Music theory PART ONE

Transcription

1 Music theory PART ONE STAVES Music lives on staves - a stave consists of 5 horizontal lines, and the spaces in between those lines. The position of notes on the lines or in the spaces, in conjunction with a clef (see below), tells you the pitch and name of the note you are reading. Music is read from left to right. The higher notes live at the top of the stave and the lower notes live at the bottom. CLEFS Treble Clef Bass Clef A clef helps to tell you which notes you are reading. Sopranos altos nearly always read the treble clef (the twirly clef on the top stave), while tenors basses often read in bass clef (the curved clef on the lower stave). Occasionally, tenors and / or basses use the treble clef as well, however this doesn't mean they have to sing really high, but that they can choose the register that suits them. Your register is the group of notes where your voice feels most natural. Both of the notes above are called "middle" C - they are exactly the same note, just written in different clefs. It is called "middle" C because it sits on an imaginary line exactly between these 2 staves, in the middle. For higher voices, middle C is near the bottom of their range, so it is helpful to use a clef with middle C near the bottom of the stave. For lower voices, middle C is near the top of their range, so it is helpful to use a clef with middle C near the top of the stave. Here you can see that if you push the staves closer together, middle C - the note on the imaginary middle line between the staves - becomes the same note. [When people start learning the piano, they often start with middle C as it sits in the centre of the piano keyboard.] More about note names in Part Two. In some choral pieces, all the clefs used are treble clefs. This is to make it easier for all the sections in the choir to sing any of the parts. The different voice sections then just need to find the range that they are comfortable singing in. NOTE DURATIONS AND NAMES semi-breve minim crotchet quaver semi-quaver w J R R Ô demi-semi-quaver w lasts as long as 2 h w lasts as long as q w lasts as long as 8 e h lasts as long as 2 q h lasts as long as e h lasts as long as 8 x q lasts as long as 2 e q lasts as long as x q lasts as long as 8 y e lasts as long as 2 x e lasts as long as y x lasts as long as 2 y

2 2 Music theory PART ONE Here you can see the durations of the notes against each other in a score format, so it is easier to see how the notes durations compare with each other. In your choir scores, you will usually see staves of music connected down the left side with a single or double line. This shows you that these staves should be sung at the same time as each other and is called a "system". We read music from left to right, like words. When there is a break between that left side line, the next group of connected staves is the next system. As a soprano, you would read everything on the "S." line, and then move down to the next S. line. S. = Sop = Soprano A. = Alt = Alto T. = Ten = Tenor B. = Bas = Bass S. A. T. B. S. A. T. B. 1 semi-breve w 2 minims crotchets 8 quavers 16 semi-quavers 8 quavers crotchets 2 minims TIME SIGNATURES twin - kle twin - kle lit - tle star At the start of a piece of music, after the clef, you will see 2 numbers on top of each other. This is the time signature. The top number tells you how many beats there are in each bar, and the bottom number tells you what type of beat (eg. minim, crotchet, quaver, etc) you should count in. If the bottom number is 2, count in minims. If it is, count in crotchets. If it is 8, count in quavers. The music above is in -, which means there are crotchet beats in each bar. This time signature is also known as Common Time, because it is the most common time signature you will see as a musician. You will notice that nearly all the music we sing in choir this term is in - time. Each bar is separated with bar lines (see red arrows above).

3 Music theory PART ONE 2- time There are 2 crotchet beats in each bar - time There are crotchet beats in each bar - time There are crotchet beats in each bar 6- time There are 6 crotchet beats in each bar -8 time There are quaver beats in each bar 6-8 time There are 6 quaver beats in each bar -2 time There are minim beats in each bar -2 time There are minim beats in each bar J J w Sometimes a piece of music will have a change in time signature during the piece - see the th bar of "Also sprach Zarathustra", where the time signature changes from - to 6-. A change in time signature affects all the bars that follow the new time signature. At the 5th bar of "Also sprach Zarathustra", you'll see that the time signature changes back to - again. Also see bar 9 of "Space Oddity" - the time signature changes from - to 2-, then back to - again in the following bar. When learning how to read music notation, you may find it useful to count each beat out loud, or to click your finger or tap your foot as you are working out the rhythms in a piece of music.

