MUSICAL TERMINOLOGY

LOOK THROUGH THE DEFINITIONS BELOW: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT EACH ONE LOOKS LIKE: MAKE SURE YOU USE YOUR RHYMES TO HELP YOU REMEMBER THE NAMES OF THE NOTES IN BOTH TREBLE AND BASS CLEFS AS TAUGHT IN CLASS.

1.
Treble Clef: used to put at the beginning of each stanza to represent high pitched notes above middle C

2.
Musical Staff: used to write down music. It can be used for all pitched notes.

3.
Bar lines: used to separate the written music into equal measures or beats.

4.
Double Bar lines: used to show when a piece of music has ended.

5.
Bars: are the space between the barlines where the musical notation is written.

6.
Repeat signs: look like #4 but have two dots to the left of the lines. They are used when a stanza or stanzas of music need to be played again.

7.
Time Signature: are two numbers, one on top of the other. The top number tells you how many beats there are in each bar; the bottom number tells you what each beat represents, or what type of note each beat is.

8.
Slurred notes: are groups of different notes that, when played, are played smoothly without a gap between each sound.

9.
Tied notes: look like slurred notes but the notes are the same. This means that the second note is not played, but the first note takes on the value of the second note; e.g. If two ¼ notes are tied, then the first note is held on for 2 beats instead of being played as it is written.

10.
Staccatto: are dots underneath the notes which means you play the notes as if they were hot potatoes!

12.
Dotted notes: look like full stops after a note. They add half the value of the note they are attached to; e.g if there is a dotted ½ note, the total value would be 3 because 2 plus ½ of 2 (1) = 3, but if the dot is next to a ¼, the total value would be 1 ½ , because ½ is half of 1: 1 + ½ = 1 ½.

13.
Note values:
· Whole Notes = 4 beats
· Half notes = 2 beats
· Quarter notes = 1 beat
· Eigth notes = ½ beat

14.
Lined notes: notes that are placed ON the line on the musical staff.
Treble clef lined notes are called from bottom to top: E; G; B; D; F
Bass clef lined notes are called from bottom to top: G; B; D; F; A

15.
Space notes: notes that are placed in the space between each line on the musical staff.
Treble clef space notes spell from bottom to top: F A C E
Bass clef space notes are called from bottom to top: A C E G