3. BASIC NOTATIONS IN WESTERN MUSIC

3. BASIC NOTATIONS IN WESTERN MUSIC

The most common types of written notation are scores in Western music which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece and parts. In popular music, jazz, and blues, the standard musical notation is the lead sheet, which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and the structure of the music. Fake books are also used in jazz; they may consist of lead sheets or simply chord charts, which permit rhythm section members to improvise an accompaniment part to jazz songs. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz "big bands." In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tablature (often abbreviated as "tab"), which indicates the location of the notes to be played in the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard.

The Staff

The staff is the basis of written music. It is what the notes are presented on. It consists of five lines with four spaces between them.

Clefs   

The treble clef curls around the G line. So it is also called a G clef. The treble staff begins its note as E in the first line from below. Each successive space and line is the next letter in the musical alphabet. The staff ends with the last line as an F. Many mnemonics exist to help a person remember lines and spaces. One of the most common phrases to remember the names of the lines is: Every Good Boy Does Fine. (Also popular is Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday). To remember the spaces, just remember that they spell FACE starting from the bottom. 

The bass clef is also known as the F clef because it locates the line known as F, is on the far left. The bass clef uses the same musical alphabet as treble, but the letters start in different places. Instead of an E, the bottom line is a G, and the letters proceed logically from there. Again, simple mnemonics can be used to remember the names of the notes. The lines on the bass clef, from bottom to top are: G, B, D, F, A (Good Boys Does Fine Always), and the spaces are A, C, E, G (All Cows Eat Grass).

The C clef can move on the staff, and the center of the symbol is always middle C. Depending on where the symbol is, the notes of the lines vary accordingly. Once C is located at the center, other notes can be placed appropriately below or above accordingly. The reason to use it is to avoid the use of ledger lines. These clefs are used very infrequently.

The Grand Staff 

When the bass and treble clef are combined and connected by a brace (left) and lines, they become the grand staff. This greatly increases the range of pitches that can be noted and is often used in piano music, due to the piano's wide range.

Bracket 

Bracket connects two or more lines of music that sound simultaneously. In general contemporary usage of the bracket usually connects the staves of separate instruments (e.g., flute and clarinet; 2 trumpets; etc.) or multiple vocal parts in a choir or ensemble, whereas the brace connects multiple parts for a single instrument (e.g., the right-hand and left-hand staves of a piano or harp part).

Brace 

Brace connects two or more lines of music that are played simultaneously in the keyboard, harp or some pitched percussion music. Depending on the instruments playing, the brace, (occasionally called an "accolade" in some old texts), varies in design and style.

Measures (Bar Lines)

The vertical lines on the staff mark the measures. Barlines are extended to connect multiple staves in certain types of music, such as the keyboard, harp, and conductor scores, but are omitted for other types of music, such as vocal scores. Measures are used to divide and organize music. The time signature determines how many beats can be in a measure. The double bars mark the beginning and ends of a piece of music. The bold double bar line indicates the conclusion of a movement or an entire composition. The dotted bar line subdivides long measures of the complex meter into shorter segments for ease of reading, usually according to natural rhythmic subdivisions. Measures are sometimes marked with numbers to make navigating a piece easier. The first measure would be measure one, the second measure two, and so on.

Notes Written on the Staff

Notes are cantered on the lines or in the spaces between the lines. Stems on notes above the middle line trail down from the left of the note. Stems on notes below the middle line stick up on the right of the note. Stems on notes on the line usually go down except when adjacent notes have flags that go up. When two melodies occupy the same staff, the stems for the notes in one melody are written up and the stems for notes in the other are written down.

Tablature 

For stringed instruments, it is possible to notate tablature in place of ordinary notes. In this case, a TAB sign is often written instead of a clef. The number of lines of the staff is not necessarily five: one line is used for each string of the instrument (so, for standard 6-stringed guitars, six lines would be used). Numbers on the lines show which frets to play the string on. This TAB sign, like the Percussion clef, is not a clef in the true sense, but rather a symbol employed instead of a clef. Similarly, the horizontal lines do not constitute a staff in the usual sense, because the spaces between the lines in tablature are never used.

Ledger Lines

Ledger lines extend above and below the staff, allowing higher or lower notes to be shown. Multiple ledger lines can be used when necessary to notate pitches even farther above or below the staff. These lines follow the same musical alphabet pattern as the staff does. Think of them as just extra lines and spaces at the end of the staff. The stems of notes on ledger lines extend either up or down towards the middle line.

Note Durations

All notes have length. However, the length of the notes depends on the time signature and number of beats. The name of the notes and the rest for the same note duration is given below 

Rests

Rests are simply places where the musician does not play. Rests have equivalent values to corresponding notes of duration. Thus, there is a whole rest, half rest, quarter rest, etc., just like normal notes. Rests are always located in the same vertical position.

