ST THOMAS ANGLICAN CHURCH CHOIR OKEOGUN OWO

RUDIMENTS OF MUSIC [THEORY-PRACTICAL] HANDBOOK

COLLATED BY: MR. OWOKOLE TEMITOPE V.O. (CHOIRMASTER, 2009-2010 REGIME)

JUNE 2009

INTRODUCTION It seems likely that everyday activities, such as the movements in repetitive work and in walking, were rhythmically regular enough to invite some sort of embellishment. Related breathing rhythms, chanting, or other accompaniment, such as the tapping of a walking stick while walking or the transformation of a work tool into an instrument while working, may have been early forms of music. In fact, whether sacred Native American corngathering songs or melodies heard in elevators or supermarkets, music still accompanies our ceremonial and everyday activities. All around the world, singing, chanting, and the devotion to making musical vibrations with special instruments guide and inspire human life. Consider overtone singing in Central Asia, the complex, layered drumming of West African drum ensembles, the gliding melodies of Tibetan Buddhist music, the interlocking textures of an Andean panpipe ensemble, or deeply personal Saami joik compositionseach is a distinct, centuries-old form of music. Music reflects both human identity and diversity. All people share musical experience. Everyone listens to music and most people make music, even if only to hum along with a familiar tune. Although some forms of music remain traditional, the modern world is filled with a seemingly endless and ever-changing profusion of musical styles. Some forms of music, such as contemporary rock, can be found in many places. In contrast, other types of music remain closely tied to a particular place and culture. But even when transplanted far from its roots, music often remains strongly associated with certain times and regions. MUSIC THEORY Music theory is the field of study that deals with how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It identifies patterns that govern composers techniques. In a grand sense, music theory distills and analyzes the parameters or elements of music, namely rhythm, harmony, melody. Broadly, music theory may include any statement, belief, or conception of or about music. People who study these properties are known as music theorists. MUSIC It is an art of arranging the sounds of voice(s) or instrument(s) or both in a pleasing sequence or combination. Music has the following elements: Melody: A melody is a series of notes sounding in succession. Harmony: It is the production of two or more sounds or tones with different pitch at the same time in a proper order. Rhythm: It is the arrangement of sounds and silences (rests) in time. It is the motion of music through time. Other sub-elements are: Tone: This is a sound that has a definite pitch unlike noise. Pitch: This is the degree of highness or lowness of a tone. Length: This is the duration of a tone. Timbre: It is the quality of a sound that distinguishes it from others of the same pitch or volume. Timbre can be considered the texture or color of a sound. For example, a listener

may tell a saxophone and a guitar apart, or distinguish one vocalist from another, by the differences in their voices. MUSICAL NOTES Musical sounds are explained by characters called notes, which are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet, namely, A B C D E F G. The notes are written upon what is termed the Stave. Music is most commonly notated using the Staff. The staff consists of five horizontal lines on which musical notes lie. The lines and the spaces between the lines represent different pitches. Lower pitches are lower on the staff and higher pitches are higher on the staff.

With the blank staff we cannot yet tell what notes to play. We therefore, use Clefs to tell us which notes correspond to which lines or spaces. A clef (from the French for "key") is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff may be determined. The types of clef In contemporary music literature, only four clefs are used regularly: the treble clef, the bass clef, the alto clef, and the tenor clef. Of these, the treble and bass clefs are by far the most common.

The treble (G) clef

The Treble Clef spirals around the second line from the bottom. This spiral tells us that notes on this line are G.

When the G-clef is placed on the second line of the staff, it is called the "treble clef". This is by far the most common clef used today, and the only G-clef still in use. The treble clef was historically used to mark a treble, or pre-pubescent, voice part. The lines on the treble clef staff correspond to the letters E G B D F, and can be remembered with the help of such phrases as "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour". The spaces on the treble clef staff, from bottom to top, correspond to the letters F A C E. From here we can figure out the other note names simply by going forward or backward through the musical alphabet: A,B,C,D,E,F,G.

The bass clef The Bass Clef has two dots, above and below the second line from the top. The dots tell us that this line is F.

The lines on the bass clef staff correspond to the letters G B D F A, and can be remembered with the help of the phrase "Good Boys Deserve Favour Always". The spaces on the bass clef staff correspond to the letters A C E G, and can be easily remembered by saying the phrase All Cows Eat Grass. Middle C is the first ledger line above the staff in the Bass Clef. Middle C is designated C4 in scientific pitch notation because of the note's position as the fourth C key on a standard 88-key piano keyboard. While other note-octave systems (including those used by some manufacturers of digital music keyboards) may refer to "Middle C" with a different designation, the C4 designation is the most commonly recognized in auditory science and in musical studies it is frequently used in place of the Helmholtz designation c'.

