Mime harp

Contents
Preface .................................................................................................................................. 2 Chapter One - Notes and Note Values .............................................................................................. 3 Chapter Two - Stave, Bar Lines and Time Signatures............................................................................. 7 Chapter Three - Notes on Stave and Clefs ....................................................................................... 12 Chapter Four - Rests and More on Note Values .................................................................................. 18 Chapter Five - The Major Scale.................................................................................................... 22 Chapter Six - The Chromatic Scale ................................................................................................ 25

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Preface

Welcome to this theory book! I want to tell you now that this won’t be like any other theory book that you have ever read. This theory book is going to be more relaxed and more fun. I believe that learning is much better when itfeels good and so, that is the feeling that we are going to try and create. When you start learning from this book you may find some things that you don’t fully understand. My advice for when this happens is to not worry about it. Music theory is a vast and complex topic and some things will take time to fully understand. Basically, in the beginning i will give you knowledge on a need to know basis;this way you won’t get overloaded. Let’s push on and get into the fun of learning music!

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Chapter One - Notes and Note Values
In this; the first lesson, we are going to look at notes and time values. Let’s first take a look at notes. Notes are a little tricky because, in music, the term ‘note’ has a few different meanings.

The definition of a musical note: A. A tone of definite pitch. B.A symbol for such a tone, indicating pitch by its position on the staff and duration by its shape. C. A key of an instrument, such as a piano. So let’s take a closer look at this. In music, the term ‘note’ can mean: A tone of definite pitch. Example: When you hit a key on a piano, you hear a tone of definite pitch Therefore, the tone that you hear can be called a ‘note’. Ok, that’s one example.Let’s look at another. The term ‘note’ can mean: The symbol for such a tone, indicating pitch by its position on the staff and duration by its shape. Example: Think about the piano again. When you hit a key you hear a pitch. For every pitch on a piano there is a musical symbol. These symbols are also called ‘notes’. Below is an example of the symbol for one type of note - The Whole Note:

This type of note is known as a whole note.

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Let’s look at some other types of notes.

  

This type of note is known as a half note. This type of note is known as a quarter note. This type of note is known as an eighth note.



This type of note is known as a sixteenth note.

So, we’ve looked at two meanings for the term ‘note’. Let’s now look at another. The third definitionfor the term ‘note’ is: The key of an instrument, such as a piano. A note can be the name of an actual physical key on an instrument. I’ll demonstrate this with the following diagram of a piano keyboard.

The keys of a piano keyboard can also be called notes. Above, the arrow is pointing to the note ‘C’.

C

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O.k. We’ve pretty much covered enough on notes for now. Let’s have a look atnote values. Below is a table that shows you each of the note types you have learnt so far and how they relate to one another.

Whole note Half note Quarter note Eighth note Sixteenth note

   

       









From the table above you can see that a whole note holds for the same amount of time as two half notes, two half notes hold for the same...