Classical Notation and Sight-Reading
Classical musical notation features a unique set of symbols designed to convey virtually all relevant information about a musical work. Unlike guitar tablature, it applies equally to most instruments.
Contents
Staff
The Staff is a set of 5 parallel, horizontal lines that form the majority of "ink on the page". These correspond to pitch, with lower pitches towards the lowest line and higher pitches towards the highest. Notes are marked on top of a line, or between a pair of them.
Ledger Lines
Sometimes notes have pitch lower or higher than the lowest or highest line of the staff. To accommodate this, the notation uses Ledger Lines, additional lines drawn above or below the staff. Unlike the staff, however, ledger lines are short line fragments that are only as long as necessary for one or several consecutive notes that do not fit on the staff.
Key and Accidentals
The Key is implied by a series of sharp or flat symbols on the staff lines/spaces after the clef (or their absence in the keys of C Major or A Minor). They indicate to play the sharped/flatted note for any note appearing on that line or space throughout the entire piece, until another key marking is indicated.
The key indicated can be overridden in any individual measure by using sharp, flat, or natural symbols to the left of the note. Once a single such marking appears, that variant of that note will persist for the duration of the measure without additional markings; however, it can still be overridden within the measure.
Clef
The Clef is typically the first marking one notices on the staff. It is a large, peculiar looking symbol, whose purpose is to indicate which notes align with the lines of the staff. The two most common clefs are the Treble Clef and Bass Clef. The Treble Clef is used more often, aligning with the range of most classical instruments. Bass Clef is used for lower-pitched instruments. Piano commonly uses both Treble and Bass Clef.
Treble Clef aligns with the notes E G B D F on the lines from lowest to highest and F A C E in the spaces between them.
Time Signature
The Time Signature appears like a fraction, with one number over another, separated by a slanted line. The top number indicates the number of beats per measure, and the bottom number indicates the type of note that equals a single beat. The most common time signature is 4/4, indicating 4 beats per measure, with a quarter (1/4) note equaling one beat.
The time signature not only determines the speed of the piece, by aligning the note markings to each beat of the tempo, but implies the rhythm or meter of the piece. The measures should roughly align to discrete musical ideas (melodies, harmonic progressions, etc.). By determining the number of beats per measure, the time signature creates a visual organization to the piece.
Notes and Rhythm
Note markings are vertically aligned on the staff to determine their pitch. Rests are placed in the middle of the staff, as they have no pitch content, only rhythm. The different symbols used to indicate notes and rests determine their duration, in terms of beats (dependent on the time signature). Here are the most common notes:
- Whole Note
- Half Note
- Quarter Note
- Eighth Note
- Sixteenth Note
- Thirty-Second Note
- Whole Rest
- Half Rest
- Quarter Rest
- Eighth Rest
- Sixteenth Rest
- Thirty-Second Rest
Notice the flags on the notes shorter than a quarter note. When such notes appear consecutively, bars are used in place of the flags, so the notes are "barred" together for each beat. For example, this helps indicate that 2 eighth or 4 sixteenth notes equal the same duration as a single quarter note.
Additional durations can be formed in several ways. The simplest is the placement of a dot behind the note. This indicates that the note should be its normal duration plus half its normal duration. Thus, a dotted half note in 4/4 time lasts 3 beats, or the same as a half note and a quarter note.
Two notes of the same pitch that appear consecutively can be "slurred" together with a curved line above or below them. This indicates to sustain the first note that much longer. For example, a half note and quarter note slurred together are equivalent to 3 beats in 4/4, or a dotted half note.
Tuplets are indicated the same way they are in tab, with a bracket above the notes and the ratio or number above that.
Measures
Measures indicate organization, often numbered to quickly refer to a section or place in the piece. Each measure is bound on the left and right by a pair of vertical lines from the top to bottom of the lines of the staff. Consecutive measures are divided by a single bar between them.