Music Symbols Coursework

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Course Detail:

  Principles
  Notes
  Rests
  Duration
  Extensions
  Clefs
  Alterations
  Rhythm
  Dotted notes
  The tie

  

Principles:

Music is written and read much like any standard book.  It uses "paragraphs" that carry words on it, called "Pentagram," and makes use of letters that have specific "phonetic" like pronunciation, grammar pose, and duration called "notes."  Also, much like a book, music is read from left to right, and from top to bottom.  There are seven distinct sounded notes used in music notation, known as:

DO  RE  MI  FA  SOL  LA  SI

These seven named sounds correspond to specific sounds reproduced by a well tuned piano, or a human phonetic-like  interpretation of the sounds produced by depressed piano keys.  While there are eighty eight keys on a piano, the above seven note names repeat themselves to cover each set of eight white keys, starting from the lowest and moving up to the highest notes on the keyboard.

Pentagram:  Music is written using symbols placed upon a pentagram.  The main symbols used are:

Notes Clefs Rests Alterations

The pentagram is a ruled model consisting of five horizontal lines, parallel and equidistant from each other, and four spaces among these lines.  Pentagram lines are read from bottom to top.  Thereby, the bottom most line is considered the first line, while the top most is the fifth.  Upon this pentagram, notes, bars, clefs, rests, and all musical notation are written.

Line #:  Name:                                              Space #:  Name:
5th line (FA)  ___________________________________________
4th line (RE)  ___________________________________________  4th space  (MI)
3rd line (SI)  ___________________________________________  3rd space  (DO)
2nd line (SOL) ___________________________________________  2nd space  (LA)
1st line (MI)  ___________________________________________  1st space  (FA)

Notes:  Notes, when placed upon a line or a space, automatically inherit the name given to said line or space.  Each line and space on the pentagram represents a white key on the piano.  Therefore, each note placed on the pentagram maps directly to a specific key on the piano, as shown below:

The first "DO" on the left most part of the keyboard displayed above represents the center of the piano's keyboard.  It is called: "Central Do."  Therefore, this is only a small view of the piano's keyboard range, mainly the central region.  This region is used mostly by Sopranos and Tenors, and signifies the upper range of Alto and Bass tones.  The right most and left regions of the keyboard will be described in a further section.  As can be appreciated, the higher on the pentagram the note is placed, the further to the right of the piano the performer must play.  This is the one-to-one relationship that exists between the pentagram paragraph and the piano keyboard.  The black keys in between each white key represent "alterations" as described in the beginning of this section, and will be discussed later.  Also, notice that notes "outside" pentagram lines and spaces are possible, a topic for future discussion. 

Notes are symbols that represent both duration and sound.  Notes are composed of three main components:

  • Note, or dot

  • Stem, or the vertical "stick" attached to the note (note, Whole notes have no stems)

  • Flags, or the curved horizontal draped figures signifying duration (note, Whole, Half, and Quarter notes have no flags)

Rests are symbols that represent both duration and silence.  Much like notes, they follow a stem/flag relationship to signify duration.

Notes written outside the pentagram:  Yes, the pentagram is a convenient, yet limited paragraph system able to contain only nine out of a total fifty two piano keys.  In order to musically represent the remaining forty three notes, several methods are used

  • A secondary pentagram

  • Extension lines

  • Octave conversions

Secondary pentagram:

By adding a second pentagram, as shown above, notes to the left of -- or below -- Central Do can be achieved.  As noted in the example, Central Do is depicted twice, one on top of the other, yet it is one and the same note.  In a dual pentagram system, the writer may place Central Do along either high or low pentagrams to indicate which hand will play the note.  Normally, the top pentagram is used by the right hand, and the bottom by the left.  While Do is depicted twice above, it is a single sound even though two fingers may end up playing it.  As long as notes fall in sequence on top of one another, it indicates they are to be performed simultaneously, usually by using different fingers.

