Accented Beats

Depending on whether the music is duple, triple or quadruple time, some beats are accented (louder) than other beats. In duple time the first beat is louder, in triple time the first beat is louder and in quadruple time the first beat is louder and the third beat is quite loud.

In the example below, the top stave of music is in triple time, so the first beat of each bar is louder. The second stave of music is in quadruple time, so the first beat is loud and the third beat is quite loud.

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The rule is:

Duple Time             Strong Weak, Strong Weak.

Triple Time             Strong Weak Weak, Strong Weak Weak.

Quadruple Time      Strong Weak Medium Weak, Strong Weak Medium Weak.

Baxter, Harry and Michael Baxter. The Right Way To Read Music. Tadworth: Right Way, 1993. Print, p.20.

Anacrusis or Up Beat

An anacrusis, also known as an up beat, is when a piece of music does not start on the first beat of the bar. In the example below, the music starts on the second half of the fourth beat. So, the last bar will contain three and a half beats to make this bar complete to four beats. If the first bar is incomplete, then the final bar will be incomplete.

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In the next example, the music starts on the fourth beat, so the final bar contains only three beats.

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Brown, James Murray. A Handbook Of Musical Knowledge. London: Trinity College of Music, 1987. Print, p. 24.

Simple Time and Compound Time

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There is a simple way to work out whether a time signature is simple time or compound time. Simple time and compound time signatures can be duple, triple or quadruple. In compound time, the top number is 6 and higher, and can be divided by 3. Duple time has 2 beats, triple time has 3 beats and quadruple time has 4 beats. The bottom number 2 of the time signature represents a minim, number 4 a crotchet, number 8 a quaver and number 16 a semiquaver. The top number represents the number in each bar. So, 2/4 has 2 crotchets in each bar, 6/8 has 6 quavers in each bar and 6/16 has 6 semiquavers in each bar.

Simple Time

Duple:  2/2     2/4     2/8       Triple:  3/2     3/4     3/8       Quadruple:  4/2     4/4     4/8

Compound Time

Duple:  6/4     6/8      6/16      Triple:  9/4    9/8      9/16      Quadruple:  12/4     12/8      12/16

In the piece of music below, the C time signature, also known as common time, is 4/4:

                                                                                          

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When the C has a line through the middle, also known as cut common time, the time signature is 2/2 or 4/2.

The music below is an example of 2/4 time:

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The music below is an example of 6/8 time:

                                                                                                            

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Brown, James Murray. A Handbook Of Musical Knowledge. London: Trinity College of Music, 1987. Print, P.24.

Technical and Sol-fa Names

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Each note of the scale has a technical name and a sol-fa name. If we take the C major scale as an example, the first degree is C, second degree is D, third degree is E and so on. In the scale of F major, the first degree is F, second degree is G, third degree is A and so on.

Degrees Of The Scale And Their Technical Names

1        Tonic
2        Supertonic
3        Mediant
4        Subdominant
5        Dominant
6        Submediant
7        Leading note
8        Tonic

So, in the scale of C major, C would be the Tonic and D would be the Supertonic.

Degrees Of The Scale And Their Sol-fa Names

1         Doh
2         Ray
3         Me
4         Fah
5         Soh
6         Lah
7         Te
8         Doh

In the scale of F major, F would be Doh, G would be Ray and so on.

The picture below shows the Sol-fa names in A major:


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Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 29.

Working Out The Scale From The Key Signature

If you are unfamiliar with key signatures, there are ways to work out the scale.

If we look at the example below, on the first stave the key signature has flats. Look at the order of the flats; Bb, Eb, Ab and Db. The second last flat is the scale name, so it is Ab major. The second stave has two flats Bb and Eb, so this example is Bb major.

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When working out sharps, we look at the last sharp, raise it a semitone and that gives the scale. The order of the sharps in the example below; F#, C#, G#, D#. The last sharp is D# and up a semitone is to E, so the scale is E major. 

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The only exceptions are F major, which has a Bb, so we have to remember this one. We also must remember that C major has no sharps or flats.

