Learn Music: Music Theory

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Summary

Beginning-to-intermediate music learning is explained in this section. Music learning, commonly referred to as music theory, is actually more than a theory, because it can be scientifically demonstrated, is the technical foundation and explanation of all the elements of musical sounds and music, that provide a basis for understanding, predicting and communicating organized sound (music) to others. Music theory is a very broad topic, for which some musicians study academically, as a very fulfilling end in itself. Music theory can also be used as a tool by musicians to improve their instrument playing skills (and singing skills), with music theory being a means to an end rather than an end in itself. To the beginner, the term “music theory” may sound intimidating or boring. But very often, as a musician’s instrument playing skills and sight reading skills improve with time, study and practice, the musician is intrigued and drawn to learning more and more about music theory.

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Musical Notation

Musical sounds have three distinct characteristics: (1) Pitch, (2) Volume, and (3) Tambre. Music notation is used to describe the pitch of the note and the length of time for which the note is played.

The purpose of musical notation is provide a form of written communication used by the musical composer, to convey the intended piece of music to the musician and allow ther musician to play the music as it was intended by the composer.

Musical notes are designated on a written sheet of music by the use of oval-shaped characters that are placed in specific locations on a staff of music to define the pitch of the note and the duration of time that the note is played.

The pitch of the note refers to the how high or low the note sounds. The higher the pitch, the higher the note sounds. The pitch is created and determined by the number of vibrations per second that are used to produce the note. For all instruments to be able to play together in tune with each other, an international pitch of 440 “A” was adopted. International pitch 440 “A” refers to the letter name of the note “A” and the 440 refers to the frequency of the note being produced by a frequency of 440 cycles per second (or 440 hertz).

The higher up on the staff (towards the top of the sheet of music) that a note is located, the higher the pitch of the note is.

There is a musical staff for the treble clef and a musical staff for the bass clef.

The treble clef staff and the bass clef staff each consist of five horizontal lines placed parallel to each other on a sheet of music, forming a location to place notes on the five lines of the staff and four spaces (between the lines) of the staff.

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Figure 1: Guitar music is written in the treble clef. The treble clef symbol is shown at the left hand side of the staff. The names of the notes on the lines are shown in this figure.
guitarmore-theory-music-notation-figure-1med

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Figure 2: The names of the notes on the spaces of the staff are shown in this figure.

guitarmore-theory-music-notation-figure-2small

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The treble clef is used to display notes of pitches that occur within the treble (higher notes) musical range. Musicians playing instruments that have a playing range in the treble clef, play from music written in the treble clef. Musicians playing instruments having a playing range of the lower notes (bass notes) play from music written in the bass clef. Certain instruments, such as the piano, are played using both the treble clef and the bass clef notes. Written music for these types of instruments are written using two staffs joined together with full height bars, the top staff showing the treble clef notes and the lower staff showing the bass clef notes.

Musical score as shown in figure 3 below consist of the treble clef staff and the bass clef staff tied together with a vertical line connecting the two staffs that is called a brace.

Figure 3: Piano score showing the tied treble and bass cleff staffs:

guitarmore-cropped-scan-bass-treble-clef-3-22-091
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Time Signatures

Time signatures are used to define the number of beats in each bar of music and the type of note that is assigned the time value of one beat.

The time signature consists of two numbers, one located directly above the other, and is located after the key signature at the left hand side of the staff, on the first line of the music. In the key of “C”, the time signature will appear to be located directly after the treble clef (and bass clef), because there are no sharps or flats in the key of “C” and therefore the key signature is blank.

The time signature appears only at the beginning of the musical composition, unless the time signature changes during the composition, in which case the new time signature is shown in the music where the time signature changes. The time signature can change as many times throughout a musical composition as needed for the composer to convey the intended “sound” and “feel” of the music.

Tempo: Generally, the duration of time for each measure is a constant and is defined by the tempo of the music. The tempo describes how fast or slow the music is played in terms of the number of beats per minute. For example, if a song written in four four time is noted to be played at a templo of 60 beats per minute, each quarter note is played for a duration of one second. Some music specifies a tempo; and it will appear at the beginning of the composition with a quarter note and an equal sign followed by the number of beats per minute. (Or, it may appear as another type of note other than a quarter note, followed by an equal sign and the number of beats per minute). When the tempo is not specified, the tempo is determined by the playing musician, or by the director who is directing the composition, in a manner that feels artistically appropriate for the musical composiiton.

Tempos can vary throughout a musical composition. Tempos can be written (or directed) to speed up, which is noted as accelerando, or to slow down, which is written as ritard. When the music is noted with an accelerando or a ritard, the musician or director artistically determines how much the tempo of the composition slows down or speeds up.

Common time signatures:

The most common time signature is 4/4 and is some times referred to as “common time”, with the key signature shown with a large “C” instead of the two numbers normally shown for time signatures.

Cut time is 2/2 time, normally shown with a time signature consiting of a capital “C” with a vertical line through the letter.