The bottom pentagram adds an additional nine notes, plus those notes that "can be written" in between the two pentagrams which can add an additional three through a system known as "extension lines," discussed later on.  The following is the naming convention for the bottom pentagram:

Line #:  Name:                                              Space #:  Name:
5th line (LA)  ___________________________________________
4th line (FA)  ___________________________________________  4th space  (SOL)
3rd line (RE)  ___________________________________________  3rd space  (MI)
2nd line (SI)  ___________________________________________  2nd space  (DO)
1st line (SOL) ___________________________________________  1st space  (LA)

Extension lines:  Coupled with extension lines, the dual pentagram system, called the Grand Staff, can accommodate all eighty eight keys on the piano.  Extension lines are temporary lines used to supplement lines and spaces not provided by the standard pentagram.  By adding extension lines, the range of the pentagrams is extended for each specific note that uses them.  For example, Central Do as depicted above uses an extension line.  We refer to the extension lines existing below and above pentagrams at all times, they just can't be seen until a note makes use of it by jumping outside of the pentagrams.  Extension lines can be used below and above the pentagram.  Central Do, from a top pentagram, uses extension lines below the pentagram.  A "LA" above the fifth top pentagram line uses extension lines above the pentagram.  Note the figure below:

In the figure above, subject (1) denotes the new, lower pentagram.  Subject (2) in three places denotes extension lines.  Note the use of extension lines in between pentagrams, as shown by subject (3), whereby "equivalent" notes are demonstrated as annotated within a pentagram, versus using extension lines for the other pentagram.  For example, above and below subject (3) is a "SI" shown above the fifth line of the bottom pentagram, also shown as a note written below an extension line under the first line for the top pentagram.  This is one and the same note, but written with or without extension lines.  In the prior example, the music writer would choose to annotate the "SI" described in either way, on the bottom pentagram or on the top one, it is the same note.  It is the scorer's choice to decide which way to write the note.  However, sometimes proximity of a hand has a lot to do with the way the note is written, indicating to the performer with which hand the note should be played.  If the same "SI" is written on the bottom pentagram, this would indicate to the performer to use the "left" hand to play the note.  The example below shows a possible scoring choice for two hands, with notes quite close to the other:

Note the last three notes to the right.  While the "SI" has to use an extension line in order to be shown, the scorer chose to draw it closer to the right hand for its use by scoring it within the top pentagram.

Octave extensions:  By placing the symbol "8va" above any note, it causes that note to be automatically raised by eight notes.  For example, Central Do with an "8va" above it, would indicate that it be played the next Do higher, or third space on the top pentagram.  By the same token, an "8va" below the note causes that note to be played lower by eight notes, or the opposite effect.

Clefs:  Clefs are depicted for the most part at the beginning of a pentagram.  These "fix" the names of the notes written upon their respective pentagrams.  The most common clefs are:

  • :  SOL Clef, used for the top pentagram.  1st line name:  MI.  On this clef, Central Do is the first extension line below its first line.  The second line, SOL, from which the clef's name is derived, crosses the middle of its lower spiral.
  • :  FA Clef, used for the bottom pentagram.  1st line name:  SOL.  On this clef, Central Do is the first extension line above its fifth line.  The fourth line, FA, from which the clef's name is derived, crosses the left dot at the end of its leftward curl.
  • :  DO Clef, used mainly for baritone conversion instruments, such as the viola.  1st line name:  FA.  On this clef, Central Do is the 3rd line.  The third line, DO, from which the clef's name is derived, crosses through its middle at the left indentation of its bracketed spiral.

Alterations:  These are symbols that modify the sound produced by defined notes on the pentagram.  These symbols are:

  • :  Sharp, raises the note's intonation by a half step
  • :  Double Sharp, raises the note's intonation by a full step
  • :  Flat, lowers the note's intonation by a half step
  • :  Double Flat, lowers the note's intonation by a full step
  • :  Natural, cancels the effect of a flat or a sharp
  • Alterations are placed "prior" to the note, or to the left of the note.  Also, to permanently assign an alteration, it is placed to the right of the clef for the note(s) it will affect.  This indicates that, any time alterations are placed by the clef, any note anywhere matching the alteration's note will receive by default that alteration.

