VPA MUSIC THEORY STUDY PACK

PREPARED BY: MUSIC AD MONITORS AND ADJUDICATORS IN ZIMBABWE

(M.A.A.Z)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Definition of terms
2. Staff notation
3. Time signature
4. Rhythm
5. Notation modulation
6. Basic scales
7. Tonic sol-fa
8. Pitch
9. Conducting
10. Symbols
11. Common tempo and expression terms
12. Music interpretation
13. Vocal practice

Definition of terms
There are standard terms used to define choral music, determined by its main properties. First we
begin by defining music.
 Music is humanly organized sound
 Music is an art of sound which is made by harmony, rhythm and melody. Music needs
you to focus on few basic elements such as Pitch, Duration, Dynamics, Tempo, Timbre,
Texture and Structure.
 A sound, or the study of such sounds, organized in time.
 An art form, created by organizing of pitch, rhythm, and sounds made using musical
instruments and sometimes singing.
Now the term choral means: of, relating to, written for, or performed by a choir. Combining
the two term choral music will be basically defined as the study of such sounds, organized in
time which is produced by a choir.
From the above definition of music we can see that music is made up of elements such as
harmony, rhythm and melody, pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture. Hence we need
to understand the meaning of each term.
 Harmony- two or more notes played simultaneously to produce a chord, or in simple
terms, a pleasing arrangement of sound.
 Rhythm- the variation of duration of sound known by most as the beat of a song.
 Melody- tune, a sequence of notes that make up a musical phrase.
These three make up most of the music that we hear. We call them the backbone of music. The
following elements are then used to make the music more defined and well interpreted.
 Pitch- the known frequency of a sound or note.
 Duration- the amount of time for a particular sound or note.
 Dynamics- the varying loudness or volume of a song or the markings that indicate the
loudness. It is also a symbol in a musical score that indicates the desired level of volume.
 Tempo- the number of beats per minute in a piece of music.
 Timbre- the quality of sound independent of its pitch and volume.
 Texture- the quality given to a work of music by the composition and interaction of its
parts.
 Structure- the overall form or organisation of a piece of music.
All these terms give music its meaning and its make-up. They are the basis of what music is to an
ear and a soul.
Now for choral music we usually refer to a musical score written by a composer. This musical
score can be written in two ways either by using staff notation and using tonic sol-fa (solfeggio)
notation.
 Staff notation- this is the writing of music using staff notes and their time values.
 Tonic sol-fa notation- this is the writing of music using the modulator notes in the form
of letters d,r,m,f,s,l,t,d which systematically derive their sound for the given pitch; d
being the tonic.
Staff notation
From the previous chapter, we defined staff notation as the writing of music using staff notes and
their note values. Below is an extract of “come gentle spring” by Franz Joseph Haydn to show
staff notation.
A note is a symbol used to represent sound. It carries a pitch, depending on its position on the
staff, and duration.
Duration of a note.
We have five main different notes according to our diagram above. Starting from the top,the
single oval note is called the semibreve, whole note or full note. It is followed by the minim or
half note; it gets into a semibreve twice. It is followed by the crotchet also known as a quarter
note; it gets into a semibreve 4 times. The quaver or eigth note that gets into a semi breve 8 times
follows and at the bottom is the semiquaver or sixteenth note which divides 16 times into a
semibreve.

This simply shows that music notes are mathematical in duration uses proportion.
Dotted musical notes
 Value of a dot is half value of that particular note.
 Therefore the durational value of a dotted note is equal to that particular note‟s value plus half the
value of that note.
Make sure to consider that duration as a single note.
Rests
 These are times in music where they are moments of silence.
 These times occur for are single part or more than one part. In musical scores involving
instruments, these rests may occur to the choir or to some instruments.
 The rest must also have a time value
 The time value is equivalent to the corresponding note i.e a crotchet note is equivalent in
time value with a crotchet rest.
 This means that the rest and note occur at the same number of beats. For the crotchet this
note and rest are all sang in one beat.

Dotted rests
 Just like dotted musical notes, we also have dotted rests and they have the same time
value as their dotted note equivalents.

Basic terms used in staff notation.

1. Staff or Stave - these are five lines and four spaces where music is written using staff
notes.

2. Musical Note- a note is a symbol used to represent sound. It carries a pitch, depending on
its position on the staff, and duration.
3. Clef- this is a musical symbol put at the beginning of a staff used to name the lines on the
staff. We have two basic clefs in choral music namely the treble/G-clef which gives a
staff high notes and the bass/F-clef which gives a staff low notes.

Bass/F clef treble/G clef

4. Musical alphabet- the first seven letters of the alphabet i.e A, B, C, D, E, F and G
5. Scale- a series of alphabetical notes arranged in ascending or descending order making up
a full octave
6. Octave- these are eight musical notes.
7. Time signature- a numerical value sign placed on a staff to indicate the meter. The
numerator is the number of beats per bar. The denominator represents the time value of
each beat.

so as you see above the 6 shows that the will be six equal beats in each bar and the 8
shows that each beat will be an eigth note/quever.
8. Bar and bar lines- music is devided into equal parts called bars or measures. Each bar is
separated from another by a bar line
Time signature

By definition time signature is a numerical value sign placed on a staff to indicate the meter. The
numerator is the number of beats per bar. The denominator represents the time value of each
beat.
 It is usually written at the beginning of a musical score.
 If found in between, it means the will be a change in the time signature.
 It is made up of two numbers, a numorator and a denominator.
 The top number shows the number of beats per measure/bar. This means that if the top number is
3, there are three beats in the bar.
 The bottom number shows the kind of note that is the fundamental beat for each measure/bar.
This means that if the bottom number is 4, the beat is a crotchet.

