How to Read Music

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Musical Notation

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Notation means the way the music is written and expressed on paper. The Monks of Medieval times were the first to write down sounds and indicate their pitch by using horizontal lines. At first, a single line was used but later more lines were added so that sometimes there was a single stave of four, five, six, or even eight lines.

Eventually the five line stave was agreed to be the most useful and the easiest to read. The different notes are placed on the lines or in the spaces between them. The higher a note’s position on the stave the higher its pitch. Lines used out with the stave are known as ledger lines. To write notes higher or lower in pitch than on the stave, additional short lines (leger lines) are added above and below the stave. Guido D'Arezzo is attributed with the invention of Notation as we know it.

To name the notes, the first seven letters of the alphabet are used: A B C D E F G. After G, we begin again with A. To know the precise pitch of any note of these notes you need to look at the CLEF.

The Treble Clef is used to show the pitch of notes above Middle C. It is sometimes called the G Clef. The treble circles around the second line of the stave fixing this line as the note G. (Instruments that use this clef are usually of high pitch. E.g. Flute, Trumpet, Violin.)

The Bass Clef is used to show the pitch of notes lying below Middle C. This is sometimes called the F Clef. The two dots are placed one on each side of the fourth line of the stave fixing this line as the note F. (Instruments that use this clef are usually of low pitch. E.g. Cello, Bassoon, Tuba.)

There is a third kind of clef called the C Clef. Nowadays this clef may be positioned on the third or fourth lines of the stave. In either position, the line on which the clef now sits is fixed as Middle C.

These are important basics and you must try to learn them.

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