 sharp. Next comes D with 2 sharps, and so on. Now look at the F. No sharps in F, but there is 1 flat. The flats go in counter-clockwise motion, so the Bb will have 2 flats, the Eb will have 3 flats, and so on.
    Now, you know how to use the chart to figure out how many sharps and flats are in a key, but how do you know which notes are effected? Simple. Just use the order of sharps and flats.

   Order of Flats - Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb (Think BEAD Greatest Common Factor - BEADGCF)
    Now, anytime you see a sheet of music with flats on it, this is the order those flats are listed in.

   Order of Sharps - F# C# G# D# A# E# B# (Think order of flats backwards - FCGDAEB)

    Now look back at the chart. See anything familiar? Look at the 11 o'clock position (F) and count clockwise. It's the order of sharps. Now, look at the 10 o'clock position (Bb) and count counter-clockwise. It's the order of flats.

    Now you know the number of sharps and flats in a key and you know the order they will always come in. From here on it's just simple memorization and plug n' chug.     Okay, ready for an example? How many sharps are in the key of E and what are the names of those sharped notes?

   Answer : 4 #'s - F, C, G, and D sharp.

    Another one? How many flats are in the key of Db and what are the names of those flat notes?

   Answer : 5 b's. - B, E, A, D, and G flat.

    Take some time getting used to this. It may be strange at first, but I promise it will be worth it in the long run! 

 

 

Chord Construction

    chord: Three or more pitches played simultaneously.

    Actually, two of those pitches can have the same note name, just an octave apart. For all you guitarists, it's called a power chord.

    Now, remember in the last section I mentioned scales and scale degrees? Well, those scales degrees are the building blocks of each and every chord you play. Let's look at my favorite scale, the C major scale. (What's the key sig. for C major?) Remember that the first note, C, is the first scale degree and so on... Now, take that information and apply it to this handy little chart:

    For example, lets spell out a C major chord. First think, "What is in the key sig. of C major?" Hopefully, you'll say "No sharps and no flats." Then, look at the chart and find the major formula (1, 3, 5.) Finally, figure out which notes in the C major scale are needed to make the C major chord. (C = 1, E = 3, G = 5) Easy right? Let's try another one:
    Spell an A major chord. Answer: Key sig. of A is 3 sharps, F#, C#, and G#. The major formula is 1, 3, 5. A = 1, C# = 3, and E = 5. Remember to figure out the key sig. first. If I had said C natural instead of C#, that would have been completly incorrect. That small difference would have changed the quality of the chord. The quality of a chord refers to whether or not the chord is major, minor, suspended, etc. So it's very important to pay attention to the key sig.
    Okay, one more. Spell out the B major chord. Key sig is 1._____. Major formula is 2. _____. B = 1, 3.____ = 3, and 4.____ = 5.

Click here for the answer. 

Vocabulary:

8va or 8bassa: Octave symbols which indicate that a pitch is to be played either an octave higher or lower than written. Helps to get rid of those annoying ledger lines.

Barlines: The two lines which indicate where a mesure begins and ends.

Bass Clef: Clef which indicates the pitch of F. The line between the two dots is the F.

Beam: Line which connects two note flags. Beamed notes can only be started on a down beat. Beat: The measured pulse of piece of music.

Clef: The symbol on the staff which indicates a certain pitch to be used as a reference point.

Compound Meter: Any meter in which the beat cannot be subdivided equally. Time Signatures with a botton number 6 or greater.

Double barlines: Stop! The piece is over. Get up, bow, and get out! (Or go on if it's not the last piece.)

Duration: Lenght of time a note is held.

Grand Staff: Both the Treble and Bass Clef staves viewed together.

Ledger Lines: The lines which extend the range of the staff to indicate higher or lower pitches. (Generally, a pain in the neck... er... eyes.)

Measure: Space indicated or set off by two barlines. Measures help by dividing the score into smaller sections. (So your studio techer can say "Start in the first measure" instead of "Start at the begining." It sounds more professional.)

Octave: The distance between one note and the next note of the same name, either higher or lower in pitch.

Pulse: The most prominent beats of a measure.

Score: The entire piece of music.

Simple Meter: Any meter in which the beat can be subdivided equally. Time Singnatures with a bottom number 5 or less.

Staff: The set of five horazontal lines and their spaces on which notes are placed to indicate a pitch.

Syncopation: Placing the accent on a weak beat, usually the up beat. (Think Ska!)

System: Division of multiple scores on a page. For example, look above at the definition of Measure. The sentence was too long (like this one) and it wrapped around and continued on the next line. The definition has two systems. If I can type a liitle more, this definition will have three systems!

Time Signature: The fraction looking thing at the begining of a piece of music. The top number indicates the number of beats in each measure, the bottom indicates what type of note gets the beat.

Treble Clef: Clef which indicates the pitch of G. The lower circular part of the clef encircles the G on the staff.