Lesson 2

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Time and Measure

In music some notes last longer then others. We will measure how much they last in beats. So we will say a note last 1 beat,2 beat, etc, and we use subdivisions like 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 etc, also. Now let us look at some notations:

	A whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head. Its length is typically equal to four beats in 4/4 time. Most other notes divide the whole note;
	A half note or minim is a note played for half the duration of a whole note and twice the duration of a quarter note. In time signatures with a denominator of 4, such as 4/4 or 3/4 time, the half note is two beats long.
	A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line.
	An eighth note or a quaver is a musical note played for one eighth the duration of a whole note, hence the name. Eighth notes are notated with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight note stem with one flag.
	Beams connect and emphasize quavers, for shorter note values we use several lines. For example for semiquavers we use two line and so on. A beam can connect several notes.
	A dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it. The dot adds a half as much again to the basic note's duration. If the basic note lasts 2 beats, the corresponding dotted note lasts 3 beats.

More on music notation at Modern musical symbols
To be continue ...

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Music Theory

Table of Contents.

• Introduction


• Musical Alphabet


• Time and Measure

Lesson 1

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Musical Alphabet

The musical notes describe the pitch (how high or how low the sound is) and the time measure (how long the sound is.)
They notes are named with letters from A to G or with Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si(Ti).
Try to spell all the letters. Can u do it backwards?
This below is called the C scale, because is showing notes from C to C.


So the notes are C D E F G A B C.
The grid is called the staff (staves plural) and because has the treble key(or G clef) in the beginning is called treble staff. As you can see the staff has five lines and 4 spaces between them. All of them represent notes. The lines represent the following notes: EGBDF and the spaces are: FACE. Every time you want to mark a line or a space to play you draw a small circle on it.
Let us extend the five line grid to eleven but we will not draw the middle one.


Can you name all the notes? I'll give you a hint first note from the bottom left is C.
So in the image bellow we have the treble staff which is the upper staff and the bass staff which is the bottom one. To recognize the which one is which each staff has one big symbol (clef) in the beginning. So now if you look at the picture bellow you will know that it is a bass staff and not a treble.


In the next lesson we will learn about time measure.

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Introduction

Lesson 1.>

Hi and welcome to this course of music theory.
This course is intended to explain the basics of music theory. At the end of it, you should know how to read majority of music sheets and also understand basic notion of music like scales, chords etc.
The lessons and tutorials presented here, have general character, practice is intended for piano accordion, however you can use any keyboard instrument. For other instruments you may find this information to much or too less or both.
This course is still in continuous editing. So if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know.
The lessons are intended for educational purpose, but you can use the materials however you feel like.
Ok, this being said, let's begin shall we?

Lesson 1.>