What is Music?

The written or printed signs representing vocal and instrumental sounds.

Staff/stave lines
On staff/stave lines anything that goes below line 3 the stems go up like “d”
for dogs. However when a note is located above line 3, the stems go down
like “p” for puppies. If the note is on the middle line it can go UP “d” or
DOWN “p”.

Note values
Notes American Rest British Name Beats
name

Whole note Semibreve 4

Half note Minim 2

Dotted half Dotted Minim 3

note

Quarter Note Crochet 1

Quaver ½

Eighth note

Sixteenth Semi-quaver ¼
note

How is sound made?

Idiophones - made from resonant material i.e gong, bells, xylophones
Membranophones - consists of a membrane pulled tightly over a resonating box
i.e drums
Aerophones - makes sound when column or tube is set in motion i.e recorder,
trumpets
Chordophones - have a soundbox, string instruments
Electrophones - electric instruments

Time signatures
Time signatures consist of 2 elements: a top number and a bottom number. The top
number tells us the number of beats in each bar line. The bottom number in a time
signature indicates what note values those beats are. If the bottom number is a 4, it
means the beats are quarter notes (four quarter notes in a measure). Time
signatures also have names, 2 beats in a bar = simple duple time, 3 beats in a bar =
simple triple time, 4 beats in a bar = simple quadruple time.

Treble Clef
When reading treble clef’s we must identify the clef, see if the note is on a line or a
space. Know our rhymes and count the notes from bottom to top.
The rhyme for the lines on the treble clef are (Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit) and
for the spaces the rhyme is (F,A,C,E). The treble clef starts in the middle of the first
two lines and goes outside of the lines.

Bass Clef
When reading bass clef we must identify the clef, see if the note is on a line or a
space. Know our rhymes and count the notes from bottom to top.
The rhyme for the lines on the bass clef are (All Cows Eat Grass) and for the spaces
the rhyme is (Good Burgers Don’t Fall Apart).

Sharps, Flats and Naturals:

Sharp means higher in pitch by one semitone (half step). All sharp notes go to the
right. A sharp sign means "the note that is one half step higher than the natural note".
A flat sign means "the note that is one half step lower than the natural note". Some of
the natural notes are only one half step apart, but most of them are a whole step
apart.

Topic 3, Instruments of the orchestra:

Introduction to the instruments of the orchestra:
An orchestra is a group of musicians who play together. The size of an orchestra can
vary from a small orchestra which has between 15 and 40 players and a full symphony
orchestra Which can have 100 people. The difference between an orchestra and a
band is that an orchestra contains four families: the string family, brass family,
woodwind family and percussion family.
Treble clef rhymes – line and space:
LINE: Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit
SPACE: F A C E

Bass clef rhyme – line and space:

LINE: Good Burger Don’t Fall Apart
SPACE: All Cows Eat Grass

- Sound is the result of vibrations

NAME (Soft to Loud) MEANING ABBREVIATION

Pianissimo Very soft/Pp

Piano Soft/P

Mezzo Piano Medium/Moderately Soft Mp

Mezzo Forte Medium/Moderately Loud Mf

Forte Loud/F

Fortissimo Very Loud/Ff

Decrosondo Gradually Quieter

Crescendo Gradually Louder

On a standard piano, there are 88 keys, the keys have black and white notes. The
left of the 2 black keys is always C.
The four families in the orchestra:
An orchestra is a group of musicians who play together. The size of an orchestra can
vary from a small orchestra which has 15 and 40 players and a full symphony
orchestra which can have 100 people. The difference between an orchestra and a
band is that an orchestra contains four families:
- String family (guitar, violin, viola, double bass, harp, cello)
- Brass family (trumpet, trombone, tuba, french horn, cornet)
- Woodwind family (saxophone, clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon, piccolo) -
Percussion family (drum, xylophone, tambourine, marimba, snare drum,
gong, cymbal)