Download - Music Twilight – 17/6/14 Notation and Theory for Beginners Kelly Humphrey – Senior CAL Leader (UCAS)
Music Twilight – 17/6/14
Notation and Theory for Beginners
Kelly Humphrey – Senior CAL Leader (UCAS)
Elements of music... The essentials for listening!
DYNAMICS How loud/quiet the music is
TEMPO How quick/fast the music is
TEXTURE How many sounds are being played/sung
TIMBRE The quality of the sound (soft/harsh etc)
PITCH How high or low the sounds are
INSTRUMENTATION The instruments that are being played
STRUCTURE How the music is organised
*Short listening exercise – listen to an extract of classical music and popular music and analyse as a group.
Dynamics
p Piano = quiet
pp Pianissimo = very quiet
mp Mezzopiano = medium quiet
f Forte = loud
ff Fortissimo = very loud
mf Mezzoforte = medium quiet
Dynamics describe the volume of a piece of music. In music notation they are written like this;
DynamicsWhen sounds gradually get louder this is called;
< CRESCENDO = GRADUALLY GETTING LOUDER> DIMINUENDO = GRADUALLY GETTING QUIETER
*Listen to ‘Atmosphere’ from Music Express year 5
Notes… from the beginningNotation is written to recognise both the rhythm and pitch of the music. The picture below shows the rhythmic values of
each note;
Notes can also be ‘dotted’. This is then worked out by adding half of its value on to the original note e.g. a dotted crotched becomes 1.5 beats and a dotted minim becomes 3 beats.
Note ValuesSee below – these notes written on the stave… try clapping
them!
TIP – Try using words with the children to demonstrate these rhthmns…. EGG, BAKED BEANS, CORNFLAKES, SAUSAGES etc.
Note Values… Example
Time SignaturesA time signature is written at the start of each piece of music to indicate how many beats there are in each bar. For example, if
the music had a 4/4 at the beginning this would indicate 4 beats in a bar.
Some examples of common time signatures……….
PitchPitch is how HIGH or LOW a particular sound is. This is then
notated on the stave (the lines on the music) to identify which notes are being played. See below the C MAJOR scale and
where these notes are on a keyboard;
PitchA good way to remember where the notes sit on the stave is by using the following rhymes. These will then allow you to work out where the other notes go!
Remember……. The symbol at the start of the piece is called a TREBLE CLEF and the lines that divide up the different sections are called BARS.
Pitch… ExampleOn the xylophones, lets work out the notes to Twinkle Twinkle – remember to work out and write the notes underneath if you need to!
Pitch… ExampleBlack notes on the keyboard are known as ‘sharps’ and ‘flats’. If they are to the right of the white note they are higher in pitch (# = sharp) and if they are to the left of the white note they are lower in pitch (b = flat). On the stave, these notes are ALWAYS placed before the note!EXAMPLE…….. C# (C sharp) would be the black note to the right of the note C.
Other notation bits!
Rests
Repeats
Clefs
Tempo… descriptions!In written scores, tempo markings are used to
advise instrumentalists/singers how quick/slow they should approach playing the piece. These
definitions are below……….
Tempo… descriptions!…However, with children… these words would be
better to start with!
TextureTexture describes the layers of the music and how many parts occur at one time. Below is a table of textures and
their definitions;
Monophonic Music that has just one part
Homophonic Music played in blocked chords
Polyphonic Music that has many parts that weave
Call and Response When one part plays and another answers
Unison All parts play together
Melody and Accompaniment The melody is played by one instrument/voice which another is accompanying
