Clefs

There are 2 basic kinds of clefs. The clef you will see on your music depends on what instrument you play.
Treble Clef Bass Clef

You might wonder why there are 2 different clefs. The reason is that most instruments using the bass clef usually have a lower pitch (sound) and regulary play low notes. If they were to use the treble clef the notes would appear so far below the staff it would be hard to read. Here are the the names of the notes for both clefs. Although you only really need to know 1 or the other, it is good practice to know both. The treble clef:

The bass clef:

Time Signatures
Time signatures tell you how many and what kind of notes per measure there are. The number on top is the number of notes per measure, and the bottom number is what kind of note. Let us explain further. Let us take for example the most popular time signature, 4/4. This means there is 4 quarter notes per measure. How is this so? Looking at 4/4, you saw the 4 on top. You already knew that meant there were 4 somethings per measure. Then looking at the bottom number probably confused you. The bottom number can be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc. Look at this chart.
Bottom Number 1 2 4 8 16 Value Whole note Half note Quarter note Eighth note Sixteenth note

For example: 3/4 is 3 quarter notes per measure. 5/2 is 5 half notes per measure. 6/8 is 6 eighth notes per measure. There are also 2 other common things you might see where the time signature should be.
Common Time Same as 4/4 time Cut Time Same as 4/4 but everything is cut in half. Example: a half note = 1 quarter note, a whole note = 1 half note.

Types of Notes:
1 of the most important parts of music is learning the types and values of notes. Here you will gain some understanding of how the notes look and sound. The icon means you can listen to it. All of the music samples are recorded at the same speed and are just 1 measure. The whole note: Looks like: an egg on its side, either with a line through it or not. The half note: Looks like:

the same as a whole not but with a vertical line attached to it. The quarter note: Looks like:

the same as a half note except the circle is filled in. The eighth note:

Looks like:

the same as quarter notes but with a curly off the line. They can also be put in groups of 4, 3, or 2. The sixteenth note: Looks like:

the same as an eighth note but has double curlies. Can also be grouped in 4, 3 or 2 but are joined by a double line.

Types of Rests:
For each type of note you learned beforehand there is a corresponding rest. The whole rest: Looks like:

a dark rectangle attached to a bar line, facing downwards. (1 shown) The half rest: Looks like:

a dark rectangle attached to a bar line, facing upwards. (2 shown) The quarter rest: Looks like:

a squiggly line. (4 shown) The eighth rest: Looks like:

a slanted line with a dot. (8 shown) The sixteenth rest: Looks like:

a slanted line with a double dot. (16 shown)

Basic Counting:
One of the most obvious questions is how musicians know when to play. Well, its easy.. they learn to count the beats. First let us present you with this. 1 whole note = 2 half notes = 4 quarter notes = 8 eighth notes = 16 sixteenth notes. Keep that in mind while looking at these examples. Lets start with this example.

First off, looking at the time signature you know that there are 4 quarter notes per measure. In the first measure the whole note gets all the beats (1, 2, 3 and 4) because 1 whole note = 4 quarter notes, and there are a total of 4 quarter notes per measure. In the second example, each half note gets 2 beats because 2 quarter notes = 1 half note. In the third example, each quarter note gets its own beat because there are 4 quarter notes per measure (time sig). Let's intermingle the 2 quarter notes and a half note.

The half note get the first 2 beats, and each quarter its own beat. This makes sense because the 4/4 time signature means there is 4 quarter notes per measure. 2 quarter notes + 1 half note (which is really 2 quarters) = 4 quarter notes, the total number of quarter notes for that measure (time sig). Lets add in the eighth notes.

In this example there is something new. The + sign. It just means "and". If you said 1 + 2 + ... out loud it would sound like this. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and Each eight note is 1/2 of a quarter note, therefore it takes 2 eighth notes to equal 1 quarter note. Think of it like this: the 1 and the "and" are both half of one quarter note and together they form 1 quarter note and from the time sig we know there are 4 quarters per measure. This may seem a little confusing now, but all of the sudden it will click. You will hit yourself in the head and wonder how you never understood it. After you understand this, go on to the counting basics 2 page. ;-)

Basic Counting, Part 2:

Let's introduce a mixed example.

The quarter note is obviously beat 1 because from the time sig you know there are 4 quarter notes per measure. You also already know one half note = 2 quarter notes therefore the half note must be beats 2 and 3. Finally, you know that two eighth notes = 1 quarter note so they must be the "4 +".

When many different kinds of notes are intermingled, it starts to become tricky to count. Musicians will sometimes subdivide the notes so the counting flows more easily. Let's use the above example, but this time sub divide it.

Here every note in the measure is subdivided into 8th notes thus making it a lot more "fluid" to count. Its pretty easy to understand too... one quarter note is two 8th notes, so it gets "1 +". The half note is really four eighth notes so it get "2 + 3 +". And the each 8th note get a half so one is "4" and the other is the "and" of 4.