4 Music theory PART ONE BEATS Here is another way of explaining beats and note durations now you know about time signatures. Music is divided into bars and beats. There is a bar line at the end of each bar to give you a visual prompt as to how the bar is divided up. The bars above are in - time, so there are crotchets in each bar. In the first bar above there are crotchets, each is worth 1 beat. In the second bar above there are: 1 crotchet, 2 quavers, semi-quavers and 8 demi-semi-quavers. The smaller stave above shows where the crotchet beats of the bar sit in relation to the shorter notes on the bottom stave - they are just there as a visual metronome to help you see where the beats lie. There are 2 quavers in a crotchet; 2 e in 1 q There are semi-quavers in a crotchet; x in 1 q There are 8 demi-semi-quavers in a crochet; 8 y in 1 q The larger stave above shows how the shorter notes are usually divided up with beams across the tops of their stems. Each beamed group above is divided up into crotchets - this simply makes the music easier to read. So when 2 quavers are together and make up a crotchet beat, we write them like this iq rather than like this e e because looking at too many curly tails on notes is too confusing! You will notice that the more notes a bar has inside it, the longer it needs to be on the page to fit them all in. This doesn't affect the fact that there are still beats in each of the two bars above, and that both bars take the same length of time to perform. In choral music, you will rarely need to worry about demi-semi-quavers! w In the first bar above there are 2 crotchets and 1 minim. In the second bar there is 1 semi-breve. There are 2 crotchets in a minim - the minim in the bar above lasts the same duration as 2 crotchet beats. There are crotchets in a semi-breve - this note lasts the same duration as crotchet beats. The smaller stave above shows where the crotchet beats of the bar sit in relation to the longer notes on the bottom stave - they are just there as a visual metronome to help you see where the beats lie.

5 Music theory PART ONE 5 DOTTED NOTES J In the bars above, you'll see that there is a dotted note in the first bar and a tied note in the second bar. A dot tells you to add half the note value onto the note. So the first note (in red) is a dotted crotchet, which means it is worth 1.5 crotchets. The second note is a quaver (worth half a crotchet) and the third note is a minim (worth 2 crotchets). The whole bar adds up to crotchets. The second bar above is played or sung exactly the same way as the first, it is just written differently - here there is a tie to show that the first note continues for 1 crotchet and 1 quaver. More about tied notes soon. The smaller staves above show you where the crotchet beats and quavers beats lie. You can see that the dotted crotchet lasts for the same duration as quavers, or 1.5 crotchets. Try clapping out the rhythm. # The same 'add-half' theory applies to all dotted notes. The first minim above (usually worth 2 crotchets) is dotted. This adds on half the note length (1 crotchet), meaning that a dotted minim is worth crotchets (2 + 1 = ). The smaller stave above shows where the crotchet beats lie in the bar. Try using some music from this term and count out the beats. Try to clap the rhythm that the notes are making (you don't need to know the note names to do this). TRIPLETS Don't worry too much about triplets at this stage of your learning! It just so happens that we have quite a lot of them in the new piece "Out of this world", so I thought them worth explaining. A triplet is a group of three notes (with a written by them) which, as a group, take the same duration as two notes of the same value usually would. In the first bar above there are two "straight" crotchets, followed by a triplet of crotchets - you can see by looking at the smaller stave above where the straight crotchets would fall in comparison with the triplets. In the second bar, you can see that the there are "straight" quavers, followed by two sets of quaver triplets. Again, compare the top and bottom staves to see how the rhythm of the triplets fits together with straight quavers.

6 6 Music theory PART ONE RESTS 7 p I look at you all, see the love there that's sleep-ing A rest is a silence. Just like notes, these have different durations. These are the first 12 bars of the soprano part of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". The bar with 7 written above it is in fact 7 rest bars (you'll notice on the score you have that the bars are written out individually). Writing 7 over one bar's rest is just shorthand for "this is actually 7 bars rest", to make the music easier to read. You'll notice that the time signature of this piece is -, meaning that there are crotchets in each bar. If you were counting out the rest bars (rather than following your conductor's cues), you would perhaps count: SING to work out where you should come in. If you replace the 1 of each bar with the number of the bar you are counting it helps to keep your place. [One of the many reasons why conductors are useful is that you can watch them for your cues rather than having to keep track of multiple rest bars.] At the beginning of bar 8 above, you'll notice squiggles before the crotchet note at the end of the bar. These are crotchet rests - although you don't sing during rests, you should still count them so that you know where to come in. In this case, you start singing on beat (so take a big breath on the 2nd or rd crotchet rest, to prepare). At the end of the last bar above, you'll notice a little black rectangle sitting on the middle line of the stave. This is a minim rest (worth 2 crotchets). Because we're in - time above, each and every bar has to add up to crotchets in duration. This can be made up of a mixture of notes and rests, all notes, or all rests. Here we are in - time ( crotchets in a bar). On the bottom stave above are rests which are the same length as the notes above them. A full bar rest can always be written with a small rectangle hanging from the 2nd to top line, regardless of the time signature. If you see a bar empty of notes, with the hanging rectangle, you know the whole bar = silence. As we are in - time, instead of a full bar rest you could write a dotted minim rest - a minim rest with a dot after it (2nd bar above). Adding a dot to a rest has the same effect as adding a dot to a note - it adds on half the value. A minim rest (worth 2 crotchets) sits on the middle line (see bar ). The full bar rest and the minim rest look similar, both being rectangles. To remember that the full bar rest is the longer one, you could think of it as being a strong person hanging down from the line above it. To remember that a minim rest is the shorter one, think of it as a l ess-strong person having a seat on the line below it. A crotchet rest is the fancy squiggly one (end of rd bar). Quaver, semi-quaver and demi-semi-quaver rests have the same number of tails as their corresponding notes. A quaver has one tail, a semi-quaver has two tails and a demi-semi-quaver has three tails.

