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.
Clefs		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
Note Durations		Eighth notes (left) and sixteenth notes (right) may also look like this.

Dotted Notes

A dotted note is equivalent to one and a half its original
length

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.