Learning the Basic Symbols
Music is made up of a variety of symbols, the most basic of which are the staff, the clefs and the notes. All music contains these fundamental components, and in order to learn how to read music, you must first familiarize yourself with these basics.
Staff
The staff consists of five lines and four spaces. Each of those lines and each of those spaces represents a different letter, which represents a note. Those lines and spaces represent notes named A-G, and the note sequence moves alphabetically up the staff.
Treble Clef
There are two main clefs. The first is the treble clef, sometimes called the G clef, as it loops around the G line. The treble clef has the "fancy" letter G on the far left side. The treble clef is the higher staff of music, so if your instrument is in a higher pitch, you will be reading in this clef.
Instruments: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, French Horn, Trumpet
How to remember these note names?
For lines, E G B D F, “Every Good Boy Does Fine.”
For spaces, F A C E is just like the word “face,” so I like to remember FACE -- SPACE.
Instruments: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, French Horn, Trumpet
How to remember these note names?
For lines, E G B D F, “Every Good Boy Does Fine.”
For spaces, F A C E is just like the word “face,” so I like to remember FACE -- SPACE.
Bass Clef
The second main clef is the bass clef. Some also call it the F clef, as the bass clef loops around the F line. The bass clef is the lower staff of music, so if your instrument is in a lower pitch, you will be reading this clef.
Instruments: Baritone, Trombone, Tuba, Bassoon
How to remember these note names?
For lines, G B D F A, “Good Boys Do Fine Always.”
For the spaces, A C E G, “All Cows Eat Grass.”
Instruments: Baritone, Trombone, Tuba, Bassoon
How to remember these note names?
For lines, G B D F A, “Good Boys Do Fine Always.”
For the spaces, A C E G, “All Cows Eat Grass.”
Notes: Parts
Notes placed on the staff tell us which note letter to play on our instrument and how long to play it. There are three parts of each note, the note head, the stem and the flag.
While I am demonstrating with a treble clef, the same rules apply to the bass clef.
While I am demonstrating with a treble clef, the same rules apply to the bass clef.
Note Heads
Every note has a note head, either filled (black) or open (white). Where the note head sits on the staff (either on a line or a space) determines which note you will play. *Sometimes note heads will sit above or below the five lines and four spaces of a staff. In that case, a line is drawn through the note, above the note, or below the note head, to indicate the note letter to play, just like B and C in the picture.
*Attention! Everyone will run into these notes at some point, especially FLUTE AND OTHER HIGHER REGISTER INSTRUMENTS, so don't get caught off guard!
*Attention! Everyone will run into these notes at some point, especially FLUTE AND OTHER HIGHER REGISTER INSTRUMENTS, so don't get caught off guard!
Stems
The note stem is a line that extends either up or down from the note head. The line extends from the right if going up or from the left if going down. Stems do not affect how you play a note, but is a way to make the notes easier to read, and allows them to fit neatly on the staff.
Flags
The note flag is a curvy mark to the right of the note stem. Its purpose is to tell you how long to hold a note.
We’ll see below how a single flag shortens the note’s duration, while multiple flags can make it shorter still.
We’ll see below how a single flag shortens the note’s duration, while multiple flags can make it shorter still.
Notes: Values
Now that you know the parts to each note, we’ll take a closer look at those filled and open note heads we talked about. Whether a note head is filled or open shows us the note’s value, or how long that note should be held.
Quarter Notes, Half Notes, and Whole Notes
Let's start with the basics:
--A closed note head with a stem is a quarter note, and it gets one beat.
--An open note head with a stem is a half note, and it gets two beats.
--An open note that looks like an “o” without a stem is a whole note, and it gets held for four beats. (an easy way to remember: a hole is the whole note)
As you can see, in the picture above, these notes are all equivalent to each other. Four quarter notes can equal two half notes, which equal one whole note, which equals four quarter notes as well.
--A closed note head with a stem is a quarter note, and it gets one beat.
--An open note head with a stem is a half note, and it gets two beats.
--An open note that looks like an “o” without a stem is a whole note, and it gets held for four beats. (an easy way to remember: a hole is the whole note)
As you can see, in the picture above, these notes are all equivalent to each other. Four quarter notes can equal two half notes, which equal one whole note, which equals four quarter notes as well.
Dots and Ties
There are other ways to extend the length of a note. A dot after the note head, for example, adds another half of that note’s value to it. So, a half note with a dot would equal a half note and a quarter note. A quarter note with a dot equals a quarter plus an eighth note. A tie may also be used to extend a note. Two notes tied together should be held as long as the value of both of those notes together, and ties are commonly used to signify held notes that cross measures or bars.
Eighth Notes, Sixteenth Notes, and Other Flagged Notes
We can shorten the amount of time a note should be held, relative to the quarter note. Faster notes are signified with either flags, like the ones discussed above, or with beams between the notes. Each flag halves the value of a note, so one flag signifies 1/2 of a quarter note. This note is called an eighth note. Two flags halves that to 1/4 of a quarter note. This note is called a sixteenth note. This pattern does continue on forever, producing thirty-second notes and even sixty-fourth notes. But these are extremely rare, and the shortest note you'll play in your first year of band will just be eighth notes.
Beams follow the same rules. They are simply multiple flagged notes with their flags connected to each other, allowing us to read the music more clearly and keep the notation less cluttered. As you can see, there’s no difference in how you count the eighth and 16th notes above. |
Rests
But what happens when there isn’t a note taking up each beat? It’s easy, we take a rest! A rest, just like a note, it shows us how long it should be held based on its shape.
How to remember these?
--A whole rest is the upside down hat.
--A half rest is a hat. Half rhymes with hat.
--Eighth rest and onward use the same concept as flags. The shorter the rest, the more of the little flag-like commas.
--A whole rest is the upside down hat.
--A half rest is a hat. Half rhymes with hat.
--Eighth rest and onward use the same concept as flags. The shorter the rest, the more of the little flag-like commas.
You are ready to move on to step two: Keeping the Beat! Either click the button below, or scroll up to Reading Music and select Keeping the Beat in the drop down menu.