RUDIMENTS OF MUSIC

STAFF, BARS & LEDGER

LINES
Staff – musical symbol having five parallel line and four
spaces

Bars –
1,. Single bar –a vertical line dividing the staff into
measures
2. double bars – two vertical lines at the end of the
staff which signify the end of the music.

Ledger lines – short lines drawn above and below the staff to
provide for notes outside the staff for continuity in reading
music. Such notes are therefore called “ledger notes”.
 NOTATIONS
Notes- musical characters or symbols placed on the staff
to denote certain tones to be sounded.
Click icon to add pictu
Parts of a note

Notes and their corresponding Rests

 CLASSIFICATION OF NOTES

Ascending notes
Descending notes Click icon to add pic

Contrary moving notes

Repeated notes

Dotted Notes

Tie notes
Slur
 F-CLEF OR BASS CLEF
F-clef fixes the pitch on the fourth line of the staff and
also called bass clef. Click icon to add pic
1. F-clef or Bass clef
2. The pitch names of the notes located on the
lines of the staff in an F-clef may best be remembered by
the first letters of te sentence. “ Good Boys Don’t Forget
Anything”
3. The pitch names of the notes on the spaces
form the first letters of the words in the sentence. “All
Cows Eat Grass”
 G-CLEF OR TREBLE CLEF

CLEF is a symbol placed at the beginning of each

staff which indicates what pitches are to be represented Click icon to add pict
by the lines and spaces. The first seven letters of the
alphabet (A,B,C,D,E,F, and G) are used to represent what
pitches are to be used on the lines and spaces of the
staves.
1. G-clef fixes the pitch on the second line of the
staff. It is also called treble clef.
2. The pitch names of the notes located on the
lines of the staff in a G-clef may best be remembered by
first letters of the sentence. “Every Good Boy Does
Fine”
3. The pitch names of the notes located on the
spaces of the staff form the letters of the word. F A C E
 CHROMATIC SIGNS
Sharp –symbol placed before a note to raise its pitch one
semitone or halftone. Thus, a sharp before the note fa is
sung or played as fa, but sounds one-half tone higher Click icon to add pic
than the original.
Flat – symbol placed before a note to lower its pitch one
semitone or halftone. Thus, a flat before the note mi is
sung or played as mi, but sounds one-half tone lower
than the original.
 THE METRONOME
• The metronome was invented and patented by Malzel to help regulate
the time of a musical composition. “M M” stands for Malzel Metronome.
• The indication “M M 100” means that 100 quarter notes are to be
played per minute or that each quarter note is to last 1/100 of a
minute.
ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
 RHYTHM
• Rhythm – rate of musical flow from its basic meter to the pattern of
accents over a whole musical composition.
• 1. beat – unit of time that is felt and sensed. The first beat in a measure is
usually played with more emphasis. It is called the down beat.
• 2. accent – there is stress for emphasis
• 3. meter – grouping of beats
• A. simple meter
• B. compound meter
• C. polymeter
4. rhythmic pattern – indicated by the words and syllables of the words
5. Phrase – musical thought that is part of the musical sentence
 HARMONY AND TEXTURE
• Harmony – is the simultaneous sounding of a group of
tones of a melody. It is th vertical relationship between a
melody and its accompanying chords or between melodies
simultaneously played or sung. Harmony maybe light,
heavy, thin or thick in texture. Texture is the relationship of
melodies (horizontal) and harmonic (vertical) elements in
music. Texture pertains to the relationship of melodic and
harmonic elements which produce qualities of lightness, or
heaviness, thickness or thinness.
• Monophonic is a single melody without accompaniment
• Homophonic texture is a melody which has a supporting
set of chords for harmonic accompaniment.
• Polyphonic has two or more melodies without supporting
 FORM
• Form is the structural organization of a musical composition. Like an architect, he
prepares a plan for a building, the composer makes a design for his composition.
Before a composer begins to write, he is confronted with a number of ideas in his
mind. The idea maybe the shape of a rhythmic pattern. The idea maybe a series
of chords, particular tone, or one of many other music entities in his mind. The
ideas must be related with each other to be artistically united that must be
appealing and satisfactorily pleasing to the listener.
• Classification of forms:
• A. Simple form
• 1. through form
• 2. binary form
• 3. ternary form
 - CONTINUATION -

