VT Music - Concert Choir Student Name: _________________

Music Reading and Theory Workbook

Over the course of this year, you will learn to read basic music in Concert Choir through Note Reading
Rehearsals approximately every two weeks. The goal of these lessons is to help you be a stronger sight
reader and to allow you to be more independent in learning your music at home.

We will focus on 6 main ideas, each with their own set of learning goals.
Each class we will focus on one main idea.

1. Voice Types and the Grand Staff - January 13

a. Voice Types
i. Telling the Difference
b. The Grand Staff
i. Building the Grand Staff
ii. Clefs
iii. Note naming on the lines and spaces
iv. Ledger Lines
2. Rhythm - February 10
a. Rhythm
i. Note values
ii. Rest values
iii. Ties
iv. Dots
v. Bar numbers
3. Time Signatures - February 24
i. What do they tell us?
ii. How to Read Them
4. Accidentals and Key Signatures - March 9
a. Naturals, Flats, Sharps
b. Throughout the Bar
c. Key Signature Accidental Identification
5. Articulations, Dynamics and Tempo - April 20
a. Dynamics
i. Basic dynamics (pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff)
ii. Changing dynamics (crescendos, diminuendos)
b. Tempo
i. BPM
ii. Tempo terms (allegro, andante, moderato, ritardando, accelerando)
c. Articulations
i. Accents, staccatos, marcatos, tenutos, slurs, legato
6. Other Musical Symbols and Terms - May 4
a. Repeats
b. Solo vs. Soli vs. Tutti vs. unis.
c. Fermatas
d. Rehearsal Numbers/Letters
7. Review and Questions - June 1 and 4
 VOICE TYPES AND THE GRAND STAFF

VOICE TYPES

There are four ​voice types​ in our concert choir: ​Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass.​

Typically, sopranos and altos are females and tenors and basses are males; but this is not
always the case. Voice types are determined by the tessitura, or comfortable range of a student’s voice.
Sopranos are usually the highest voice, followed by altos, tenors and basses are the lowest.

GRAND STAFF

There are 5 lines and 4 spaces in the ​Grand Staff​. It looks like this:

____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

We know which lines and spaces are which note thanks to ​Clefs​. We will use to clefs in Concert Choir.

One is the ​Treble Clef​ (1)

...

and the other is the ​Bass Clef (​ 2).

The treble clef is also known as the ​G clef ​and is typically used by sopranos and altos, while the bass clef
is known as the ​F clef ​and usually used by tenors and basses.

In music, we use the first ​7 letters of the alphabet​ to name notes (A B C D E F G) on a rotation; we will
use these same letters to name the spaces and lines of each clef.

2
The treble clef lines and spaces are as below: The bass clef lines and spaces are as below:

Sometimes we may see notes above or below the grand staff. The lines used above and below the grand
staff are called ​Ledger Lines​ and are a continuation of the grand staff as seen below.

If you are interested in how these notes relate to the keyboard on a piano, they are all of the white keys!
You can see below which white keys are which notes - they follow a pattern. The C that lines up in the
middle of the bass and treble clefs is known as ​Middle C​.

3
Voice Type and Grand Staff Worksheet

Q1-7 Answer Key:

G Clef Four Five F Clef Ledger Lines Middle C

1. How many lines does a ​Grand Staff ​have? _____

​ ave? _____
2. How many spaces does a ​Grand Staff h

​ ​ ​_____________________
3. What is the alternate name for the ​Treble Clef?

​ ​ ​_____________________
4. What is the alternate name for the ​Bass Clef?

5. What are the lines above and below the Grand Staff called?​ ​_____________________

6. Which note lines up on the same line in the treble and bass clef? _____________________

7. Which ​7 letters of the alphabet​ do we use for naming notes? ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

8. Draw a ​Treble Clef​ on the Grand Staff below and write the name of each ​space​ a
​ nd the name of
each ​line​ b
​ eside the staff.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

9. Draw a ​Bass Clef​ on the Grand Staff below and write the name of each ​space​ a
​ nd the name of
each ​line​ b
​ eside the staff. C has been given to you as an example.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

10. Name the notes on the ledger lines below:

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

4
 RHYTHM
If you’re someone who enjoys math then counting notes and rests may come easy to you! If you’re not
however, don’t be afraid! There are 5 note and rest values we will learn in today’s class and they follow a
pattern!
NOTE VALUES​ - Notes tell us to sing for their duration.