Combined Notes 

Sixteenth notes (right) and eighth notes (left) may also look like this. Single sixteenth and eighth notes have flags, many sixteenth and eighth notes combine flags into connecting bars.

Sixteenth notes and eighth notes may also combine together. The combination looks like the picture given.

Dotted Notes  

A dot beside a note increases its duration by half its original value. For example, half notes, in 4/4 time, are worth 2 beats. When a dot is placed next to the half note, the duration is increased by one (one being half of the original duration of two) and the resulting duration is three beats. The curved line in the picture above is a tie. Ties connect notes that are the same pitch together to create a sustained note.

Accidentals  

Accidentals modify the pitch of a note by increasing or decreasing it by one-half step. Accidentals stay in effect for all notes of the same pitch for the rest of the measure. When these same symbols appear at the very beginning of the music they are specifying a key signature.

Flats- lower the pitch of the note by one-half step.

Sharps- raise the pitch of the note by one-half step.

Naturals cancel out any previous sharps or flats. The pitch returns to normal.

Chord  

Several notes sounded simultaneous ("solid" or "block"), or in succession ("broken"). Two-note chords are called dyad; three-note chords are called triads. A chord may contain any number of notes.

Arpeggiated chord    

A chord with notes played in rapid succession, usually ascending, each note being sustained as the others are played. It is also called a "broken chord".

Key signatures

Key signatures define the prevailing key of the music that follows, thus avoiding the use of accidentals for many notes. If no key signature appears, the key is assumed to be C major/A minor, but can also signify a neutral key, employing individual accidentals as required for each note. The key signature examples shown here are described as they would appear on a treble staff.

Flat key signature  

Lowers by a semitone in the pitch of notes on the corresponding line or space, and all octaves thereof, thus defining the prevailing major or minor key. Different keys are defined by the number of flats and its placement in the key signature, starting with the leftmost, i.e., B♭, and proceeding to the right; for example, if only the first two flats are used, the key is B♭ major/G minor, and all B's and E's are "flatted", i.e., lowered to B♭ and E♭.

Sharp key signature 

Rises by a semitone in the pitch of notes on the corresponding line or space, and all octaves thereof, thus defining the prevailing major or minor key. Different keys are defined by the number of sharps and its placement in the key signature, also proceeding from left to right; for example, if only the first four sharps are used, the key is E major/C♯ minor, and the corresponding pitches are raised.

Ties and Slurs  

Ties and slurs connect two or more notes together. Ties connect notes of the same pitch, forming essentially one longer note. Slurs smoothly connect notes of different pitch. This means to play the notes without breaks. The first set of notes above exhibits a tie. The second shows a slur.

Articulation

Dynamics

Repeats  

The Repeat sign indicates that when you reach the second, you need to go back to the first and repeat music.

Directional marking  

It means 'Del Signo'. When you see this in music, you must go to the sign (below). This marking may also be accompanied by 'al coda' or 'al fine'. These mean 'Go to the sign, from there go to the coda' and 'Go to the sign, from there go to the end' respectively. Essentially these are big repeat signs.

Segno 

It denotes that from here we have to play to the coda or the end or wherever the Dal Segno directs you.

Coda sign.   

It marks when to go to the special ending or coda. Usually, you won't go to the coda until after a D.S. al coda.

TIME SIGNATURES 

The time signatures (also called meter signatures) tell the musician how many beats per measure there are, and what kind of note gets the beat.

The top number determines how many beats there are per measure. The bottom number tells what kind of note gets the beat. In this example, 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure and the quarter note (bottom 4) gets the beat. In 3/4 time, the quarter note would still get the beat, but there would only be 3 beats in a measure. In 6/8 time, the eighth note gets the beat, and there are 6 beats to a measure.

The pulse (or meter) is the driving beat in music that we march, feel, dance, clap, and conduct to. The beat that seems the strongest, makes to tap along to it.  The bass line and the rhythm section often play with the pulse.

Common time  

The symbol is a throwback to fourteenth-century rhythmic notation when it represented 2/4, or "imperfect time". Today it represents 4/4.

Alla breve or Cut time 

This symbol represents 2/2 time, indicating two minims (or half-note) beats per measure. Here, a crotchet (or quarter note) would get half a beat.

Metronome mark 

Written at the start of a score, and at any significant change of tempo, this symbol precisely defines the tempo of the music by assigning absolute durations to all note values within the score. In this particular example, the performer is told that 120 crotchets, or quarter notes, fit into one minute of time. Many publishers precede the marking with letters "M.M.", referring to Maelzel's Metronome.

 

3.1.    BASIC MINOR SCALE:

A Minor Scale in Keyboard 

A Minor Scale in Guitar 

Alternative C Major Scale in Guitar