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