Introduction:

Materials of Music
 The basic materials of music are sound and
time. When you play an instrument or sing, you
are producing sounds, so it is important that you
thoroughly understand these basic materials.
Sounds are used to structure time in music. Time
occurs in the duration of the sounds and the
silences between sounds.
SOUND

is the sensation perceived by the

organs of hearing when vibrations
(sound waves) reach the ear.
VIBRATION

• is the periodic motion of a substance.

When you play an instrument, parts of
the instrument (the strings, sounding
board, etc.) and the air inside and
around the instrument vibrate.
 THE FOUR
PROPERTIES OF
SOUND
PITCH

• is the highness or lowness of a sound.

Variations in frequency are what we hear as
variations in pitch: The greater the number
of sound waves produced per second of an
elastic body, the higher the sound we hear;
the fewer sound waves per second, the
lower the sound.
TONE

•A tone is a musical sound of definite

pitch.
INTENSITY
• (amplitude) is heard as the loudness or softness of a pitch.
DURATION
• Duration is the length of time a pitch, or tone, is sounded. For
patterns of duration, the following terms are used: meter and rhythm.
• Meter describes regularly recurring pulses of equal duration,
generally grouped into patterns of two, three, four, or more with one
of the pulses in each group accented. These patterns of strong (>) and
weak (__) pulses are called beats.
RHYTHM
• rhythm is a pattern of uneven durations. While the steady beats of
the meter combine to form measures, a rhythm may be a pattern of
almost any length.
TIMBRE
• Timbre is the tone quality or color of a sound. It is the
property of sound that permits us, for instance, to
distinguish the difference between the sound of a
clarinet and an oboe. This sound quality is determined
by the shape of the vibrating body, its material (metal,
wood, human tissue), and the method used to put it
in motion (striking, bowing, blowing, plucking).
Fundumentals of Music
 CHAPTER
1:NOTATION
NOTATION

• Music notation is much more precise and

complicated than written language. When
we notate music, we use symbols that show
three of the four properties of sound
described in the introduction
PITCH

