Music Theory Online

Notes and note-positions
If you look in a music book you might see something like this:

When music was first written down, in the 8th century BC, it looked something like this:



The horizontal lines are called a “stave”. There are usually five lines in a stave.

The position of the dots on the stave tell you what note they are, and whether these notes are higher or lower than other notes.



Notes are given letter names. The common letter names of notes are: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. They can be written like this:



Can you identify what notes these are?




Rhythms and Note values
A note can be played quickly, or it can be held for a long time. It has different note values.

These are common note values:


Can you fill in the examples below, with just the note “C”, so that there are 4 beats in each example?


Can you fill in the examples below, with just the note “G”, so that there are 3 beats in each example?



Each of the groups above is called a “bar”. A “bar” is a group containing a certain number of beats.

We use bar lines to divide music into bars. Divide this example into bars containing 4 beats each.



Divide this example into bars containing 3 beats each.


Divide this example into bars containing 2 beats each.


The time signature tells you how many beats there are in each bar.

4/4 tells you that there are four crotchet notes (quarter notes) in a bar.
3/4 tells you that there are three crotchet notes (quarter notes) in a bar.
2/4 tells you that there are two crotchet notes (quarter notes) in a bar.

Rests
We do not always need to write notes in bars. Sometimes we can write rests instead. When there is a rest, you do not play anything.

Rests, like notes, have different values.



Can you fill in the example below, with only one rest in each bar, so that there are 4 beats in each bar?


Can you fill in the example below, with only one rest in each bar, so that there are 3 beats in each bar?


Dotted Notes / Dotted Rests
When you add a dot to a note or a rest, you increase the note or rest by half its value.

Name
Written as
Note value (beats)
Also called
Minim
2
Half note
Dotted Minim
3 (2 beats + half of 2 beats)
Dotted half note
Minim rest
2
Half note rest
Dotted Minim rest
3 (2 beats + half of 2 beats)
Dotted half note rest
Crotchet
1
Quarter note
Dotted crotchet
1.5 (1 beats + half of 1 beat)
Dotted quarter note
Crotchet rest
1
Quarter note rest
Dotted crotchet rest
1.5 (1 beats + half of 1 beat)
Dotted Quarter note rest


Can you fill in the missing beats using the correct rests?


What is the time signature for the example above?

Tied notes
Sometimes you might want to hold a note across a bar, or for a value where there is no note for it. In this case, you use a “tie” to show this.



Notes
If you look at the keys on a piano or a keyboard, you will notice that the pattern of white and black keys repeats.



The notes A-G repeat as well.


The note C can occur in several positions. The difference between a note (e.g. E) and the next similar note (e.g. the next E) is called an octave.

Imagine members your family singing the song “Happy Birthday” to you. They will be singing the same tune, but the men will probably be singing the tune lower than the women singing it. They are singing an octave apart.

On a stave, the notes either “sit” in spaces, or lines go through them.


Can you write down the letter names of the notes above?

Clefs
On the stave above, the symbol is called the “treble” clef. One of the special notes on a stave with the treble clef is called “middle C”. “Middle C” is often used to represent the C that is closest to the middle, on a keyboard.


Middle C

The treble clef is used to represent notes that are high. Notes that are low can be represented using the bass clef. On the bass clef, middle C is written higher up, so that we can notes lower than middle C more easily.






Sharps and intervals

What about the black keys on a keyboard, in between the notes A-G?

We represent them using sharps and flats. A sharp is used to represent “higher than”; a flat is used to represent “lower than”.



A black key can have two names; for example, C-sharp and D-flat are the same note.

The difference between C and C-sharp is called a semitone. The difference between C-sharp and D, or E and F, is also a semitone. A semitone is one “step”, either from a white key to a black key, a black key to a white key, or from a white key to a white key (E to F only).

Two semitones make one tone. A “tone” is two steps. The difference between C and D, or E and F#, is a tone.



In each bar below, can you write down another note that is higher by a



Scales
A scale is a special arrangement of notes.

There are 2 main types of scales – major and minor. We will only deal with major scales in this section.

Look at the C major scale below. Pay attention to the intervals between the notes (how far apart they are).


Let us use the same spaces between notes, but start this time on G.


This gives us the G major scale. It starts on G, and uses the major scale pattern of tones and semitones.


Can you add sharps or flats to the notes below to get the major scale for D major and F major?





C major, G major, D major and F major are all “major keys”. When you say a piece of music is written in a major key, it means the music uses the notes from that major scale pattern. If you say a piece of music is in “F major”, it means it uses the notes F – G – A – B-flat – C – D and E.


When a piece of music is written in a certain key, it is sometimes easier to use a key signature. A key signature tells you which notes in the music are always sharps, or which notes in the music are always flats.


The sharp on the stave at the note F tells you all the notes written F are played F-sharp.


The sharp on the stave at the notes F and C tell you all the notes written F are played F-sharp; the notes written C are played C-sharp.


If you want to cancel out a key signature for a bar, you have to use a natural for the note. A natural is written like this:

A note (with a sharp or a flat) that has been cancelled with a natural is only cancelled for that particular bar.
In the same bar, it can be restored by using the sharp or flat the next time it occurs.
In the next bar, it is played as having a sharp or a flat.



Tempo, Dynamics, Performance, Articulation


Music can be played in different ways. Sometimes it can be played quickly, slowly, or somewhere in between.


We use words (mostly Italian) to tell us how fast or slow to play a piece of music. These are called “tempo markings” and tell us about the speed of the music. The common tempo markings are:

Lento: Slowly
Adagio: Leisurely
Moderato: Moderately fast
Allegro: Lively
Presto: Quick
Vivace: Very fast


Which tempo marking is suitable for funeral music?
Which tempo marking is suitable for dance music?

Music can also be played in different ways such as in volume. Sometimes it can be played loudly, quietly, or somewhere in between. We call these “dynamic markings” and they tell us about the volume of a piece. The common dynamic markings are:


Pianissimo (written as “pp”): Very soft
Piano (written as “p”): Soft
Mezzo piano (written as “mp”): Half soft (louder than “p”)
Mezzo forte (written as “mf”): Half loud (louder than “mp”)
Forte (written as “f”): Loud
Fortissimo (written as “ff”): Very loud


We can also play music with a light touch, or a heavy touch.
If you want to play a piece of music that is about a little girl dancing, you play with a light touch.
If you want to play a piece of music that is about an elephant dancing, you play with a heavier touch.

If a piece of music is about “raindrops”, you play with a light touch.
If it is about “thunder and lightning”, you play with a heavier touch.


These are all called “performance markings”. Common performance markings are:

Legato: Smoothly
Staccato: Detached (short)
Marcato: Marked