Week Two: Writing Music Basics

I.               Music Theory: Basics

a.     Vocabulary and Key Terms:

                                               i.     Time Signature – Numbers after cleft, how many and what kind

                                              ii.     Formatta – Bird’s eye, time hangs for a minute

                                            iii.     Accidentals – Sharp, flat, natural

1.     Sharp – half a step higher in pitch

2.     Flat – Half a step lower in pitch

3.     Natural – Changes back to the normal pitch

                                            iv.     Flag – Tail of an eighth note

                                              v.     Beam – Line connecting eighth notes

                                            vi.     Downbeat – Emphasized beat, where the pulse falls

                                           vii.     Anacrusis – Before the downbeat, the “pickup”

                                         viii.     Ledger line – Above or below the staff

b.     Meter

                                               i.     Common meter 4/4

                                              ii.     Baroque 3/8

                                            iii.     Waltz ¾

                                            iv.     1 cannot be a bottom number

c.      Scales

                                               i.     12 distances, 12 half steps

                                              ii.     Chromatic scale includes all the half steps

                                            iii.     Diatonic – no letter names repeated or skipped

1.     Contains five whole steps and two half steps

                                            iv.     E-F = half steps B-C = half steps

d.     Accidentals

                                               i.     Once a sharp or flat in introduced it lasts the entire measure

1.     Unless a natural counteracts it

                                              ii.     Accidentals are always before a note and always in line with them

                                            iii.     Accidentals only affect one octave

                                            iv.     Double flat – lowers a whole step

                                              v.     Double sharp – raises a whole step

e.     Notes

                                               i.     Note below midline – stem goes up

                                              ii.     Note above midline – stem goes down

                                            iii.     Half rest – located on the center line

                                            iv.     Whole rest – located on the center line

Top left-Right= FACE, FGBDF, Eighth note rest, Quarter note rest, Whole note rest, Two half note rests
Bottom left -Right= Eight eighth note rests, Four quarter note rests, ACEG, GBDF

            

Music Theory Week One: Basic Vocab and Background

Music Theory Lecture One

A. Vocabulary

           

         Sound – Vibration of an object as interpreted through the eardrum by the brain

            Pitch – Highness or lowness of a sound through the rate of vibration

            Timbre – Distinguishes one instrument from another playing the same pitch

            Beat – rhythmic pulse of music

            Rhythm- organization of music through time

            Meter – a pattern of fixed beats ad their number in a measure

            Tempo – speed of the beat

            Melody – pitches which form a recognizable unit (exists by itself)

            Harmony – two or more pitches at once (structure forms vertically)

            Staff – lines on which music notes are organized

            Ledger note – added line above or below the staff

B. Historically

           

            1. The first recording was about 125 years ago in a wax cylinder

            2. Music is a form of art “in the now”

3. Gregorian chants sang liturgical services in unison, marking on a staff where they moved up or down, creating notes.

            a. Four lines at the time, five today.

C. Learning Music

           

1.     Three kinds of music learning

a.     Rote “hand” “muscle memory”

b.     Aural “ear”

c.      Concepts “mind”

2.     The treble clef

a.     FACE

b.     EGBDF

3.     The base clef

a.     ACEG

b.     GBDFA