Simple Time Rests

Rests are written in music to show a moment of silence. Below are the notes with their corresponding rests on the right. The semibreve rest has four beats, the minim rest has two beats, the crotchet rest has one beat, the quaver rest has half a beat and the semiquaver rest has a quarter of a beat.

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However, the crotchet rest shown in the picture above is an old style of crotchet rest. The rest used today is written as this lineseen in the Glockenspiel section in this piece of music below.

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Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 1.

Key Signatures

There are twelve different scales in music. Each scale has its own key signature. Here are the major scales that use sharps #. G major has one sharp, D major has two sharps and so on.

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Here are some examples of key signatures that use flats b. F major has one flat, Bb major has two flats, Eb major has three flats and Ab major has four flats.

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The scales that use sharps # are G, D, A, E, B and F# major. The scales that use flats b are F, Bb, Eb, Ab and Db major. The scale of C major does not have flats or sharps as it does not contain any sharps or flats in the scale.

An easy way to remember if the scale has sharps or flats is; if the scale has sharp in the name such as F#, it will contain sharps. If the scale has flat in the name such as Bb, it will contain flats. If the scale does not contain flat or sharp in the name such as A major or B major, it will contain sharps. The exception to the rule is F major which has one flat, so we need to remember this one.

So examples are: remember F major, one flat and C major, no sharps or flats.

       A major-sharps, F# major-sharps and Bb major-flats, Eb major-flats.

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 32.

Simple Time Note Values

Note values in music represent the rhythm of the piece. Below are notes with their values. The top note is called a dotted minim, it is worth 3 beats. The three notes underneath are called crotchets and they are worth one beat each. The notes underneath with the tails are called quavers, they are worth half a beat. The last row of notes with two tails are called semiquavers and they are worth a quarter of a beat.

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The picture below shows another chart of the simple time note values. The semibreve is worth four beats, the minims are worth two beats each, the crotchets are worth one beat each, the quavers are worth half a beat each and the semiquavers are worth a quarter of a beat each.

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If we look at the last line, the picture below shows the notes with three tails. They are called demisemiquavers and they are worth an eighth of a beat.

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For more information see:

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 1.

Major Scale Structure

The structure of the major scale follows a pattern; tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. In the picture below the whole step is a tone and a half step is a semitone.

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When the C major scale is written, it starts on C, then up a tone to D, another tone to E, then a semitone to F, a tone to G, another tone to A, tone to B and finally a semitone to C. All major scales are structured in the same way. The top stave in the picture above shows us C major scale, the second stave is D major scale. It starts on D, up a tone to E, another tone to F#, then a semitone to G, three more tones up A, B and C#, then the semitone to D. The scale on the third stave is the Bb major scale. It starts on Bb, then up a tone to C, another tone to D, then a semitone to Eb, a tone to F, a tone to G, another tone to A and finally a semitone to Bb.

There are 12 major scales in music and by following this pattern, we can work out each scale. Below is a picture of the cycle (circle) of 5ths. It shows all the twelve major scales.

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The picture below shows us the cycle of 5ths and all their key signatures in the bass clef.

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Below is the cycle of 5ths and all their key signatures in the treble clef.

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Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, pp. 30 to 33.

Accidentals

In music there are what is called accidentals. These consist of sharps, flats and naturals. When we look at the keyboard, we notice that there are black keys and white keys. An F sharp is the black key directly to the right of the F white key. A D sharp is the black key directly to the right of the D white key and so on. An A flat is the black key directly to the left of the A white key. An E flat is the black key directly to the left of the E white key and so on. A C flat is the same as a B, a B sharp is the same as a C. An E sharp is the same as an F and an F flat is the same as an E.

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In the picture below there are examples of sharps. They look like #.

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In the picture below there are examples of flats. They look like b.

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In the picture below there are examples of naturals. We can see the flats b, sharps # and the other symbol is the natural which cancels out a flat or sharp. This means that a Bb would become a B and an F# would become an F.