Here would also be a good place to throw in a few examples with rests. These will just show the counting and will not explain them. Just think of the rests in terms of their corresponding notes and you'll have no problem!

Counting the 16th note.

Basically counting 16th notes is similiar to 8th notes except that you need to add more things to count with. I was taught using "e" and "a", but feel free to use what you want. Each part, the "1", "e", "+", "a" are all 1/4 of 1 quarter note. Together they add up to 1 beat according to the time sig. (4 sixteenths = 1 quarter) Different time sigs and different notes. Here you are.. the top of the note hill. Just look at these and the counting section is over!

Remember.. from this time sig you are counting the 8th notes.

Remember you are counting half notes, and therefore you have to subdivide the eighth notes and quarter notes accordingly.

Other symbols
This page contains some of the symbols you might come across while reading music.
Play the note 1/2 step up (Sharp) Play the note 1/2 step down (Flat) Play the note normally; pay no attention to the key signature The above 3 symbols can also appear at the beginning of each line of music affecting the whole line. Also, if they are included in an individual measure, they override each other and carry through ties or slurs. Compressed Rests. The number on top specifies how many measures of rest. Fermata. Hold the note until cut off. Repeat. Play through normally until 2nd symbol, then go back to 1st symbol and play again, this time ignoring 2nd symbol. Begin and End. Marks the beginning and ending of a piece.

Tie. Make each note flow into the next. (Do not break them up)

Shaping and Volume of Music

For music to have some real feeling and expression it must be shaped.
Volume of notes f ff fff p mp mf pp cresc Loud Loud Loud As loud as possible Quiet Medium Quiet Medium Loud Quiet Quiet Louder

Stuff that affects notes sfz tr vibrato legato Stuff that affects the speed of note poco. accel. rit. dim. soli solo Gradually Faster Slower Diminish Shared solo in section 1 person solo (wow) Hit note then back way off and build back up Trill Add waves to sound Smooth

Examining Rests in Musical Notation A musical rest is simply a pause in which you play nothing. You'll see rests all over your sheet music; it's inevitable. The beat goes on remember it's a constant pulse but you pause. This pause can be as short as the length of one sixteenth note or as long as several measures. However, a rest is usually not long enough to order a pizza or do anything else very useful. During a rest, you should get your fingers and hands ready to play the next set of notes. Don't put your hands in your lap or your pockets. Keep them on the keys, ready to play whatever may follow. For every note length, a corresponding rest exists. And, as you may guess, for every rest there is a corresponding symbol. Here they are for the taking. Whole and half rests: Hold on to your hat When you see a whole note F, you play F and hold it for four beats. For a half note, you play and hold the note for two beats. A whole rest and half rest ask you to pause, not play anything, for the corresponding number of beats. Figure 1 shows both the whole and half rests. They look like little hats, one "on" and one "off." This hat analogy, and the rules of etiquette, make for a good way to remember these rests:

If you rest for only half of the measure (two beats), the hat stays on. If you rest for the entire measure (four beats), take off your hat and stay for a while.

Figure 1: Wearing more than one hat. These hats, er, rests always hang in the same positions on both staves, making it easy for you to spot them in the music. A half rest sits on the middle line, while a whole rest hangs from the fourth line up, shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Hanging your hat. To see whole and half rests in action, take a peek at Figure 3. In the first measure of Figure 3, you play the two A quarter notes, and then the half rest tells you not to play anything for the next two beats. In the next measure, the whole rest tells you that you're off duty you rest for four beats. In the third measure, you put down your donut and play two G quarter notes, two beats of rest, and finally, the whole show ends in the next measure with a whole note A.

Figure 3: Rocking and resting. Quarter rests and more Composers also use rests to tell you to stop playing for the equivalent of quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. Figure 4 shows you the musical squigglies that correspond to each of these resting periods.

Figure 4: Quarter, eighth, and sixteenth rests. Think of the quarter rest as an uncomfortable-looking chair. Because it's uncomfortable, you won't rest too long. In fact, you don't rest any longer than one beat in this chair. The eighth rest and sixteenth rest are easy to recognize: They have the same number of "flags" although slightly different in fashion as their note counterparts. An eighth note and eighth rest each have one flag. Sixteenth notes and rests have two flags. Quarter rests are easy to count they last only one beat. Eighth rests are a bit harder to count simply because they happen faster. When you play eighth rests, count out loud "1-and, 2-and," and so on. Doing so helps you place the eighth rests more precisely, and may even cause others to sing along. Figure 5 gives you a chance to count out some quarter and eighth rests.

Figure 5: Counting smaller rests. Sixteenth notes also have a corresponding rest, but these are very tricky to play, except at very slowtempos. Until you get into more advanced music, you really don't need to know much more about these rests than what they look like (refer to Figure 4).