In the example above, all SI and MI note anywhere will receive a flat by default.  That is, the first three notes will be flat.  The fourth note, a DO, will not be flat as there is no defaulted DO flat by the clef.  How alterations change notes is shown by the following example:

  • 1:  DO, no alterations
  • 2:  SI flat, alteration due to clef default setting.  The note is played on the black note just to the left of SI
  • 3:  NI flag, alteration due to clef default setting.  Note played on black note left of MI
  • 4:  FA, no alterations
  • 5:  FA sharp, alteration due to sharp setting.  Note played on black note right of FA
  • 6:  SOL, no alterations
  • 7:  SOL flat, alteration due to flat setting.  Note played on black note left of SOL
  • 8:  SOL double flat, alteration due to double flat setting.  Note played on FA to the left, the effect of two flats
  • 9:  FA double sharp, alteration due to double sharp setting.  Note played on SOL to the right, the effect of two sharps
  • 10:  FA, no alterations
  • 11:  SOL, no alterations
  • 12:  MI, no alterations

Is a DO flat possible?  Yes, it becomes SI.  By the same token, a MI sharp becomes a FA.

Rhythm:  The changing of note and rest durations to achieve syncopation, musical pace, beat, and changing tempo.  Different symbols are used to indicate the amount of time they will hold sound for, called "duration."  These are explained as follows.

Duration of notes and rests:  There are seven primary note durations, shown as follows:

Notes Rests English name Classical equivalent Relative duration
Whole Whole 4 beats

= 4 quarter notes
Half White 2 beats

= 2 quarter notes
Quarter Black 1 beat
Eighth Corshea 1/2 beat

(2) eighth notes = 1 quarter
Sixteenth Semi-corshea 1/4 beat

(4) sixteenth notes = 1 quarter
Thirty-second Fusa 1/8 beat

(8) 32nd notes = 1 quarter
Sixty-fourth Semi-fusa 1/16 beat

(16) 32nd notes = 1 quarter

When a continuous series of similar duration notes are used, the "flags" may be replaced by horizontal striped lines connecting these notes, as shown.  This is done to enhance visual recognition:

In the figure above, the first set of four flagged eighth notes (1) are equivalent in duration to the "barred" eighth notes that follow (2).  Even combinations of different notes are possible, such as measures (3) and (4).  By using different note duration symbols, diverse durations are achieved.  By placing these symbols at different locations on the pentagram, diverse sounds are achieved.

Dotted Notes:  A dot placed after a note adds that note an additional 50% of its duration value.  For example, a dotted Half note is the equivalent of a Half note plus a Quarter note.

Notes Rests Relative duration
. + +
. + +
+
+
+
+
. + smaller duration

Dotted notes can be intermixed to achieve timing objectives, as shown by the following example:

In each of the bars above, a total of four beats are accomplished.  Rhythm is affected by locating notes in different sections with varying durations.  Other beats are also possible, called triplets and quintuplets, where three or five respectively notes are played in equal duration sequence in the place of a beat or time subdivision, as shown:

Simply stated, the group of "3" notes adjoined by the first triplet indicates to count three equally paced subdivisions in a beat, while the last "5" notes indicates to subdivide five times in a single beat.

Tie:  The tie is a symbol used to connect and share the durations of two or more identically pitched notes of same of different duration.  i.e., the time value of tied notes is added together to create a new longer note.  For example, two tied Half notes creates the equivalent of a Whole note.  Three tied Quarter notes creates the equivalent of a dotted Half note.

In the example above, the two tied Half notes create a Whole note that embraces two measures.  Secondly, two tied Quarter and Half notes create a three beat time structure.  Overall, in the above example, only four sounds are made total, even though there are nine notes employed.