The Ledger Line If we need more notes above or below the staff we add Ledger Lines, which extend the range of the staff. (Middle C is the first ledger line below the staff in Treble Clef.)

It is very important to note that two staves are required, as a rule, for Pianoforte music; they are joined together by a Brace, as shown below:

T r eb le (r igh t h a n d )

B a ss (left h a n d )

Names of the treble and bass notes

y ver

ood

A B C

oy

D E F

s rve ese

ur avo

m id d le C

C D E
s ow

F G Alwa
s ras ur avo

oys

ys

at rve ese

ll

d oo

From the above drawing, considering the treble clef: E is on the 1st line; G is on the 2nd line; B is on the 3rd line; D is on the 4th line and F is on the 5th line. In the same way, F is on the 1st space; A is on the 2nd space; C is on the 3rd space and E is on the 4th space. Considering the bass clef: G is on the 1st line; B is on the 2nd line; D is on the 3rd line; F is on the 4th line and A is on the 5th line. In the same way, A is on the 1st space; C is on the 2nd space; E is on the 3rd space and G is on the 4th space. BAR (Measure) In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of time defined as a given number of beats of a given duration. Bars or Measures could also mean grouping of notes. The word measure is heard more frequently in the U.S., while bar is used in other Englishspeaking countries, although musicians generally understand both usages. A bar line (or bar line) is a vertical line which separates measures/bars or which groups notes in a measure or bar. Bar Lines show us where one measure ends and another begins.

There are different types of Bar Lines, each with a different function A Single Bar Line is the normal Bar Line, it tells us where the measures are:

A Double Bar Line shows there is a major change in the music, such as a new musical section or new time signature:

A "Final" Double Bar Line shows that the piece of music is over:

A repeat bar line looks like the second type of double bar line but it has two dots, one above the other, indicating that the section of music that is before is to be repeated. The beginning of the repeated passage can be marked by a begin-repeat bar line; if this is absent the repeat is understood to be from the beginning of the piece or movement. This begin-repeat bar line, if appearing at the beginning of a staff, does not act as a true bar line because no bar is before it; its only function is to indicate the beginning of the passage to be repeated.

KEY SIGNATURE In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a line of musical notation, although they can appear in other parts of a score, notably after a double bar. TIME SIGNATURE The time signature (also known as "meter signature") is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat. In a musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, immediately following the key signature (or immediately following the clef if the piece is in C major, A minor, or a modal subset). A mid-score time signature, usually immediately following a barline, indicates a change of meter. Flat, a musical symbol, b, indicating the note to the immediate right is to be lowered by one half-step. Sharp, musical symbol, #, indicating the note to the immediate right is to be raised by one half-step. The standard notation of Western music is a staff notation. Its basis is a staff (or stave) of five lines. Each line and the space between lines represents a different pitch. A tone of a given pitch is represented by a sign called a note, placed on a line or in a space. A clef, positioned at the beginning of every staff, indicates the pitch assigned to one of the lines,

from which the others are reckoned. Since the octave contains 12 pitches a semitone (that is, a half-step) apart, and since the staff, for historical reasons, has lines and spaces only for seven pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G (five of which are a whole step from the following tone), three additional symbols are used. Placed next to a note, they alter its meaning, permitting the notation of the remaining pitches. They are the flat (), which lowers the pitch of a note by a semitone; the sharp (#), which raises it by a semitone; and the natural (), which cancels a previous flat or sharp. If certain flats or sharps appear regularly throughout a piece, their signs are placed next to the clef, in a key signature. The durations of notes are indicated by their specific shapes; the durations of silences are set forth by signs called rests. The terminology of notes and rests indicates their durational relationships: whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth, each being double or half the value of its neighbor in the series. Meter, the grouping of musical beats into basic recurrent units, is also indicated. A time signature, which shows how the beats are to be grouped, is placed on the initial staff next to the key signature; and vertical lines (bar lines) mark off the metrical units, or measures. The time signature also indicates a system of stresses: The first beat of a metrical grouping is usually the strongest. Additional symbols indicate other aspects of the music. Tones and Semitones Now you understand pitch on a grand orchestral scale. We turn to the smallest intervals in western music the tones and semitones. The letters of the alphabet are separated by tones and semitones. E to F is a semitone. Twice a semitone is a tone. F to G is a tone. The alphabet is not equidistant. F to G is twice the distance of E to F. The ruler of pitch Western music is divided into 12 equidistant semitones. How do we write the interval between F and G? We introduce new notation. A semitone higher than F is F#. A semitone lower than G is Gb. F# and Gb are the same pitch. They represent the semitone between F and G. The step-like alphabetic ascension of tones and semitones is familiar to all who play the piano keyboard. Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone C1D1EF1G1A1BC The Ruler of Pitch C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E Db Eb Gb Ab Bb Db Eb MUSICAL SCALE The word scale in music found its root word from (Italian scala, ladder), which means the arrangement, by rising or falling pitch sequence, of the tones used in a musical system. The sound character of a given scale depends on the size and sequence of the intervals between its successive tones. It is the foundation upon which sound in music is built. Since at least medieval times the typical scales of Western music have been diatonic scales, which can be illustrated by the white notes of the piano. These scales have a repeating