 The first beat in any time signature recieves an accent to emphasize it than other beats in
the same bar/measure.
 This first beat is called a strong beat or crusis beat and those that follow are weaker beats
called anacrusis beats
 The end of a piece or section of music is shown by a double bar line.
 At the beginning of a piece of music is a time signature as shown in scores below.

Types of Time Signatures

We have two types of time signature namely, simple time and compound time.
Simple Time.
In simple time the type of notes in the bars, which is the bottom number, will be represented
by 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16.
The simple time signature is divided into three major groups i.e
simple double e.g 2/2, 2/4, 2/8,
simple triple e.g 3/2, 3/4, 3/8
simple quadruple e.g 4/2, 4/4 , 4/8 and 4/16.
Compound Time.
Compound time is divided into the same three groups as simple time,
Compound double (meaning two); Compound triple (meaning three) and Compound quadruple
(meaning four)
Rhythm
 By definition it is the variation of duration of sound known by most as the beat of a song.
 Music can be made up of long and short notes (sounds) as well as rests (silences).
Together the notes and rests of varying length create rhythms.
 The beat is the underlying pulse in music. Above the beat, sits the rhythm.
 The tempo of music describes the speed of the music, that is, the speed of the beat i.e.
fast, moderato, slow, allegro, vivace
 The beat is the rhythmic pulse in music. It acts like a heartbeat. Above the beat, rhythms
can be played. A rhythm is a combination of long and short notes and rests.
 In percusion, rhythm can be practised using french time note values.
 These french time note values can be clapped on a constant beat to form the rhythm.
Ties
 A tie is a curved line used to join notes with the same sound or pitch.
 Hence the notes are sung once for the duration of the two notes connected by a tie.

Scales

 A series of alphabetical notes arranged in ascending or descending order making

up a full octave.
 A scale is composed of a series of sounds succeeded by adjoining degrees.
 The first note in a scale which is the key of the scale is called the tonic.
 The scales most used are the diatonic scale and the chromatic scale.
 A diatonic scale is a succession of eight adjacent notes of diatonic tones and
semitones. Example: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. In this type of scale, each note has a
different name. There are two kinds of diatonic scales: major and minor
Major scale
A major scale consists of eight adjacent notes, the eighth being the octave note,
and it must have the requisite number of diatonic tones and semitones.
Tones and Semitones
 To clearly understand certain theory notions, it is important to know all the notes
that we find on the keyboard.

Always remember that the C is easily found as the white key before every 2
black keys. This memory aide will help you locate the other notes. On the other
side, key F is always found on a white key before every 3 black keys.

A SEMITONE or HALF STEP is the smallest distance between any two

adjacent keys on the keyboard whether it is black and white or white and white.
e.g. E and F, B and C, D and D#, etc. are all semitones apart.

A WHOLE TONE or WHOLE STEP is made up of two semitones. On the

keyboard, a whole tone is any two keys with one key, white or black, in between.
e.g. There is a tone between C and D, F# and G# and G#, E and F#, Bb and C.

Note: It is important to note that between the adjacent degrees (i.e., semitones) there are no white
or black keys. For example, the distance between C and D is not a semitone because there is a
black key that separates the two keys.

 In all major scales, the semitones occur between the 3rd and 4th notes and the
7th and 8th.

 Above is the major scale of C

 The major scale of C is used as a model for all the other major scales
 Other major scales have sharps or flats to maintain the arrangement of notes in
a major scale e.g the scale of G has an F# on the seventh note to form the last
semitone in the order therefore the scale of G becomes G, A, B, C, D, E, F#
and
Without key signature

With key signature

Key signature
 The KEY SIGNATURE is composed by the number of sharps or flats placed
immediately after the clef, right before the time signature.
 Different major scales have different key signatures as seen above, for the scale of G the
key signature [contains one sharp, the F#.]

Clefs
We shall discuss two clefs which represents the higher and lower pitches; the treble and bass clef.

The treble or G Clef represents a passage of notes that has a higher pitch or notes are on the higher
pitch range. These notes are more related to female voices. These voices can either be soprano or alto.

A bass or F Clef represent a passage of notes that has lower pitch or notes that are on the lower pitch
range. These notes are more related to male voices, e.g. tenors or basses.

Beaming
Beaming is only done on quavers and semiquavers. As a general rule, quavers and semi-quavers
are joined together at the „tails‟ in units of one crotchet beat. This means basically that, every
combination of the chosen notes should be equal to a crotchet value. This is always so when
joining a mixture of quavers (eighth notes) and semi-quavers (sixteenth notes) for the time
signature shown in any situation.

Summary Notes
1. The grand stave showing the treble and bass clef as well as Middle C

Grand stave
2. Key signatures and scales (ascending and descending) for C, G, F and D major scales.

Treble Clef & Bass Clef

C major key signature on the treble and bass stave
C major ascending and descending scale in treble stave

C major ascending and descending scale in bass stave

How F major key signature is shown on a treble stave and bass stave, showing the B Flat
in both staves.

F major ascending in treble stave without key signature

F major descending in treble stave without key signature

F major ascending in bass stave with key signature

F major descending in bass stave without key signature

G major key signature on the treble stave and bass stave showing the F# on both staves

G major ascending and descending scale in treble stave

G major descending and descending scale in treble stave

D major key signature on the treble stave and bass stave showing the F# and C# on both
staves

D major ascending in treble stave without key signature

D major descending in treble stave without key signature

D major ascending in bass stave without key signature

D major ascending in bass stave without key signature

COMPILED C/O MAAZ BY
MUNASHE VENGAI
BAGDADIY MWANYALI
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