BASIC NOTATION REVIEW Music 291: Music Fundamentals NOTATION is the means by which music is notated on paper.

Much like a language it is constructed of many different symbols to indicate a variety of things: PITCH (the sound, or the letter name of a note), as well as lack of pitch (silence or a REST), RHYTHM (the duration of that sound), DYNAMICS (volume of the pitch), as well as many other indications needed to fully execute the music from written to aural sound. A STAFF is the basic construction site for written music. It is made up of five horizontal lines and four spaces.

NOTE VALUES Each note has a specific duration over time.

**Note that adding a dot beside a note adds one half of that notes original value to the note. For example a quarter note with a dot beside it is now worth a quarter note plus half a quarter note (or one eighth note) for a combined note value of 3 eighth notes. METER Meter is the regular recurring pattern of strong and weak beats of equal duration; also known as time. The meter in a musical composition is indicated by a fraction, which is called a TIME SIGNATURE, and located at the beginning of a piece of music. The lower number of the fraction tells what kind of note receives one beat. The upper number tells how many beats are in a measure. So in 3/4 there are 3 quarter notes in a measure, in 2/4 there are 2 quarter notes in a measure, in 6/8 there are 6 eighth notes in a measure. MEASURE Staves are divided into measures of equal duration based on the TIME SIGNATURE. Divisions are indicated by a vertical line through the staff at regular intervals which are called BAR LINES.

In Western music there are two types of meter, simple and compound, which are indicated by TIME SIGNATURES (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc.). In simple meter the upper number is either 2, 3, or 4. Each beat is subdivided by two (as in two eighth notes per beat, which means the quarter note gets the beat).

In compound meter the upper number is either 6,9, or 12. Each beat is a dotted note and subdivided into groups of three beats.

A CLEF is a musical symbol placed at the beginning of the staff that determines the letter names of the lines and spaces. These letter names of the lines and spaces or PITCHES are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G) and repeat continuously as such: A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C.....etc The two main clefs are the treble clef and the bass clef:

A GRAND STAFF is a combination of both the treble and bass clefs connected by a vertical line on the left side of the STAVES (plural of staffs).

LEDGER LINES are an extension of the staff. They are additional lines both above and below which are parallel to the staff. Each ledger line contains one note.