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An accidental only affects the notes in the bar as in the example below. The end of the bar is written as a vertical line. This piece of music is one bar, so every G note in the bar would be G#. The subsequent bars would be back to G.

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In the picture below the accidentals apply to every bar. The E and the B are flat throughout the piece of music because two flats are written at the start of each stave on the E and B position. This is called a key signature.

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There are also double sharps which are written X and double flats which are written bb. A double sharp is raised a tone for example, an A double sharp is the same as a B, and a D double flat is the same as a C. 

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, pp. 27 and 28.

Tones and Semitones

The picture below shows a piano keyboard. We can see that there are black notes and white notes. The distance between notes are called tones. If we move up the keyboard each white note to black note, these distances are called semitones. When we have two semitones distance between notes, the distance is a tone. So for example, when we move from G note to the black note directly to the right, the distance is a semitone. When we move from the G note to the A note, this is called a tone. There is no black note between notes B to C and notes E to F. These distances are semitones. The general rule is from the white to black notes are semitones and if there is no black note between the white they are also semitones. When you have a distance of two semitones it is a tone for example D to E, A to B and F to G.

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Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, p. 26.

Ledger Lines

Notes Above And Below The Stave

First remember the clefs, treble on the top stave and bass on the bottom stave.

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The next step when reading notes is ledger lines. These are notes that are outside the stave as shown in this example below:

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The best way is to work out the name of this note by counting up the notes from the top line on the stave. We know that the top line on the treble clef is F from the phrase, Every Good Boy Deserves Football. Then count up each line and space until you reach the note. First space after F is G, then A, B, C and finally D. Over time you will recognise the notes on the ledger lines without having to use this method.

The next example is of a note below the stave. If you look at the first note of the top stave, it is written on the bass clef. Work out the bottom line note which is G from the phrase Good Boys Deserve Football Always and count the notes backwards. The first space is F, the next line is E, D, C and finally B.

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The same applies with this example below. Look at the first note of the top stave. Work out the note on the bottom line of the treble clef which is E from the phrase Every Good Boy Deserves Football. Then count back, the first space is D, then the line is C, then B, A, G, F and finally E.

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If anyone has any questions, comment below :).

Music Notation

Reading The Notes On The Stave

The first step when learning the theory of music is reading the notes on the stave. The stave consists of 5 lines and 4 spaces. You can see that in this picture below there are 2 staves. At the start of each line, there is a symbol called a clef. The type of clef depends on the musical instrument you are playing. This is an example of piano music.

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In the picture below, the top clef is called the treble clef and the bottom clef is called the bass clef. The treble clef represents notes of a higher pitch and the bass clef represents notes of a lower pitch.

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Music notation consists of 7 notes; CDEFGAB. I was taught a system that can be adopted to help read the notes on the stave. For the treble clef the phrase Every Good Boy Deserves Football can be used to represent the lines and the word FACE can be used to represent the spaces. In the example below the note is middle C, the middle note on the piano.

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This next example is note E. The first line on the treble clef is the first word in the phrase, Every.   

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The next example is note G. The second line on the treble clef is the second word in the phrase, Good.

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The next example is note A. The second space on the treble clef is the second letter in the word face, A.

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The next example is note C. The third space on the treble clef is the third letter in the word face, C.

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The final example is note D. The fourth line on the treble clef is the fourth word in the phrase, Deserves.

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The same system can be applied with the bass clef. The phrase to represent the lines is Good Boys Deserve Football Always and to represent the spaces, All Cows Eat Grass. The student can also make up their own phrase if they wish.

Why I Am Writing This Blog

The Theory Of Music

Learning to play a musical instrument is something that takes many years of time and patience. As well as studying your instrument, the study of music theory is valuable in order to have a deeper understanding of how music is structured. I have been a music teacher for 15 years teaching piano, flute and music theory. I have enjoyed my years teaching different students.  

I am going to teach music theory based on my own experiences of learning and teaching that will provide valuable help and information for musicians. I hope that my readers will enjoy this blog and be able to participate and ask questions if they wish.

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