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What do you see when you look at Music? |
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Timing:
Time Signature, Notes & Rests |
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To understand a piece of music we must first understand how long eachnote will last and that is dependant on the Time Signature. Let's take a look: |
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This is the most common time signature. Note: If you come across a pieceo of music that doesnt' have a time signature it is understood that the timeing is 4/4. |
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When You Look At Music... |
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When you are handed a piece of music do you cringe or look around helplessly? Trust me, we've all been there and know your pain, but relax...it's not as difficult as it looks. Just think of it as another language. You wouldn't go to another country without learning something simple like "where can I get a taxi" would you? Think of music the same way. Knowing how to read music for the beginner is simply a matter of becoming familiar iwth notes, notations, and other basics.
Hopefully this reference will cover enough of what you will run into in any piece of music you pick up. Learning to read music is not a matter of being able to look at a piece and hearing it in your head or forthat matter understanding what it will sound like. Reading music simply gives you an idea of what is happening. Timing, how high or low it may sound, if it may sound fast or slow depending on the types of notes and time signature, an idea of where you are headed and what you may expect. You are not musically inadequate if you pick up a piece of music and don't know exactly what will happen or what it will sound like with a full choir. Unless you the one that composed it...only the few musical geniuses in the world would know. But for those that are familiar with what the music is "saying" there is an idea that can be followed. Have fun! |
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A time signature consists of two numbers (top and bottom). The top number tells us ow many beast are in each measure and the bottom number tells us which type of note gets one beat. Here are some examples: |
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3 beats per measure/ Quarter note gets one beat |
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2 beats per measure/ Half note gets one beat |
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Now, I'm sure you're thinking. "What does this do for me?" Well, we have to get a little further before it comes together so let's continue on with the notes. Notes tell us where to sing on the staff and for how long. Rests tell us just that...how long to rest before we sing again. Notes and rests are math, simple math for the most part and unless you are dealing with a particularly complicated piece of music the timing is fairly simple, straightforward and easy to recognize once you get a few things down. Let's look at the note pyramid. Remember, everything hinges on the time signature. |
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Links:
CyberBass
Midi files including Vocal Warmups!
Music Dictionary
Gives a short list of Dynamic Symbols, etc.
Music Garden
Check out this link page. Includes some great links for everything from educational games to factory tours.
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A funny thing about notes. The more "stuff" you add to them, the less value they have. The Whole notes starts out as a large circle. Add a line and you've got 1/2 it's value...a Half note. Fill it in and you've got 1/2 it's value again. Start adding "flags" to it and you cut them in 1/2 again and again and again. I've seen them go so far as 64th notes but that piece was just plain scary.
Now, let's tie the notes in with the Time Signature. If we have a piece that is 4/4 time we get four beats per measure and the Quarter note gets one beat. Now, if the Quarter note gets one beat than the Half note will get two beats and the Whole notes will get four beats. The same works going down the pyramid. The Quarter note gets one beat the Eighth notes gets 1/2 of a beat and the Sixteenth note gets 1/4th of a beat and so on.
Let's tackle 3/4 time: We get three beats to the measure and the Quarter notes gets one beat. So if we work our way up the pyramid that would mean that the Half note is worth two beats and there would not be a Whole note because you cannot have more beats in the measure than the time signature requires. See "Dotted notes". Rests: They work on the same mathmatical principle as notes only with silence
It's all in the math...fractions come alive in music! |
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