7 Music theory PART ONE 7 TEMPO q = 120 The tempo marking at the start of a piece tells you how fast it should be. In this case there should be 120 crotchet beats in every minute. This sounds complicated to work out - but that's partly what your conductor is for! If you want to have a go at working out the tempo above, find a clock with a second hand and clap 2 equal beats to fit into each second. [For more complicated tempi, professional musicians often use electronic metronomes to give them an accurate indication of speed]. DYNAMICS mp mf mp mp = mezzo-piano, which translates as medium-quiet mf = mezzo-forte, which translates as medium-loud So p or piano = quiet, f or forte = loud, and m or mezzo = medium The above are crescendo and diminuendo marks, otherwise known as hairpins. Crescendo (sometimes shortened to cresc. when written out) means get louder. Diminuendo (sometimes shortened to dim.) means get quieter. If the hairpin starts narrow and gets wider, it means get louder (cresc). If the hairpin starts wide and gets narrower, it means get quieter (dim). So, from the 2nd crotchet in the bar 1 above, the composer would like you to start steadily increasing in volume from medium-quiet, reaching medium-loud on the th crotchet. From the 1st crotchet of bar 2, the composer would like you to start getting steadily quieter until you reach the th crotchet, when you should be medium-quiet. TIES w aaah When a note is tied to another note which is on the same line or space on the stave it tells you that the note continues uninterupted. The note above would last for 8 crotchets. w If the note wasn't tied, and - for example - you were singing it, you would separate the notes as if saying two words. When it is tied, you keep the same note going, for example, in the 2 bars above you would sing a long "aaah", not "aah aah". SLURS # aaah Slurs are different to ties - they occur over 2 or more different notes to show phrasing. Phrasing helps you work out the line of the music, where to breath (along with the rests!), and tells you that you should move between the notes smoothly. Moving between the notes smoothly is called legato. In vocal music, slurs between 2 or more notes that are not on the same line or space, as above, show that you sing the same syllable but move onto a different note. You'll see in the extract from the start of "Space Oddity" above, the sopranos sing one syllable "aaah" over many notes. You'll also see that the last note is a tied note, a minim and a crotchet, which could also have been written as a dotted minim.

8 8 OTHER MARKINGS $ Fine D.S. al Fine The S with a line through it and a dot on either side is a marker, a "sign". When you see the S symbol you know that later on in the music, at some point, you will see an instruction to "D.S." (which is shorthand for the Italian "Dal Segno"). This literally means "from the sign" and in music means "go back to the S symbol". The "al Fine" in "D.S. al Fine" above means "carry on until you see "Fine" written in the score". So, you would start at the beginning of the piece, go all the way to the end, then go back to the S symbol and end the piece at Fine. In a longer piece of music, it's just a neat way of not having to write out pages and pages of music that is repeated. > A little arrow under a note head is an accent - those notes should have a sharper emphasis or attack than the un-marked notes.. A dot on top of a note head (as opposed to next to it) is a staccato - those notes should be sung very short and separated from each other (the opposite of legato). - A line under a note is a stress - those notes should have a stronger emphasis, but not as sharply as the accent. THE END OF THE MUSIC Music theory PART ONE > > The final barline at the end of a piece is a normal barline followed by a slightly wider barline. This tells you that the music has finished. REPEAT BARLINES Blast off in - to the sky, reach for the stars, aim high, we can get there if we try, reach for the stars, aim high. A barline which looks similar to the final barline, but with two dots on either side of the middle line of the stave, is a repeat barline. The start of the repeat barline has a thicker line on the left, a thinner line and then two dots on the right. The end of the repeat barline is the opposite way round, with dots on the left, then a narrow line, followed by thicker line. If you see this, you should repeat the music within these lines, then carry on with the rest of the piece. Occasionally, there will be a text instruction on the music to repeat more than once. NOTE STEMS Don't worry about which way the note stems go - up or down. The stems are mostly there to show you the note length, combined with the note head, any dots and tails. Usually, if the note is above the middle line of the stave the stem goes down, if the note is below the middle line of the stave the stem goes up. The stems of notes on the middle line can go either way.