The highest note value we can write without alterations is ​4 beats​.

This is called a ​Whole Note ​ and looks like this:

Whole notes can be broken down into 2​ half notes.

Each half note is equal to ​2 beats​ and looks like this:

Half notes can be broken down into 2​ quarter notes.

Each quarter note is equal to ​1 beat​ and looks like this:

Quarter notes can be broken down into 2​ eighth notes.

Each eighth note is equal to ​half of a beat​ and looks like this:

We can also stem two eighth notes together, they are still each equal to half of a beat:

Eighth Notes can be broken down into 2​ sixteenth notes.

Each sixteenth note is equal to ​half of a beat​ and looks like this:

We can also stem two eighth notes together, they are still each equal to half of a beat:

REST VALUES​ - Rests follow the same pattern as notes but with different symbols. Rests tell us to be
silent during their time.

Whole Rest​:

Half Rest:

Quarter Rest​:

Eighth Rests​:

Sixteenth Rests:

**NOTE THAT ALL EIGHTH VALUES HAVE ONE STEM/FLAG AND ALL SIXTEENTH VALUES HAVE
TWO STEMS/FLAGS

5
 You can also see the note and rest trees below which shows the breakdown of each rhythm.
Notice that four quarter notes fit into one whole note, eight eighth notes into one whole, etc. This is how
each rhythm gets its name.

If a note is on the middle line of the grand staff or higher, the

stem is on the left and points down. If a note is in the middle
space of the grand staff or lower, the stem goes on the right
and points up.

TIES
​ ​Tie​ connects two of the ​same pitch​. When notes are tied together, you only sing or articulate
A
the ​first​ of the tied notes.
In the example below, you see a quarter note tied to a whole note which is also tied to another
quarter note. In this example you would start singing on the first quarter note and hold it all the way to the
last quarter note - singing for 6 beats total.

DOTS

A ​Dot​ adds ​half​ of the ​original value​ to a pitch. The dot will always appear on the opposite side
from the note stem.

Dotted whole note:

Dotted half note:

Dotted quarter note:

Dotted eighth note:

You may also sometimes see a dotted eighth note stemmed to a sixteenth note: or

6
Time Signature
The​ time signature​ is found at the beginning of the staff, following the clef sign and key signature
(sharps/flats). It consists of two numbers, one on top of the other.

Ex. Time signature: 4/4

The​ top number​ indicates how many beats are in each measure and the​ bottom number​ tells what
kind of note/what note value gets one beat. For the bottom number: 2=half note; 4=quarter note;
8=eighth note.

Examples:
a) 3 = 3 beats per measure/bar b) 6 = 6 beats per measure/bar
4 = quarter note gets one beat 8 = eighth note gets one beat

b) 3 = 3 beats per measure/bar

2 = half note gets one beat

Short Cuts
Two other time signature symbols are often used instead of numbers. The first of these ‘short-cut’
synbols is a capital “​C​” centered on the staff, used for pieces in​ 4/4​ time, often called​ common time​.
The other refers to cut time, used for pieces in 2/2 time, made like a capital “C” with a vertical line drawn
through it.

7
Accidentals

Key Signature
The ​key signature​ tells us which notes have sharps or flats in that key.The sharps and flats always
appear in the key signature in the same order. The name of the key is determined by the number of
sharps or flats.

The order of sharps (#): F C G D A E B “Father Charles Goes Down And Eats Breakfast”
The order of flats (b): B E A D G C F “Breakfast Ends And Down Goes Charles’s Father”

Remember: The order of sharps and flats is the same in both bass clef and treble clef.