Reading Music Page 2 of 3

Now that you understand ‘pitch’, let’s look at the other component of a note; its duration or note-value. The note-values most commonly used in traditional music are the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes. We count the duration of a note in ‘beats’.

Notes with flags      are usually joined together into groups   ,   thus making them easier to read:

Bar-lines are used to give structure to written music: the space between two bar-lines is called a ‘bar’ (or ‘measure’ in the U.S.A.). A double bar-line indicates the end of a piece.

A double bar-line with two dots before it means that you must repeat that section of music. You do this by returning to the beginning (which is usually the case in traditional music) or by returning to the previous double bar-line. Let’s try putting that much together. In the examples below each bar contains four beats. Count to four for each bar and clap where a note falls:

1) Dots
By placing a dot after a note, the note’s value is increased to one-and-a-half times its normal value. For example, if you place a dot after a quarter-note, its value becomes 1 ½ beats instead of the normal one beat. A dotted whole-note would have a duration of six beats instead of the normal four beats.

2) Ties
A ‘tie’ may also be used to link two (or more) notes of the same pitch together. Ties are often used over bar-lines or when the held note continues over the main pulse of the bar. The note duration then becomes the combined total of the two notes.

Though sound is obviously the principal element of music, silence is also an integral element. Silence is depicted by ‘rests’. Each note value you have learned has a corresponding rest value. Any combination of notes and rests may be employed, the only rule being that there is the correct number of beats in the bar.

A ‘time signature’ tells us two important things:
1) How many beats in a bar
2) what type of note value equals one beat.

4/4 or Common Time

Every piece of music has a time signature at the beginning of the staff which determines the ‘metre’ and overall rhythm of the piece. In 4/4 time (or common time (C) as it is known) there may be 2 half-notes, 4 quarter-notes, 8 eighth-notes etc., in a bar or any combination of those values (including rests) that adds up to four quarter-note beats.

¾ or Waltz Time

3/4 time, or ‘waltz time’ as it is commonly called, implies 3 beats in the bar and that a quarter note is equal to one beat.

It is evident that there are four quarter-note beats in a bar of 4/4, and that there are three quarter-note beats in a bar of 3/4. However, a less obvious but intrinsic element suggested by the time signature is the inherent pattern of accented and unaccented beats. In 3/4 time, for example there is one stress (on beat one) in a bar. In 4/4 however, there is a strong accent on beat one and a weaker stress on beat three. These stresses occur where one would normally clap hands or tap one’s foot. 4/4 time is used to notate marches, hornpipes, and reels. 2/4, which has two beats in the bar, but only one stress on beat one, is used to notate polkas.

‘Compound time signatures’ are also very common in traditional music. A compound time signature differs from a ‘simple time signature’ (2/4, 4/4, etc.) in that the stresses are always grouped in multiples of three. The most common in traditional music-because it is the time signature of a double jig-is 6/8.

As you can see from the example above, there are six beats in the bar. An eighth-note is equal to one beat, and the accents occur every three beats on beats one and four.

There are two other popular compound time signatures in traditional music:
1) 9/8, with three accents per bar. A traditional tune in this metre is called a Slip Jig.

2) And 12/8 with four accents in a bar. An Irish tune in this metre is called a Slide or Single Jig.