sequence of half-steps, or semitones (wherever E-F and B-C occur), and whole steps (between all other adjacent tones); and they have seven tones per octave (the eighth tone in such a series is simply the repetition of the first tone an octave higher). The major and minor scales that have dominated Western music since about 1650 are, strictly speaking, two modes of the basic diatonic scale: -the major mode, exemplified by C D E F G A B (C); and -the minor mode, exemplified by A B C D E F G (A). The two modes sound different because the half-steps occur at different places in each. The modes of medieval and folk music are similarly formed, but with different starting points (D-D, G-G, etc.). A mode is in a certain sense a scale, but scale is a less complex concept. The essential part of the major or minor scale or mode is its characteristic interval pattern, which can be reproduced at any pitch, for example, G A B C D E F-sharp (G). To do so, extra tones beyond the original seven must be brought in (here, F-sharp; on the piano, a black note). As the major-minor system of tonality developed, the natural minor scale underwent two modifications. A strong tendency to have a half-step reach upward to the keynote (as, Gsharp to A) resulted in the harmonic minor scale: A B C D E F G-sharp (A). Its new leading tone (here, G-sharp), however, created an interval (here, F to G-sharp) that was disliked in melodies. The melodic minor scale in its ascending form smoothed out the offensive interval by sharping a second toneA B C D E F-sharp G-sharp (A)and, needing no leading tone in its descending form, retained the descending natural minor scaleA G F E D C B (A). Scale (music) (Italian scala, ladder), the arrangement, by rising or falling pitch sequence, of the tones used in a musical system. The sound character of a given scale depends on the size and sequence of the intervals between its successive tones. DIATONIC SCALES MAJOR AND MINOR SCALES Since at least medieval times the typical scales of Western music have been diatonic scales, which can be illustrated by the white notes of the piano. These scales have a repeating sequence of half-steps, or semitones (wherever E-F and B-C occur), and whole steps (between all other adjacent tones); and they have seven tones per octave (the eighth tone in such a series is simply the repetition of the first tone an octave higher). The major and minor scales that have dominated Western music since about 1650 are, strictly speaking, two modes of the basic diatonic scale: the major mode, exemplified by C D E F G A B (C); and the minor mode, exemplified by A B C D E F G (A). The two modes sound different because the half-steps occur at different places in each. The modes of medieval and folk music are similarly formed, but with different starting points (D-D, G-G, etc.). A mode is in a certain sense a scale, but scale is a less complex concept. The essential part of the major or minor scale or mode is its characteristic interval pattern, which can be reproduced at any pitch, for example, G A B C D E F-sharp (G). To do so, extra tones beyond the original seven must be brought in (here, F-sharp; on the piano, a black note).

MINOR SCALES As the major-minor system of tonality developed, the natural minor scale underwent two modifications. A strong tendency to have a half-step reach upward to the keynote (as, Gsharp to A) resulted in the harmonic minor scale: A B C D E F G-sharp (A). Its new leading tone (here, G-sharp), however, created an interval (here, F to G-sharp) that was disliked in melodies. The melodic minor scale in its ascending form smoothed out the offensive interval by sharping a second toneA B C D E F-sharp G-sharp (A)and, needing no leading tone in its descending form, retained the descending natural minor scaleA G F E D C B (A).

SCALE STEPS (IN SEMITONES OR HALF STEPS) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 c c# d d# e f f# g g# a a# b c'