Fundamentals of Music: Introduction

The Musical Alphabet

• Music is a language consisting of sounds and silences.
• Music is written with an alphabet consisting of the letters A through G. Each letter represents a different sound or pitch. Just as words consist of letters, musical melodies consist of pitches.
• When melodies ascend to higher pitches, the alphabet moves forward from A to G.
• When melodies descend to lower pitches, the musical alphabet moves backward from G to A.
• Pitches descend consecutively - descending by steps
• Pitches ascend consecutively - ascending by steps

The Keyboard

• The keyboard consists of white and black keys.
• The black keys are grouped alternately by twos and threes.
• This arrangement of black keys can assist in identifying the white keys.
• The groups of two black keys make it easy to find the note C.
  • The white keys immediately to the left of the group of two black keys are named C.
  • The white keys to the right of the two blacks are named E; the white keys in the middle are D.
• The groups of three black keys make it easy to find F.
  • The white keys immediately to the left of each group of three black keys are named F.
  • The white keys to the right of each group of three black keys are named B.
  • The white keys G and A are in the middle.
• On a keyboard, pitches to the right are higher; pitches to the left are lower.
• The manufacturer’s name of the piano or keyboard is written near the middle of the keyboard just above a group of two black keys.
  • The C to the left of this group is middle C. On a full-sized keyboard, this is the fourth C from the bottom.

Introduction to Singing

• Singing, next to speaking, is the second most important means of verbal communication.

• Singing is important in all cultures around the world; melodies run the gamut from religious songs to popular songs, including songs about love, work, nature, and family life.

• Songs are used to inspire (national anthems or college school songs) and to teach (how to count). Songs mark celebrations like weddings, rites of passage like bar and bat mitzvahs, as well as funerals and processions.

• Singing is an important expressive form of art along with painting, dancing, drama, poetry, and literature.

• Singing, with its use of language, gives music a distinctive artistic dimension. Singing, however, may be expressive, even without the use of words (for example, jazz scat singing).

• Singing is an important aid in the study of music theory and does not require additional resources for practice.

• Musicians in many countries do not use the alphabet to name pitches; instead, they use syllables, called solfège, or solfeggio.

• Guido d’Arezzo, a medieval monk, devised a syllabic system (or possibly codified it) around the eleventh century. He used the first syllable of each line of a Latin hymn to name consecutive ascending pitches.

• Originally only six syllables were used and the seventh (Ti or Si, pronounced “See”) was added later.

  • C D E F G A B C
  • Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti (Si) Do

The Grand Staff

• The Grand Staff combines both the treble and bass clefs.
• Middle C names the ledger line just below the treble clef and the ledger line just above the bass clef.
• In music written for the keyboard, the right hand usually plays middle C when it is written in the treble clef, and the left hand usually plays middle C when it is written in the bass clef.
• BRACE: a sign at the beginning of the grand staff joining the treble and bass staves
• BAR LINE: a vertical line drawn at the beginning of the grand staff before the clef signs, and in the music to assist with counting. (Bar lines separate the music into measures)
• DOUBLE BAR LINE: two bar lines at the end of the staff used to signify the end of a section of music