LESSON 1

Each note has a corresponding rest and number of

- It is a system used in writing and reading music. beats.
PERIOD How it music was written?
OTHER MUSICAL SYMBOLS USED IN NOTATION
Ancient – 4000 years ago Written by carving on clay tablets
Modern – 2000 years later Written using ink and parchment paper
Today Music sheets are printed using computers
It is used to tell notes that should be written on the staff.
MUSICAL SYMBOLS make up a music composition.
- Divides rhythmic patterns into measures. It separates the notes and
ELEMENTS OF NOTATION rests into measures.
1. NOTES – indicate sound in music and has a HOOK
- Symbols that by its shape and position on the
staff shows pitch of a tone and the length of
time it is to be held.
2. REST – represents silence and has a FLAG Uses of Time Signature:
- Symbols that stands for a certain period of - Used to be able to understand how beats are
silence in a measure grouped together
- Used to understand the flow of patterns and
notes will proceed.
Number above- tells number of beats in a measure
Number below- tells what note receives one beat
 LESSON 2:
RHYTHM
 is the life in music
 contains notes and silences that are arranged
according to beat or pulse of the music.
 is music’s pattern in time
 is the key element of music
2/4-time signature – each measure will have 2 equal  It can exist without melody (drumbeats of the
beats and a quarter note receives one beat. primitive)
3/4-time signature – each measure will have 3 equal  it can be strong or weak
beats and a quarter note receives one beat.
RHYTHMIC PATTERNS
4/4-time signature – each measure will have 4 equal
 it is the value of notes and rests when combined
beats and a quarter note receives one beat
 gives music order and movement
How are music symbols used in notation?  is anything that has some kind of pulse that can
- Notes and rests can be combined to make be repeated
rhythmic patterns.
- Whole note is the base note which is the basis of BEAT or PULSES
all other notes.  It is one of the music elements of rhythm and
serves as the timekeeper of music.
 It is moving.
 It is the pulse that is heard throughout a song or
dance.
 When we listen to music, we feel the pulse and
move with it.
 Humans respond to music by tapping our feet on
the ground, tapping the table with our pen or just
moving our head to it.
  It has strong and weak beats.
KINDS of BEAT LESSON 3: MELODY and SHAPES IN MUSIC
1. ACCENTED Beat – strong or loud beat MELODY – is a sweet succession of single tones in
Symbol used is > and may be written above or relation to a given key.
below, depending on the position of the note. - It is the tuneful part of a song which can be
2. UNACCENTED Beat – weak or soft beat remembered because it is the distinguishing quality
in a piece.
METER - It is made up of high and low sounds.
 is the grouping of steady beats - It is a group of pitches or tones that are written and
 comes from the Greek word METRON which heard one after the other.
means to measure - We produce melody when we sing.
 It is the grouping of notes and the way they are - We can produce melody when we play a musical
instrument.
grouped in repeating patterns.
- Melody has rhythm, pitch and duration
 May contain two, three and four beats in a
Different movement in melody:
measure.
1. Ascending stepwise – going up one step at a time
2. Descending stepwise – going down one step at a
KINDS OF METER
time
1. DUPLE METER – there are 2 beats in a measure.
3. Ascending skipwise – going up skipping one line
2. TRIPLE METER – there are 3 beats in a measure. 4. Descending skipwise – going down skipping one line
3. QUADRUPLE METER – there are 4 beats in a 5. No movement – repeated tones or repeated notes
measure. stay on the same space of line of the staff.
ascending stepwise descending stepwise

ascending skipwise descending skipwise

 Ending Melodic Contour serves as the closing melody.
no movement When you hear it, you know that the song has come
to an end.

A sudden change in melodic contour in the middle of

the song can signal the change from verse to chorus.
 Tones moving stepwise follow the movement in
the staff as line, space or space, line. Hand Movement is a good and easy way to respond
 Tones moving skipwise follow a movement of to melodic contours.
skipping a line or space.
Through hand movements, movement of the melody
can be demonstrated.
MELODIC CONTOUR
- It is the direction or shape of melody.
- It is made by the way the tones move upward,
downward, in steps or skips and when tones
repeat.
- Purpose of melodic Contour:
o It makes songs more beautiful and interesting
to hear.
o Helps a music composition to tell a story,
whether the music has lyrics or not.

Beginning Melodic Contour serves as the introduction

with simple melody. When you hear it you know
there should be more melodies to come next.
LESSON 4: PITCH NAMES ARE WONDERFUL

 Music uses the letters of the English alphabet.

 Music alphabet, Pitch Names or Letter Names
- These are the first seven letters of the Every Good Boy Does Fine
alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)  Notes may NOT only be written inside the staff.
- They are used to name the notes as they They may also be written beyond the staff.
appear on the staff.  Ledger line is the small lines that serves as an
 G Clef or Treble Clef has the following notes, E, F, extension of notes written outside the staff.
G, A, B, C, D, E and F. - It is used to continue the line space patterns of
 Below are the pitch names of the notes on the lines the staff when notes are written above or
and spaces. below the staff.
 Notes in the Grand Staff below are shown with
their sol-fa syllable names.

 Pitch names and treble cleft notes can be

remembered by using special words or mnemonics
that match those that must be remembered.

