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Contents: Start with Staffs
and Rhythm and ScalesNote Values and Rhythm
As you have learned, the position of the note on the staff indicates a particular pitch (that is, how high or low a note sounds). Each note also has a note value, or duration, (that is, how long the note should last). The duration of a note is counted in beats. Here are the basic note shapes and their usual durations. Take the time to memorize the appearance and value of each of these notes.
Stem direction is determined by a note's placement on the staff, In either clef, notes occurring below the middle line of the staff have stems that point upward, Notes that occur on or above the middle line should have downward stems, Although this is the preferable rule regarding stem direction, some printed music features notes on the middle line with upward stems, These occur only when other notes in the same measure feature upward stems, Notes connected by a beam should always feature the same stem direction (as determined by the natural stem direction of the majority of notes in the group),
As you can see, two half-notes equal the duration of one whole-note, four quarter-notes equal the duration of one whole-note, eight eighth-notes equal the duration of one whole-note, and so on.
In order to make it easy to count the rhythm of written music, the staff is divided into sections called measures, or bars. The vertical lines that divide the staff in this way are called barlines. A double barline is used to indicate the end of a piece of music. (A lighter double barline is used to divide important sections of a piece.)
Take a look at some of the different note values in measures on the staff. Each measure in this example contains four beats. Count the beats of each measure aloud slowly and evenly while you clap the rhythm indicated by the notes.
The next example combines notes of different durations in each measure. Count the beats aloud as you clap the indicated rhythm. Again, be sure to count slowly and evenly without halting.
Reading a Song Melody: Pitch and Rhythm
Now that you are familiar with these basic note values, get ready to combine your knowledge of pitch and rhythm to read a familiar song melody, First count and clap the rhythm of "Jingle Bells," Then play the song on the piano, sing it, or use another instrument to play this melody slowly and evenly,
Rests
Music is usually composed of sounds and silences, The silent beats in music are represented by signs called rests, Rests are named and valued like the note values you learned in the previous section,
Notes and Rests
Notes and rests may be combined in the same measure, as long as their combined values add up to the correct number of beats (in this example, four beats to a mea\-sure), Count the beats of this phrase as you clap the rhythm of the notes,
Count the beats of this next phrase as you clap the rhythm of the notes, Now play (or sing and play) this melody slowly and evenly,
Pickup Notes
Certain song melodies require an incomplete first mea\-sure to provide for a pickup, which is simply a note or notes that occur before the fist stressed beat of the song, When a musical composition features a partial measure containing a pickup, it usually makes up the remaining beats of the first measure in the last measure of the piece, This means that the last measure of the piece will also be incomplete, You can see how this works in "Polly-Wolly Doodle,"
A dot placed after any note or rest means that it should last one-and-a, half times its normal duration, For ex\-ample, if you add a dot after a half note (which normally lasts two beats), you get a dotted half note, which has a duration of three beats,
Take the time to memorize the appearance and value of each dotted note and rest, Then count the beats in the next example as you dap the rhythm indicated by the notes, (Notice how the dotted eighth notes are connected by beams to the sixteenth notes in the third measure,)
You may also encounter a double dotted note in written music, Two dots indicate that the note is worth one and three-fourths of its normal value, In this way, a double dotted whole note lasts for seven beats, A double dotted half note lasts for three-and, a. half beats,
Contents: Start with Staffs
and Rhythm and Scales
