The Stave

We use the Stave or Staff to write music:

We write the musical notes above the lines and spaces of the Stave:

According to their position over the Stave we can know the note they represent.

The Clefs
In every Stave the first thing we have is a Clef. There are several clefs. The more often used are the Treble Clef or G Clef:

And the Bass Clef or F Clef:

The Treble Clef is used by high pitched instruments like the violin! flute! and trumpet! and by others not so sharp like the guitar. The "ass Clef is used by low pitched instruments like the double bass! cello! and the trombone. It is important to know the clef used at the moment of reading the music to be able to recogni#e the name of the notes.

The $otes
"efore we see how to write the notes over the stave! let%s check over their name and order. &ur music system has seven notes. The &rder of this notes is C! '! (! )! *! A! and ". These notes correspond to the white keys of the piano:

The Treble or * clef

'own in the e+ample you can see the notes represented by each one of the lines and spaces of the stave with a Treble or G clef. $otice that the first line ,lower line- correspond to an ( note! and the first space to an ) note. In other words! notes over the stave ,line space line...- follow the natural order ,C! '! (! )! *! A! and "-. $otice that we can write underneath the first line ,lower line-! and above the fifth line ,higher line-:

.edger lines
"esides writing on the spaces and lines of stave! we can also add additional lines to write higher notes and lower notes:

The C note on the first additional line below the stave is the same note than the middle C of a piano.

The "ass or ) clef

'own in the e+ample you can see the notes represented by each one of the lines and spaces of the stave with a "ass or ) clef. We have included the additional lines.

The higher C on the first additional superior line is the middle C. Note: &ur readers suggest the following phrase for remembering the notes on the lines: Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always or Great Big Dogs From America And for the notes in the spaces: All Cows Eat Grass Suggested by /oe from the 0nited 1ingdom and by 1evin from the 0S. Thanks2

3emori#ing $otes
In order to be able to read music it is essential to recogni#e in a fast way the note to each space and line in the stave. This is achieved with a lot of practice and patience. 4owever at first it can be helpful to memori#e the order of the notes in the spaces and lines. )or e+ample in the * clef! the notes on the lines are (! *! "! ' and ). In the spaces the notes are )! C! and (:

The space notes are easy to remember since they make the word FACE. )or the line notes you can use the following phrase: Every Good Boy Does Fine.

The ) clef:

The *rand Staff

Combining the treble and bass staves we can write from the lowest note to the highest note:

The last C of the bass clef ,highest- and first of the treble clef are the middle C. 5iano music is normally written using the *rand Staff.

6hythm $otation
We already know how to specify the note that should be e+ecuted! but how do we specify its duration7 In order to understand this we must know the note value ,duration- and the time signature.

$ote 8alue
The note value allow us to specify the duration of a sound. 'own in the e+ample you can see the notes values and their duration: Note Name 'ouble Whole $ote Whole $ote 4alf $ote Value Two whole notes Two 4alf $otes and a half of a 'ouble Whole $ote Two 9uarter $otes and a half of a

Whole $ote 9uarter $ote Two (ight $otes and a half of a 4alf $ote Two Si+teenth $otes and a half of a 9uarter $ote Two :;nd $otes and a half of an (ight $ote Two <=th $otes and a half of a Si+teenth $ote 4alf of a :;nd $ote

(ight $ote

Si+teenth $ote

:; $ote

nd

<=th $ote

As you may notice! each note duration is the double of the following note and half of the time than the previous one. )or e+ample! in this short musical fragment we hear two different rhythmical patterns. The higher pitch sound is formed by four 9uarter notes ,piano sound-! and the lower by two 4alf notes ,percusive sound-. 'ue to the 9uarter note%s length is the half of a 4alf note! we hear two 9uarter notes by every 4alf note:

"ut before being able to read correctly! we must understand the concept of 3easure.
NOTE: When we write (ighth notes! Si+teenth notes! :;nd notes and <=th notes we customarily group with a bean all of those that are within a >family? ,type of note-! in order to facilitate the reading. 4ere are some e+amples:

The 3easure
8ery often we find rhythm patterns in the music we listen. We are generally able to group the times or beats in groups of ;! : or =.