There are many different time signatures. Each different time signature has a distinctive time frame to it that creates a desired “feel” or “sound” to the musical composition. For example, below are some common styles of music listed with their commonly used time signatures. These examples are only generalized for illustration purposes, because the composer uses time signatures creativity and a unique style of writing to create music regardless of the type of music.

Style of music Commonly used time signature

Rock 4/4

Waltzes 3/4

Jazz 3/4, 4/4, cut time

Celtic 6/8, cut time

Bluegrass 2/4

Blues 4/4

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Time Value of Notes

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Time value of notes is discussed in this section:

The following figures illustrate the different time values of the notes for several common time signatures, that is, the duration for which each note is played. The numbers below the staffs indicate the note’s duration (how to count out the notes) when playing the music.

4/4 Time:

In four four time, also known as common time, there are four beats in a measure and a quarter note receives the count of one beat.

Note type: Whole Half Quarter Eighth Triplets

4-4-time

Sixteenth Notes

2/4 Time:

In two four time, there are two beats in a measure and a quarter note receives the count of one beat.

Note type:

Half Quarter Eighth Triplets Sixteenth

counting-notes-in-2-4-time2

3/4 Time:

In three four time, there are three beats in a measure and a quarter note receives the count of one beat.

Note type:

Dotted Half Quarter Eighth Triplets Sixteenth

counting-notes-in-3-4-time1

Cut time (2/2):

In two two time (cut time), there are two beats in a measure and a half note receives the count of one beat.

Note type:

Half Quarter Triplets Eighths

counting-notes-in-cut-time

6/8 time:

In six eight time, there are six beats in a measure and an eighth note receives the count of one beat.

Note type:

Dotted half Dotted quarter Eighth Quarters, eighths and dotted quarter

counting-notes-in-6-8-time
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The Octave

The musical interval defined between the first note and the last note of an eight note major scale defines one octave. A major scale consists of eight notes, beginning with the first note in the scale, the tonic note of the scale, and ends with the same tonic note that is eight notes higher in pitch than the beginning note. For example, in the key of C, the major scale begins on the note C and ends on the note C which is one octave higher in pitch than the C note at the beginning (lowest) pitch in the scale.
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Ledger Lines

Ledger lines are the short horizontal lines that are located above and below the five lines of the music staff. Ledger lines are used for both staffs (the treble clef and the bas clef staffs). Ledger lines are used for placing music notes on the musical score when the note occurs above or below the range of notes defined by the five lines of the staff. See the figure below for an example of ledger lines.

Notes and ledger lines above the treble clef: ledger-lines-and-notes-above-the-treble-clef

Notes and ledger lines below the treble clef:

ledger-lines-and-notes-below-the-treble-clef

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Sharps and Flats

Learning to play the guitar in all the commonly used musical keys will make you a more versatile guitar player. It will be easier for you to sit in sessions with other players who are sight reading written musical compositions. Learning the different music key signatures will also be beneficial to you in writing your own music.

This page to be updated soon. Check back soon to view the on line video and added written text lesson.

In Lesson 12, you will learn two ways to learn and remember the different key signatures in music. Method one is to memorize two short acronyms. Method two is by constructing different key signature scales using tetrachords from the scales in other keys. Method two sounds complicated, but it is easy to learn and will give you a firm foundation of understanding of 1)what are the different key signatures and 2) why are there different key signatures?

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The C Major Scale:

c-scale-with-lower-and-upper-tetrachords1
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The G Major Scale:

The major scale shown in figure 2 is shown divided into two halves, each with the same pattern of intervals: Tone-Tone-Semitone. Each half of the scale is called a tetrachord. The two tetrachords are joined by an interval of a tone. We will discuss how these tetrachords can be located in front of or behind other adjacent tetrachords in order to form the different key signatures in modern music.

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How to learn the key signatures if you do not want to learn any music theory about it:

1. There are twelve keys in music, one key for each note of the chromatic scale. So there are twelve key signatures, one for each different key.

2. Key signatures are shown by the use of sharps or flats. (Or no sharps or flats to show the key of “C”).

3. For sharps, memorize this acronym: G D A E B. These are the keys in the order of the number of sharps in their key signature. (G = 1 sharp, D = 2 sharps, A = 3 sharps, E = 4 sharps, B = 5 sharps).

4. For flats, memorize the acronym: F B E A D G. These are the letter names of the keys in the order of the number of flats in their key signature. I omitted the “flat” symbol after the letters BEAD and G, so it is easier for you to see the acronym, but those keys are referred to as F, B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat and G flat. (F = 1 flat, B flat = 2 flats, E flat = 3 flats, A flat = 4 flats, D flat = 5 flats and G flat = 6 flats.

Being able to identify the key signatures on a piece of written music will help you to be able to know what chords and notes to play with that music.

Watch for the video coming soon that explains the music theory of how the tetrachords are used to build the 12 different music keys.

The F Major Scale: