Musical Staff
Music is written on a staff, which is comprised of five lines and four spaces. Melodic instruments, such as piano, will have the pitches of the musical scale assigned to these lines and spaces.
Some percussion instruments, such as the snare drum, are considered unpitched (or of an indefinite pitch). This means that they are not tuned to a specific note of the scale. Instruments such as this will be assigned to the various parts of the staff.
The snare drum is written on the second space from the top. Some older literature notated the notes on this space with stems pointing down. It is now more common to write these notes with stems pointing up.
When we write music for melodic instruments, we use a clef sign that assigns a certain pitch to a line of the staff. For drums, we will use the unpitched percussion clef (or neutral clef).
Notes, Rests, Time Signatures, and Barlines
In this section, we will address the following terms:
Note – A sound played or sung by musicians
Rest – A duration of silence equal to the time of its corresponding note
Measure – A segment of music containing note or rests
Time Signature – Two numbers at the beginning of a section of music which assign values to notes and specify the length of a measure
Barlines – Vertical lines that separate measures
Quarter Notes and Rests
We will start with one of the most common note values, the quarter note. A quarter note looks like this:
Each type of note that we encounter will have a corresponding rest. A quarter rest looks like this:
Time Signatures
Before we play a piece of music, we must look at the time signature. Time signatures consist of a top and bottom number. We’ll examine the top numeral first.
The top numeral lets us know how many counts, or numbers, are in allowed in each measure. A measure is the container for the notes and rests, as specified by the time signature.
The bottom numeral indicates the type of note that will equal one full count. While a time signature is not a fraction, the bottom numeral is stated in a similar manner. For example, a “4” on the bottom will refer to quarter notes.
As we see here, we will need the equivalent of four quarter notes to fill up one measure of 4/4 time. It is important to note that time signatures with a “4” on the bottom will always indicate that quarter notes are worth one count – even if the top number changes. For example:
and
From the examples above, we again see that (although there are some similarities) time signatures are not fractions. We will explore other time signatures at a later time.
Barlines
After a measure is complete, you will see a barline. Measures are sometimes called bars, so we can see why the lines separating the measures are called barlines. We will also see a final barline at the end of the example. It is a double barline with the rightmost line being wider.
Common Time
4/4 is so commonly used that it is actually referred to as common time, with the letter “C” in place of the numerals.
