1

Index

Revision 2 Note values and rest values 4 Letter names of the Treble Clef 5 Solfa notation 5 Assessment 6 Time signatures 7

Mood in music 8

Families of instruments: Woodwind, string brass and percussion 9

The Djembe Drum 12

Some drumming terms and techniques 13

Music Grade 7 Term 1

2

REVISION

The Treble clef • The purpose of the treble clef is to show the person playing or singing

music, that the pitch will be high.

• The treble clef is mostly played with the right hand on a piano as the

higher pitches on the keyboard are situated on the right hand side.

Pitch Pitch is how high or how low a sound is. Women usually have high pitched voices

whereas men usually have low pitched voices

The Semi-breve (Whole Note. taa-aa-aa-aa)

A semi-breve indicates that a continuous sound must be made for a period of four beats.

The Semi-breve Rest (Whole Note Rest. saa-aa-aa-aa)

A semi-breve rest indicates a continuous period of silence for four beats.

The Minim (Half Note. taa-aa)

A minim indicates that a continuous sound must be made for a period of two beats.

Minims are made up of a ‘hollow’ head and a stem. The stem can face up or down.

The direction of the stem does not change the pitch (highness or lowness) of the note.

3

The Minim Rest (Half Note rest. saa-aa)

A minim rest indicates a continuous period of silence for two beats.

The Crochet (Quarter Note. taa)

A crochet indicates that a continuous sound must be made for a period of one beat. Minims

are made up of a ‘solid’ head and a stem.

The Crochet rest (Quarter Note rest. saa)

A crochet rest indicates a continuous period of silence for one beat.

The Quaver (Eighth Note. Ta or ta-te when there are 2 quavers)

A quaver indicates that a continuous sound must be made for a period of a half beat.

Quavers are made up of a ‘solid’ head, a stem and a flag.

When two or more quavers are joined then they are called ‘beamed’ quavers.

The Quaver rest (Eighth Note rest. sa or sa-seh when there are 2 quavers)

A quaver indicates a continuous period of silence for a half beat.

4

Note Values and Rest Values

The Semi-quaver: British name (American: Sixteenth Note. French: ta-fa-te-fe)

A semi-quaver indicates that a continuous sound must be made for a period of

one quarter of a beat. Quavers are made up of a ‘solid’ head, a stem and two flags.

When semi-quavers are beamed (joined) then a double line is used. (Remember

that the beamed quavers only have one line joining them.)

The Semi-quaver Rest: British name (American: Sixteenth Note Rest. French: sa-fa-se-fe)

A semi-breve rest indicates a continuous period of silence for four beats.

Challenge Can you work out how many semiquavers there are in each of the following notes?

A quaver A crochet

A minim A semi-breve

5

Letter names of the treble clef

Each line and space on the stave has a letter name. The spaces can be

remembered as “FACE” and the lines can be remembered by the rhyme “Every

Good Boy Drinks Fanta”. The whole musical alphabet consists only of the first seven

letters of the alphabet – A, B, C, D, E, F and G. On the keyboard of a piano the letter

names of the notes are:

Solfa notation

Doh re me fah soh lah ti doh

6

Formal Assessment: Drumming

Each student will be required to play one of the following rhythms

on a Djembe Drum.

7

RUBRIC FOR DRUMMING

Criteria

9-10 Outstanding achievement

7-8 Substantial

achievement

5-6 Moderate

achievement

3-4 Elementary

achievement

1-2 Not achieved

Rhythms

Rhythm played accurately as

notated with no deviation

Rhythm played with one or two

deviations

Rhythm played

with three or four deviations

Rhythm

played with five or six deviations

Unable to play

rhythmic patterns

Total: 10 marks

Time signatures A time signature is the sign in music notation that shows a musician the time/timing

(pulse) of a piece of music. The top number shows “how many” beats there will be in

one bar/measure and the bottom number shows you “what kind” of note value you

are working with. The only number that concerns us, for now, is the top number that

indicates how many beats there will be in one bar/measure.

The three time signatures that we are going to concentrate on are: Duple metre (2/4) Triple metre (3/4) Quadruple metre (4/4)

Since the top number in this time signature is 2, the time

signature is called duple metre. Duple Metre has two

beats per bar/measure. This is also known as a marching

beat, because it follows the same rhythm as a march:

one-two, one-two. The stress is usually on the first beat of

each bar. Words we could use to describe duple metre

music include: driving, forceful, military, punching and

rousing.

8

Since the top number in this time signature is 3, it is

called triple metre. Triple metre has three beats per bar.

This is also known as waltz time. One counts triple metre

like this: one-two-three, one-two-three. The stress is on

the first beat of the bar. Music in triple metre includes

many famous waltzes such as The Blue Danube and the

Dance of the Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss. (Amazing

Grace is another example.)

Since the top number of this time signature is 4, the time

signature is called quadruple metre. Quadruple metre

has four beats per bar. This is the most common metre in

music. One will count it like this: one-two-three-four, one-

two-three-four. Music in this metre is used in most

popular modern music.