 The notes on base and treble clefs show a complete

picture of how the pitches or notes are arranged in
 their chronological order as you go up and down
the grand staff and the piano keyboard.

LESSON 5: MOVE UP AND MOVE DOWN IN MUSIC

C MAJOR SCALE
SCALE - It is considered the most commonly used scale in
- It is a series of ascending and descending notes in music.
the order of their pitch. - Scale starts on C and ends with C. It has no flats
- It is an arrangement of tones of different pitches or shapes.
and durations. - It consists of 8 notes:
- Notes may move up or down by steps according to o 7 pitches - C, D, E, F, G, A, B
a specific pattern of intervals. o C – higher and lower C
- SCALE come from the Italian word scala which - The pitches can move in an inward (ascending)
means “a ladder or stairs.” and downward (descending) pattern.
- It is similar to a ladder or stairs because it goes up - Each pitch name can be sung using the sol-fa
or down by step. syllables.
- Songs or music we perform are built on a particular
C Major Scale ASCENDING (Treble Clef)
scale.
- They come from the notes that below to a specific
scale pattern.
C Major Scale DESCENDING (Treble Clef)

2. KODALY HAND SIGNALS - a Hungarian name

developed by Zoltan Kodaly, a Hungarian
musician.
- Each tone of the seven-note solfege system is
 Scale patterns are based on the order of whole given a shape that the singer can make with his
step and half steps. hand while singing.
 A degree of tone is a step; a half-tone is a half- - The method of hand signal is burrowed from
step. Curwen Hand Signals.
 Major scale pattern is always: 2 whole steps, a 3. Justin Ward System – use of simple body
half step, 3 whole steps and a half step. movements that also help in learning the scales.
 Half tone on the piano keyboard is the distance - It is names after Justine Bayard Ward, an
between any 2 adjacent keys whether black and American music educator who developed a
white or white and white keys. system for teaching music in children.

Ways to respond and study scales:

1. CURVEN HAND SIGNALS
- can be used while singing a scale
- These are hand signals that were developed to
learn the scale easily.
 How can intervals be found in a music composition?
The interval of notes can be found by counting the
distance from the first note to the next note.

Tonic – term for the first note of any scale.

Intervals are called – unison, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th
LESSON 6: ORDER AND BEAUTY THROUGH MUSICAL and octave.
INTERVALS
Unison – the interval of pitches that are on the same
INTERVAL line or space. It contains 2 tonics.
- It is the distance between two tones or notes as Octave – is the last interval which contains the tonic
drawn on a musical staff. and a similar note but the first note has a lower pitch
- The pleasing sound of notes on a scale is and the other has a higher pitch.
produced by various tone combinations or system
of intervals. TYPES OF INTERVAL:
- These sounds may be sounded simultaneously or 1. Melodic Intervals – played one note after the
successively. other.
- It can be melodic or harmonic.
2. Harmonic Intervals – notes that are played at the PHRASE or SLUR
same time. - It is a series of notes that sounds complete and
expresses one thought.
- These are musical sentences.
- Symbolized by a long-curved line written above 2
or 4 measures.
How do intervals help in composing music? - It is a musical notation that informs the musician
When we compose or write music, we use notes. A to play a sequence of two or more notes without
melody is made up of intervals. Intervals are used in pausing in between notes.
choosing notes that sound good.
Types of PHRASES:
1. ANTECEDENT PHRASE (question) – a phrase that
sounds complete and seems to ask question.
The tune or melody is usually goes on upward
direction.
LESSON 7: BEAUTY IN MUSICAL FORM 2. CONSEQUENT Phrase (answer) – a phrase that
sounds complete and answers the question.
 Single notes mean nothing by themselves. The tune or melody usually goes downward
 Only when notes are arranges into musical direction.
sentences that they take on definite meaning.

FORM
- It is the arrangement of the parts and elements
of a composition, having symmetry and unity.
- It has harmonious contrast for beauty and variety Other types of Phrases:
of sounds or tones in a musical piece. 1. Similar Phrase have same melody or rhythm from
the second phrase.
2. Contrasting Phrase - the first phrase is different Note:
from the second phrase. - No 2 voices are the same.
- Each speaking and singing voice have its own
INTRODUCTION – the opening section found at the timbre.
beginning of a musical composition.
Some ways to group the performance of music:
CODA – most songs have this at the end. It is the 1. SOLO – a musical composition for 1 performer or
concluding section of a piece of music. instrument.

Note:
Both introduction and coda are made up of melodies
without lyrics or words. However, there are those
melodies that have lyrics as well. 2. DUET – musical composition for vocal or
instrumental, usually in 2 parts or for 2 performers.
LESSON 8: TIMBRE MAKES MUSIC UNIQUE

ORCHESTRA
- It is a group of musicians playing different musical
instruments together.
- A sow of different instruments with different 3. TRIO – musical composition for a group of 3
sounds – high and low, loud and soft, thick and performers.
thin. No matter how different the instruments are,
they all sound wonderful and harmonious together.

TIMBRE or TONE COLOR in Music

- It is the unique characteristic sound of an
instrument or voice.
4. ENSEMBLE – group of performers of voices and
instruments. Can be a group of choir, rondalla or
orchestra