Above is a picture of a typical treble clef staff and scale. The red S shape is the treble clef sign. This sign is sometimes referred to as the G clef as it curls around the line that is designated as G. The five black lines make up the staff. The filled in circles are the notes and underneath them are labels (C,D,E, etc.) that are the names of the notes. They repeat in this pattern so that after the last C, a note on the line above it would be D and a note on the space above that D would be E.
The space between the notes is labeled in terms of whole steps and half steps. The easiest way to picture the difference is by looking at the keyboard of a piano. If two notes are right next to each other (not separated by either a black or white key) then they are a half step apart. If however, two notes are separated by either a black or a white key they are a whole step apart.
The treble clef scale has been placed on the above keyboard with the whole steps and half steps circled. The whole Steps are in blue and the half steps in pink. So, for a scale that is in a major key signature, the pattern is Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step.
Above is a picture of a typical bass clef staff. The backwards shaped C is the bass clef sign. It is sometimes called an F clef because the curve is on the line designated F. The five black lines are still the staff. The notes are the circles with labels under them; they are patterned in the same way as the treble clef.
There are different kinds of notes that designate how many beats each note is to be played or sung for. The length of time that a note is played or sung also depends on the time signature which will be discussed later, but for this description of notes, the time signature will always be 4/4, or Common time.
A
whole note is held for four beats.
A
dotted half note is held for three beats, and is named a dotted half note
because of the dot next to what would normally be a half note.
A half
note is held for two beats.
A
dotted quarter note is held for one and a half beats, and is named a dotted
quarter note because of the dot next to what would normally be a quarter note.
A
quarter note is held for one beat.
An
eighth note is held for half of a beat.
A
sixteenth note is held for one fourth of a beat.
A thirty second note is held for one eighth of a beat.
A sixty fourth note is held for one sixteenth of a beat.
The eighth notes, sixteenth notes, thirty second notes, and sixty fourth notes may be connected together by changing their flags to bars in the following way.
In the above discussion about notes, we said that the time signature was 4/4 (usually pronounced four four.) The first four stands for four beats in a measure, while the second four means that the quarter note gets one beat. All of the other notes are assigned beats based on the above descriptions of them. The first number can change and the quarter note will still get one beat. For example, the time signature could be 3/4 and the quarter note would get one beat with three beats in the measure. If the time signature would 5/4 then there would be five beats in a measure and the quarter note would get one beat.
Another frequently used time signature is 2/2, or cut time. The first two means that there are two beats in a measure, and the second two means that the half note gets one beat. This would mean that a quarter note gets half of a beat, and an eighth note gets one fourth of a beat and so on, with each note from the above discussion being held for the amount of time as the one below it.
Time signatures with an 8 as the second number, such as 6/8 use eighth notes as one beat. So in this case, there would be six notes in a measure with the eighth note receiving one beat. This means that all of the notes in the above discussion are worth the value of the note above them. For example, the quarter note would be worth two beats and a half note worth four beats.
A measure is contained between two bars lines and is sometimes called a bar. Barlines are used when all of the designated beats for a measure have been used. For example in a 4/4 time signature, there would be bar lines in this type of pattern:
The time signature is the 4/4 that is in red, normally it would be black. The numbers under the notes are the counts that the notes are held for. The quarter notes are each held for one beat, the eighth notes are held for half of a beat, so two of them are worth one beat. The half notes each are held for two beats, the whole note is held for all four beats.
Sharps
raise the pitch of a note by half a step.
Flats
lower the pitcher of a note by half a step.
A
natural sign is used when a note is already sharped or flatted and the composer
wants the notes within a measure not to be sharped or flatted.
Sharps and flats can either be designated for the entire piece, or they can be assigned to notes within one measure. Sharps and flats that are designated for the entire piece are written at the beginning of a song next to the time signature and are valid throughout the song. The order that sharps and flats are used is usually the same in every piece, based on the number of sharps or flats to be used. The number of sharps or flats used tells the key signature of a song. In general, a song will use either sharps or flats, but not both.
Sharps are used in the following order: F C G D A E B
Flats are used in the following order: B E A D G C B
So, if a song used D sharp, it would also include F sharp, C sharp and G sharp.
The use of sharps is related to the key signature of a piece. There are both major keys, and minor keys. The key signature identifies the tonic note of a piece. All scales in major key signatures follow the whole step, half step pattern earlier described.
Major key signatures, and the sharps, flats and tonic notes are:
