So like, we need to change sheets now or what?
In this tutorial, we are going to take a look at a music sheet in order to understand how to read music and what each element on a music sheet means. So, let's have some fun.
2. Musical sheets explained
When it comes to music, there really isn't anything that cannot be written on a music sheet. Drums may be a bit trickier, but I do believe there is a way to accomplish this. But I digress. An example of a music sheet is the following:
There's a lot of stuff there. So, let's figure out what exactly we're looking at here:
As you can see, there is a lot of stuff there. Let's start with learning that notes are represented on those groups of lines you see there. Those groups go by the name of staffs. You can have a single staff or a grand staff, as we have there. Such an example is usually used for piano songs. You can have musical sheets with multiple single staffs, but those are usually reserved for orchestras where each player knows exactly what staff he should follow.
Anyhow, at the beginning of each staff you can see a weird symbol. The said symbol goes by the name of the clef. I believe there are about 4 different clefs, but the two most common ones are the ones in the picture:
Speaking of bars, a bar or measure is basically a section of a song. As mentioned, it is closely related to the time signature. In our case, you can have a maximum of 4 quarter notes (or the equivalent of 4 quarter notes, as we'll learn down the road). Finally, at the end of a song, you can see we have something called the end of song markers.
We also have a tempo indicator. Tempo refers to the speed of the song. It can be written either with a number like above or with some Italian words like Allegro, Andante etc. The tempo we have there is read as quarter note equals 120 beats per minute. In non-Greek, that means that we need to play this song fast enough to make sure that during a minute of us playing at that speed, we can play exactly 120 quarter notes. In non-Greek part 2, that basically means that a quarter note should last half a second. We will discuss tempo in more detail in a future tutorial.
Now, let's take a look at the C major scale (C D E F G A B C), written on both the G and F clefs:
As you can see, whenever we're supposed to write notes outside the 5 lines of a staff, we use helper lines. If my memory serves me correctly, they are called leger lines. Worth noting is that two consecutive notes can never be placed on the same line or space. What I mean by this is that you cannot have two notes with two different names on the same line or space.
And speaking of lines and spaces, let's figure out what notes go on lines and what notes go on spaces:
Along these lines, you will have also noticed that the F clef staff has some weird symbols inside the first two measures. Those are called rests and we will discuss them in a separate tutorial. For now, just think of rests as the actual sound of silence.
A final note (I crack myself up) is with regards to notes that are placed one on top of the other. That simply means that you need to play all the notes at the same time.
Right, that about covers it for this one. Next time around, we will review guitar tabs, since this is a guitar-based website after all. See you then.
- Topics of discussion
- Musical sheets explained
In this tutorial, we are going to take a look at a music sheet in order to understand how to read music and what each element on a music sheet means. So, let's have some fun.
2. Musical sheets explained
When it comes to music, there really isn't anything that cannot be written on a music sheet. Drums may be a bit trickier, but I do believe there is a way to accomplish this. But I digress. An example of a music sheet is the following:
There's a lot of stuff there. So, let's figure out what exactly we're looking at here:
As you can see, there is a lot of stuff there. Let's start with learning that notes are represented on those groups of lines you see there. Those groups go by the name of staffs. You can have a single staff or a grand staff, as we have there. Such an example is usually used for piano songs. You can have musical sheets with multiple single staffs, but those are usually reserved for orchestras where each player knows exactly what staff he should follow.
Anyhow, at the beginning of each staff you can see a weird symbol. The said symbol goes by the name of the clef. I believe there are about 4 different clefs, but the two most common ones are the ones in the picture:
- the G clef (or treble clef, as Ed correctly pointed out) which is the one present on the top staff on each row, denotes the fact that notes from such staffs belong to the fourth octave or higher; basically, notes on such staffs usually represent the melody of the song
- the F clef (or bass clef, as Ed has mentioned), which is the one present on the bottom staff on each row, denotes the fact that notes from such staffs belong to the third octave or lower; in other words, notes on staffs where the F clef is present are bass-like notes which serve as harmony notes; hence why these notes are usually played at a lower volume
Speaking of bars, a bar or measure is basically a section of a song. As mentioned, it is closely related to the time signature. In our case, you can have a maximum of 4 quarter notes (or the equivalent of 4 quarter notes, as we'll learn down the road). Finally, at the end of a song, you can see we have something called the end of song markers.
We also have a tempo indicator. Tempo refers to the speed of the song. It can be written either with a number like above or with some Italian words like Allegro, Andante etc. The tempo we have there is read as quarter note equals 120 beats per minute. In non-Greek, that means that we need to play this song fast enough to make sure that during a minute of us playing at that speed, we can play exactly 120 quarter notes. In non-Greek part 2, that basically means that a quarter note should last half a second. We will discuss tempo in more detail in a future tutorial.
Now, let's take a look at the C major scale (C D E F G A B C), written on both the G and F clefs:
As you can see, whenever we're supposed to write notes outside the 5 lines of a staff, we use helper lines. If my memory serves me correctly, they are called leger lines. Worth noting is that two consecutive notes can never be placed on the same line or space. What I mean by this is that you cannot have two notes with two different names on the same line or space.
And speaking of lines and spaces, let's figure out what notes go on lines and what notes go on spaces:
- for the G clef, the notes on the lines are E, G, B, D, and F ( think Exist Gunslinger Betrayed Danger Line Fermi Paradox); while the notes on the spaces in between are F, A, C and E (think Fermi Paradox Afterlife Crossroads Exist)
- for the F clef, the notes on the lines are G, B, D, F, and A ( think Gunslinger Betrayed Danger Line Fermi Paradox Afterlife); while the notes on the spaces in between are A, C, E, and G (think Afterlife Crossroads Exist Gunslinger)
Along these lines, you will have also noticed that the F clef staff has some weird symbols inside the first two measures. Those are called rests and we will discuss them in a separate tutorial. For now, just think of rests as the actual sound of silence.
A final note (I crack myself up) is with regards to notes that are placed one on top of the other. That simply means that you need to play all the notes at the same time.
Right, that about covers it for this one. Next time around, we will review guitar tabs, since this is a guitar-based website after all. See you then.
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