Music Reading 101

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 - Back to Basics: Rhythm Is Everything

Bass Clef

Bass and baritone instruments use this clef. The line between the dots is the F line. It's easy to see so you ca reorient yourself if you get lost in the clef. It's also sometimes referred to as 'F' Clef

Treble Clef

Alto and Soprano instruments use this clef. The swirl at the bottom encircles the G line. If you squint your eyes a little you can see a 'G' shape to the clef. It is also referred to as 'G' clef.

The Grand Staff

All the notes in the world fit on the grand staff. This is what Pianists and Organists read, it is the Treble and Bass clef combined in one readable source. Other combinations of clefs can be called a Grand Staff asd well, but this one is the most common.

Lines & Spaces

Acronyms help us remember names of notes. Notice the Spaces in Treble Clef spell FACE.

So FACE spells your SPACEs

The lines in the Treble Clef don't spell anything so we have to make up our own words for the acronym

Every Grouchy Bear Digs Figs

Every Good Baker Does Fudge

Bass Clef:

Spaces: All Cows Eat Grass

Lines: Great Big Dogs Frighten Alligators

Names & Locations of the Notes

If we play all the notes on the piano including the white and black keys, without missing a single key, there will be 12 "HALF STEPS" between each OCTAVE. That means there are 12 notes in between each repetition of the same note. For instance, C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B - > C (pattern starts over on the next C, but the pitches sound one octave higher)

However, we don't want to get into that yet, we're just going to focus on the white keys today. Playing the white keys from A we see a pattern. A B C D E F G - Repeat. Sharps and flats look intimidating, but music is only 7 letters of the alphabet. The very bottom note that we see in the bass clef is a C and the top note we can see is a C, count how many more C's there are between the bottom and the top. For every note on the grand staff, there is another note with the same name but either sharped or flatted. For instance, there is C# D# E# F# G# A# B# there is also Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb. Sharps raise the pitch by one half step, flats lower the pitch by one half step.

MUSIC WOULD BE NOTHING WITH OUT RHYTHM

Notes & Rests

Rhythms come from combining different "Note Values" from the table below. The Rhythms start super slow, then double in speed as we move down the rows of the chart.

How To Count All Those Notes

Quarter Notes are counted 1, 2, 3, 4

Eighth Notes add an "&" (pronounced "and") in between each number and sound twice as fast as quarter notes.

Sixteenth notes are counted 1 E & Ah (Ah is pronounced "UHH"

Watch this video and:

1.) Try to say all the rhythm's counts with the video.

2.) Try to pat the Rhythm on your leg

3.) Try to play this on your instrument

Notice in the chart below that every note value has an equal lengthed buddy called a rest. Can you imagine what a rest is? You got it, that's when the music wants us to stop playing. All music that has ever been written will have directions when to play and directions when not to play. Notice a whole rest looks like a an upside-down hat, and the half rest looks like a right side up hat. The Quarter rest is a squiggle, an eighth rest looks like a 7 and the 16th rest looks like that seven grew another head.

Stems and Flags

All the notes have a stem except whole notes. Eighth notes have 1 flag and sixteenth notes have 2 flags, each flag cuts the note value in half (or doubles the tempo). Can you guess how many flags 32nd and 64th notes have? And just like sixteenth and eighth note rests, every time we add a little flag, we double the tempo (or half the note value). Flags can go horizontally when they connect to another note (as we see in the 'Rhythm Tree Video'), but when there is not a note following a flag by itself, the flag droops down (as shown in the graphic below).

PUTTING PICHES TO THE RHYTHMS

Now we're going to hear what these rhythms sound like with some pitches on them. Sing or play your instrument along with the notes. If you play your instrument, notice how if you play the written notes on the page , they will not sound correct with the trumpet audio in the following audio examples. Play along anyway, even if it sounds wrong. Making a pitch, any pitch, with your voice or interment and playing/singing it wit the right rhythm is the point of the exercise. As you get to the faster rhythms, do your best and have fun, but we know some of those rhythms will be impossible.

Music Reading 101

Bass Clef

Treble Clef

The Grand Staff

Lines & Spaces

Names & Locations of the Notes

MUSIC WOULD BE NOTHING WITH OUT RHYTHM

Notes & Rests

How To Count All Those Notes

Stems and Flags

PUTTING PICHES TO THE RHYTHMS

Whole Note - 4 Counts

Half Note - 2 Counts

Quarter Note - 1 Count

Eighth Note - Counts 1 & 2 &

Sixteenth Note - Counts 1 E & Ah

Thirty-Second Note

Sixty-Fourth Note

Putting It All Together - A Simplified Review

A Simple Route to Complex Rhythms

CLICK HERE to Take the Quiz When You Feel Like You're Ready