)or instance! when we listen to a walt#! the feel we have in the rhythm is a three beats per group. Throughout the course we can feel that the rhythmical patterns are based on this @! ;! :. There are measures of ;! : and = beats. (ven although less common! we found measures of A or B beats. To indicate the measure we use two things: the time signature of the measure and the bar lines.

Time Signature
The time signature is indicated at the beginning of the measure using two numerals:

The upper number indicates the number of beats in the measure! : in this case. The lower number indicates the note that will occupy one beat. In the ne+t table you will see the relation between notes and numbers: Number Note @ ; = C @<

:;

Therefore the time signature indicates that the measure has : times and that each time is occupied by a Duarter note. $otice that the = symboli#e the Duarter note because it%s @E= of the whole note.

We freDuently use the symbols and ;E; , -.

and

to indicate the compasses of =E= , -

The "ar .ines

In order to make the reading easier! we separate the measures with vertical lines to which we give the name of Bar Lines:

In this e+ample we have a two beat measure where each beat is occupied by a Duarter note.

'ots
If we add a dot to a note! its time will increase by the half of its own value: Wit out Dot Note Wit Dot

E!uivalenc Note E!uivalence e

Ties
We can add the value of a note to another note by Foining them with a tie:

The second measure is eDual to the first one.

$otes per "eat and 3easures

In the following table you can see the notes reDuired to fill a beat and a measure of the most common time signatures: Time Si"natur Beat #easure e ; = : = = = ; ; : ; = ; ; C : C

6ests
(ach note has a symbol that represent a silence of the same duration. We call these symbols rests. Note 'ouble Whole $est

Whole

4alf

9uarter

(ight

Si+teenth

:;nd

<=th

Simple and Compound 3easures

The measures that we have seen until now are called sim%le measures. In the simple measure each beat is subdivided in halves ,a Duarter note subdivides itself in two eighth notes-. "y the contrary! the com%oun& measure%s time unit is subdivided in three parts. Some important points that we must consider in relation to these measures are: @. We recogni#e the compound measures because the numerator ,superior number in the indication of the time signature- is <! G or @;. ;. We obtain the note that will occupy a beat by dividing the numerator by :. )or instance a <EC measure has ; beats. :. We must add a dot to the notes that occupy a beat. =. The denominator ,inferior number- indicates the note that occupies a third of the time unit. )or e+ample in a <EC measure the eighth note occupies a third of a beat since a beat is occupied by : eighth notes or @ Duarter note with a dot. The ne+t table show the above points: Note in Note in one one measure beat

#easures Beats < C

G C @; C < = G = @; = An e+ample:

: = ; : =

Accidentals
Any of the seven notes can be altered with an accidental sign! which can raise or lower the pitch of the note ,*o to Accidentals for more information-. In music writing an accidental affects every note of the same name and in the same octave within a measure. In the following e+ample the last * note is sharp ,we would need to add a natural sign if we wanted it natural-:

*o to Whole and 4alf Steps for more information on accidentals notes and its relation with the piano.

1ey Signatures
In order to reduce the number of accidentals at the time of writing music we resort to the use of key signatures. These accidentals! written between the key and the time signature affect to all notes of that name through the piece including those in other octaves.

In the following e+ample all ) and C notes are sharp. The * note of the first measure is sharp and the C note of the second measure is natural due to the natural sign. The last * note does not need a natural ,sign- since the sharp was in the previous measure! but sometimes it is written to make it clear:

*o to 1ey Signatures for more information on this topic.

The C Clefs
In addition to the treble and bass clefs there are several C clefs where the middle C is assigned to the @st ,soprano clef-! ;nd ,me##o soprano clef-! :rd ,or alto clef- or =th line ,tenor clef-. The following e+ample shows the notes in the alto clef commonly used by the viola:

The C note in the middle line is the middle C.