Mood in music What is mood in music? When one listens to music it provokes a certain mood. For

example, fast and loud music will be associated with a happy mood, whereas slow

and soft music will be associated with a sad mood. Thus, tempo (speed), dynamics

(volume), timbre (unique quality of a sound), tonality (harmonies), pitch (highs and

lows), instrumentation, rhythm and metre are most of the musical elements that will

contribute to the “mood” of the music.

9

Families of Instruments Instruments are usually divided into four main groups/families: Woodwind, Brass,

Strings and Percussion.

Woodwind

Woodwinds are a type of musical instrument that make their sound when a musician

blows air into or across the mouthpiece. They get their name from the fact that most

of them were once made of wood. Today many are made of other materials such as

metal or plastic.

There are many types of woodwinds including the flute, piccolo, oboe, clarinet,

saxophone, bassoon, bagpipes, and recorder. They all look somewhat similar in that

they are all long tubes of various sizes with metal keys that cover the holes when

played to make different notes. The bigger the woodwind instrument the lower the

pitch sound they make.

Woodwinds can be divided up into two main types of instruments. Flute instruments

and reed instruments. Flute instruments make sound when the musician blows air

across an edge in the instrument while reed instruments have a reed, or two, that

vibrate when the air is blown.

10

Strings

Stringed instruments make sound by the vibration of strings. There are a large

variety of stringed instruments, from guitars to violins to zithers to harps.

String instruments have been a part of music history since ancient times. We know

the ancient Egyptians played the harp as far back as 3000 BC or 5000 years ago!

All stringed instruments make sounds by vibrating strings. How the musician causes

the strings to vibrate can differ based on the instrument. One way to make strings

vibrate is to pluck them. This is how the guitar makes sound when the musician uses

his/her fingers, hands, or a pick to pluck the string and cause it to vibrate. Other

instruments that are played this way include the harp, banjo, lute, and sitar. Other

names for plucking include strumming and picking.

Many stringed instruments are played by moving a bow across the strings. The bow

is a long stick with some sort of material, often horse hair, stretched across it. The

material is moved along the string to create a vibration and sound. Bow instruments

include the violin, cello, and fiddle.

11

Brass

A major family of instruments is the brass instrument family. It includes the trumpet,

tuba, trombone, French horn, bugle, and cornet, just to name a few. Most brass

instruments are made out of brass.

The main difference between brass instruments and other instruments is how the

vibration to create the sound and notes is made. With a brass instrument the

vibration is created by the lips of the musician. By pressing the lips up against the

mouthpiece and blowing, a vibration is created. The rest of the instrument helps to

amplify (increase) the noise and create different notes. This is different from the

woodwind family where air blowing across an edge or reed causes the vibrations.

Percussion

A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that makes a sound by

• being hit or scraped by some kind of beater,

• scraped or rubbed by hand or

• struck against another similar instrument.

The percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments, following

the human voice. The percussion section of an orchestra usually contains

instruments such as timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and

12

tambourine. Percussion can also be made with the human body, as in body

percussion.

Keyboard percussion instruments such as the glockenspiel, xylophone and marimba

are also included in the Percussion group of instruments.

Percussion instruments are usually divided into two groups: Pitched percussion

instruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and unpitched

percussion instruments, which produce notes or sounds without an identifiable pitch.

The Djembe drum

The djembe is an unpitched percussion instrument. The djembe is a

West African drum that is easy to find at any African craft market. A

djembe drum makes 3 main sounds: a tone (the highest sounding note),

a bass (the lowest sounding note) and a slap (a sharp sound).

Pitched Percussion Instruments

Unpitched Percussion Instruments

13

The tone is the highest sounding note. It is played on the edge of the drum, with 4

fingers held firmly together. Strike the skin of the drum, not just the rim.

The bass is the lowest sounding note. It is played by the whole hand, on the

centre of the drum skin. Let your hand bounce off as it hits, so that the sound can

vibrate.

The slap is a sharp note, played nearer to the rim of the drum than to the centre.

You keep your wrists relaxed and a slight hollow under the palm of your hand.

Before we do any work on the Djembe, let us listen to various kinds of drums from

around the world.

Tabla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn0ccxr8tPk)

Kit drums (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUA-66bhN5s)

Djembe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMpilW4Sqjg)

Steel pan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woBZME7sN3E)

Bongo drums (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9gzjPLh-IA)

Some drumming terms and techniques The lead hand is the hand that plays the first beat of a rhythm. Take turns using

your right and left hands to lead so that you can develop even strength in your

hands. When you first play African drums, you will find that one hand is stronger than

the other.

Ghosting is a technique where you lightly pretend-play the gaps in the rhythm. In

other words, you move your hand, but you don’t actually play the note. This helps to

keep your hands moving in a steady rhythm to the beat.

Repetition is the repeating of a rhythm over and over. In drumming, we usually learn

a rhythm and repeat it. It may be repeated in sets of 4,8,16 or other sets.

Question and answer is when the leader plays a rhythm and the rest of the group

repeats it. Or the leader may play one rhythm and the rest of the group replies with a

different rhythm. These are both known as question-and-answer.