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Music Notation

Notation is a system of writing music so that specific pitches and rhythms can be communicated.

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Notating Pitch• With music notation, we can

indicate exact pitches by the upward or downward placement of symbols called notesnotes on a staffstaff.

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Notation• A note is an oval.• It’s duration is

indicated by whether it is black, white, or has a stem and flags.

W ht Q EyX

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Notation

• A StaffStaff is a set of 5 horizontal lines. Notes are positioned either on the lines or in the spaces.

• The higher a note is placed on the staff, the higher the pitches.

w w w ww w w w w

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Note Naming• Seven of the 12 pitches that fill the octave

in western music are named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet. – A,B,C,D,E,F,G

• This sequence is repeated over and over to represent the same tones in higher and lower octaves.

• This sequence represents the white keys on the piano.

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Note Naming• The other five tones of the octave

correspond to the black keys of the piano and are indicated by one of the seven letters plus a sharp ( sharp ( # # )) or flat ( b ) signflat ( b ) sign.

• The note between C and D may be called C# or Db.

• A natural sign natural sign ( ( nn )) cancels a flat or a sharp.

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Clef Signs• A clef sign is place at the

beginning of the staff to show the pitch of each line and space.

• The two most common clefs are:– Treble clefTreble clef, used for high ranges

– Bass clef, Bass clef, used for low ranges.

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The Grand Staff

Keyboard music calls for a wide range of pitches to be played by both hands; for this music, the grand staffgrand staff , a combination of treble and bass staves is used.

Note that the C nearest to the middle of the keyboard is called middle C.

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Notating Rhythm• Music notation indicates how long

a note lasts in relation to the others in the piece.

• A single note lasts longer or shorter depending on how it looks.

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Lengthening Notes• Notes can be lengthened by adding a

dot dot after the note. – Adding a dot to a note increases it’s value by half.

• A tietie is another way to increase a note’s value.– A tie is like a musical plus sign.

»H + H=4 h h= 4

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Adding Variety to Notes• We can also add rhythmic variety

by shortening the duration of a note.

• One method is the triplet. – Three notes of equal value notated as

a groupqqq

3

or qqq

3

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Notating Silence

The length of silence in music is notated by using a symbol called a restrest. Rests are periods of silence. Their duration correspond to those of notes.

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Notating Meter• A time signaturetime signature (meter signature) shows

the meter of the piece. – It appears at the beginning of the piece and

also whenever there is a meter change• It consists of 2 numbers, one on top of the

other. – The top number tells how many beats in a

measure.– The bottom number tells which note will

receive one beat.

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The Score• A score shows the

music for each instrument or vocal category in a performing group

• A conductor uses the score to guide in the performance of the piece.