• B. Larger form – have three or more complicated and interrelated ideas through varieties on:
• 1. melodic alternation with the:
• A. change of pitch
• B. change of mood
• C. change of harmonic character
• D. addition of ornaments
• E. augmentation of intervals
• F. diminution of intervals
• 2. temporal alteration of theme with the:
• A. Change of accentuation, meter
• B. Change of tempo
• C. change of rhythm through prolongation or diminution or some tone values
• 3. dynamic alteration
 -CONTINUATION-

• C. Free form – is a musical composition which contains three or more musical ideas
none of which are related to each other.
• D. Sonata – Allegro form is an enlarged three – part form consisting of an
exposition, a development and a recapitulation. It is based on the principles of a
statement, a dispersion and a return.
• Exposition – contains two or more themes which are usually contrasting in
nature, separated by a bridge passage (transition) which effects the modulation
to the new key.
• Development is a free manipulation of any or all of the themes heard in the
composition.
• Recapitulation is a restatement of the exposition with certain modification.
• E. Fugue - comes from the Latin word meaning “flight” because it is a melody from
one voice or instrument to another.
• Music composition in which the theme is stated in one timbre, then restated
by another theme a fifth higher or fourth lower continuously through three
or more entrances.
 TIMBRE OR COLOR
• Timbre is the qualifying difference between one tone and another.
Timbre is the color of sound produced by the voice and different
instruments. The human voice is the fundamental medium of
expression. It can produced sounds (vocables) and Singing tones of
varying timbres.
• Classification of voices
• MALE FEMALE
• TENOR HIGHEST SOPRANO
• BARITONE MIDDLE MEZZO SOPRANO
• BASS LOWEST ALTO
 TEMPO
• Tempo is the resulting sensation of relative speed. Tempo, rhythm and meter are synonymous with rhythm. Tempo or rate of
speed is the pace of the music.
• MUSICAL SIGNS
• LARGO – VERY SLOW; STATELY
• GRAVRE – LOW IN PITCH
• LENTO – SLOW
• ADAGIO – SLOWLY, IN AN EASY GRACEFUL MANNER
• ANDANTE – MODERATE
• ANDANTINO – MODERATELY SLOW
• MODERATO – QUICKER THAN ANDANTE, BUT NOT SO QUICK AS ALLEGRETTO
• ALLEGRETTO – QUICKER THAN ANDANTINO
• ALLEGRO – BRISK, LIVELY
• VIVACE – VIVACIOUS; SPIRITED
• PRESTO – AT A RAPID PACE
• PRESTISSIMO – AT A VERY RAPID PACE
• ACCLERANDO – GRADUALLY FASTER
• ALLARGANDO - GRADUALLY SLOWER AND LOUDER
• RITARDANDO – RETARDING; BECOMING SLOWER
• RITENUTO – AN ABRUPT SLOWING DOWN
• A TEMPO – IN TIME (USED AFTER ANY CHANGE IN TEMPO OF PIECE)
 DYNAMICS
• Dynamics – the art of bringing out the beauty of musical compositions – of giving them flashes of
brilliance, of life, of tonal power, through variation and contrast in loudness and softness, as well as in
the mood.
• 1. ppp – pianissimo assai – as soft as possible
• 2. pp – pianissimo – very soft
• 3. p – piano – soft
• 4. mp – mezzo piano – moderately soft
• 5. fff – fortissimo assai – as loud as possible
• 6. ff – fortissimo – very loud
• 7. f – forte – loud
• 8. mf – mezzo forte – moderately loud
• 9. A – accent – stress a note
• 10. sfz – sforzando - single tone or chord louder than the rest
• 11. rfz – rinforzando – sudden increase of force
• 12. fp – forte piano – quick transition from loud to soft
• 13. pf – piano forte – quick transition from soft to loud
• 14. cresc. – crescendo – gradual increase of tone
• 15. dim. Diminuendo – gradual decrease of tone
 MELODY
• Melody – is a succession of related single tones expressing an idea. It is an
element in which the personal character of the composer is most clearly and
cleverly revealed.
• 1. pitch –highness and lowness of a tone which is determined by the
number of vibrations per second
• 2. duration – is the length of time the tone lasts
Properties of melody:
1. Rhythm – all melody has rhythm but rhythm can exist without melody
2. Dimension – melody has two dimension; length and range
3. Direction or movement – melodic direction is the movement. It maybe ascending or
descending
4. Progression- refers to the intervals between the tones
5. Register – is the relative highness or lowness of the aggregate tones of a melody.