Chester Studio Singers
Basic Musical Notation: Cheat Sheet
The Staff |  |
The staff, consistings of 5 lines with four spaces between them is what musical notes are
presented on. |
Notes |
Different pitches are named by letters. The musical
alphabet is, in ascending order by pitch, A, B, C, D, E, F and G. After G, the cycle repeats going back
to A. Each line and space on the staff represents a different pitch. The lower on the staff, the lower the
pitch of the note. |
Clefs |
 |
The treble clef begins with the first line as E. Each successive space and line is the next letter in
the musical alphabet. The staff ends with the last line as an F. A phrase to remember the lines is:
Every Good Boy
Deserves Fun. To remember the spaces, just remember that
they spell FACE starting from the bottom. |
 |
With the bass clef, the lines from bottom to top are: G, B, D, F, A (Good
Boys Don't Fight
Anyone), and the spaces are A,C,E,G (All
Cows Eat Grass). |
Measures |
 |
The vertical lines on the staff mark the measures or bars, which are used to divide and organize
music. |
Note Durations |
 |
- whole note
- half notes (half the duration of a whole note)
- quarter notes
- eighth notes
- sixteenth notes
|
 |
Eighth notes (left) and sixteenth notes (right) may also look like this. |
Dotted Notes |
 |
A dot beside a note increases its duration by half its original value. For example, half notes, in
4/4 time, are worth 2 beats. When a dot is placed next to the half note, the resulting duration is three
beats. The curved line in the picture is a tie. Ties connect notes that are the same
pitch together to create a sustained note. |
Rests
Rests are simply places where the musician does not play/sing. Rests have equivalent
values to corresponding notes of duration, as shown below.
 | whole rest | |
 | eighth rest |
 | half rest | |  | sixteenth
rest |
 | quarter rest | | | |
Sharps, flats and naturals |  |
Sharps raise the pitch of the note by a half tone. |
 |
Flats lower the pitch of the note by a half tone. |
 |
Naturals cancel out any previous sharps or flats. |
Ties and Slurs |
 |
Ties and slurs connect two or more notes together. Ties connect notes of the same pitch, forming
essentialy one longer note. Slurs smoothly connect notes of different pitch. |
Dynamics |
 |
pianissimo (very softly) |
 |
piano (softly) |
 |
mezzo piano (moderately soft) |
 |
mezzo forte (moderately loud) |
 |
forte (loudly) |
 |
fortissimo (very loudly) |
 |
Crescendo (gradually become louder) |
 |
Decrescendo or diminuendo (gradually become softer) |
Repeats |
 | These are the begin and end repeat signs. When you reach the second, go back to the
first and repeat the music. |
Time Signatures |
 | The top number
indicates how many beats there are per measure. The bottom number tells what kind of note gets the
beat.
In this example, 4/4 time, there are 4 beats per measure, and the quarter note (bottom 4) gets
the beat. In 3/4 time, the quarter note would still get the beat, but there would only be 3 beats in a
measure. In 6/8 time, the eighth note gets the beat, and there are 6 beats to a measure. |
Articulation |
 |
Staccato — The note is short and detatched. |
 |
Accent — Hit the note harder and louder. |
 |
Marcato — Combination of staccato and accent, provides a sharp sound. |
 |
Tenuto — Hold the note for its full value. |
 |
Sforzando — A sudden, strong accent. |
 |
Fermata — Hold the note longer, approximately twice its value, or until conducted to
stop. |
That's it!
Adapted from: http://method-behind-the-music.com/theory/notation