• The term pitch describes the highness or

lowness (the frequency) of a tone. In music
notation, pitches are represented by
symbols positioned on a staff and identifi ed
with letter names.
STAFF
consists of five equally spaced horizontal lines
CLEF
- is a symbol placed at the beginning of a line of music that
establishes the letter
names of the lines and spaces of the staff.
C CLEF
C clef may be positioned on any line of the staff to designate middle
C. This clef is coupled with a set of secondary names that identify each
of the possible positions.
LEDGER LINE
• Pitches that go beyond the limits of the staff are written by adding
ledger lines above or below the staff.
ACCIDENTALS
• Accidentals are symbols that are placed to the left of the noteheads
to indicate the raising or lowering of a pitch.
• Sharp ( # )—raises the pitch a half step.
• Flat ( b )—lowers the pitch a half step.
• Natural ( n )—cancels any previous sharp or fl at and returns to the
natural, or unaltered, pitch.
• Double Sharp (‹)—raises the pitch two half steps.
• Double Flat (∫)—lowers the pitch two half steps.
INTERVALS
An interval is the relationship between two tones. In Western music,
the half step is the
smallest interval used. It is the interval between any two adjacent keys
—black or white on the keyboard.
ENHARHOMICS
Enharmonic equivalents are tones that have the same pitch but
different letter names.
HALF STEP MOTION
• In passages of music involving half-step motion, a fl atted note is
followed most often by a note with a different letter name a half step
lower.
NOTATION OF DURATION
TIE
-The tie is a curved line that connects two adjacent notes of the
same pitch into a single sound with a duration equal to the sum of both
note values.
THE DOT
• Placed to the right of a note head, the dot lengthens the value of the
note by half again its value. A second dot lengthens the dotted note
value by half the length of the fi rst dot.
• Dots may also be used with rests and affect them in the same way.
METER SIGNATURES
Meter can be defi ned as a regular, recurring pattern of strong and
weak beats. This recurring pattern of durations is identified at the
beginning of a composition by a meter signature (time signature)
• The upper digit indicates the number of basic note values per
measure. It may or may not indicate the number of pulses per
measure (as we will be see later in compound meters).The lower digit
indicates a basic note value: 2 signifi es a half note, 4 refers to a
quarter note, 8 to an eighth note, and so forth.
SIMPLE METERS
• In simple meter, each beat is divided in two parts (simple division).
The upper numbers in simple meter signatures are usually 2, 3, or 4
indicating two, three, or four basic pulses.
COMPOUND METER
• In compound meter, each pulse is a dotted note, which is divided into
groups of three parts (compound division). The upper numbers in
compound meter signatures are usually 6, 9, and 12. In compound
meter signatures, the lower number refers to the division of the beat,
whereas the upper number indicates the number of these divisions
per measure.
Duple, Triple, and Quadruple Meters Duple, Triple, and
Quadruple Meters
• Both simple and compound meters will have two, three, or four
recurring pulses. Meters are identifi ed as duple if there are two basic
pulses, triple if there are three, or quadruple if there are four. These
designations are often combined with the division names to describe
a meter.
Asymmetrical Meters
• The term asymmetrical means “not symmetrical” and applies to those
meter signatures that indicate the pulse cannot be divided into equal
groups of 2, 3, or 4 beats. The upper numbers in asymmetrical meters
are usually 5 or 7.
Syncopation
• If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accented, the
rhythm is considered to be syncopated.
DYNAMIC MARKING
• Dynamic markings indicate the general volume (amplitude) of sound.
Although imprecise, such marks denote approximate levels of
intensity.
Neumatic Notation
• From about 650 to 1200, music notation consisted of a set of symbols
called neumes (pronounced “newms”). These symbols took their
name from the Greek word forgesture.Written above the Latin texts
associated with the liturgy of the Christian church, neumes could not
convey pitch or duration, but rather served as a memory aid in
recalling previously learned melodic lines. NEXT FIGURE is an example
of neumatic notation from a 12thcentury manuscript
Some Directions for Notation
• Noteheads are oval in shape and positioned on the staff lines and
spaces at a slight upward slant. Stems are thin, vertical lines that are
directly connected to the head. The stems of single notes within the
staff should be about one octave in length.
• When a staff contains only a single melody, stems go down on those
notes above the middle line and up on those notes below the middle
line. When a note is on the middle line, the stem is usually down,
except when the stems of adjacent notes are in the opposite
direction.
• When stemmed notes are placed on ledger lines, the stems should
extend to the middle line of the staff.
• When connected by beams, stemmed notes should be modifi ed so
that the beams are slanted to cross no more than one line of the staff
for each group of notes. Beams are slightly thicker than note stems.
• When two melodies occupy the same staff, the stems for one melody
are up, and the stems for the other melody are down. This makes it
possible to distinguish the melodies.
• Beam groups of eighth notes (and smaller values) according to the
beats in the measure.
• In compound meter, it is important to show the basic pulse structure
of the measure and the division (of three) as clearly as possible.
• Use flags for eighth or shorter-value notes that are not grouped
within a beat.
• Connect no more than six notes by beams unless all are part of one
beat.
• Flagged and beamed notes are generally not mixed, except when
notating vocal music. In vocal music, flagged notes have traditionally
been used when the text–music relationship involves one note for
each syllable. However, modern practice has moved toward the use of
“instrumental” notation for vocal music.
• Irregular divisions of a beat or measure are indicated by showing the
number of notes in the resulting group by means of an Arabic
numeral. The note values of the irregular group are notated the same
way as the regular group, provided the number of notes in the
irregular group is less than twice that of the regular. For example, a
triplet retains the same note values as a regular duplet.
• When the number of notes in the irregular group is more than twice
the number of the regular, then the next smaller note value is used;
for example, a quintuplet would employ the next smaller note value.
• The whole rest can be used to indicate a full measure of rest in any
meter.
• Use two quarter rests rather than a half rest in 3/4 meter.
When notes of a chord are on an adjacent line and space, the higher of
the two is always to the right, regardless of the direction of the stem.
• When a dotted note is on a line, the dot is usually placed slightly
above the line. When two separate voices are placed on a single staff,
the dots are below the line on the notes with stems down.