Two Musical Questions You’ve Never Asked But Always Wondered About…

You know what we’re talking about. In all areas of our lives there are those little mysteries that don’t seem important to ask about but still, it would be nice to know. It’s not like the answer is going to change our lives in any meaningful way but it would close the book on one of life’s little mystery so we can move on to another.

Music has those little mysteries as well and although there are enough for dozens of articles, we thought we would pick two today.

Note Stems

You know what we mean when we say, note stems, right? It’s the stick that the flag sits on. The note head is the circle that tells you what the note actually is and the stem is the stick coming up from the circle. Sometimes the note stems face up while other times they face down and although the reason for that is very simple, it’s hard to find a clear explanation for that.

In actuality, most of the rules for writing music are functional instead of musical or artsy. Although it would be nice to tell a grand story of Beethoven sitting in a cabin on some European mountain coming up with stem direction rules, that’s not what happened.

It’s purely functional. As you know music is printed just like words. We read it left to right and when we get to the end of a line, we go down to the next. Because every piece of paper costs the publisher money, they want the staves as close together as they can be without sacrificing readability.
The magic line on the treble clef is the third line or “B” line. On the bass clef, it’s the third line “D”. When a note is at the third line or below, the stem is written up. When the line is at the third line or above, the stem is written down. If a note is on the third line, the composer can write it how they would like.

By following these rules, the music stays better contained in the staff which allows the publisher to include more lines of music on the page. It’s also a little easier to read.

What’s With the Funny Words?

Why are all of these different languages used in music? Why say ritard when you could say, slow down? Why say cantabile when you could say, singingly? You could but that’s not what the composer wrote and he or she is free to write whatever they would like. If you play music long enough, you’ll find some pretty “interesting” notes to the performer.

Composers, especially those of earlier periods tended to be very nationalistic because communication was such that the world wasn’t globalized the way it is now. They knew the word they wanted and they wrote it in their native tongue. The bulk of the traditional musical marking are Italian because of tradition. Some speculate that it’s origins come from the widely accepted father of modern music notation, Guido d’Arezzo, an Italian monk who created the solfege system.

All classically trained musicians learn the same terminology and like any tradition, it has been passed down over centuries.

Modern composers are increasingly using words that have more meaning. With the English language being taught in schools all over the world, many composers are now using English since more people have a fundamental knowledge of the language than they do Italian.

Remember…

Much of music has traditional roots and much of its rules are grounded in tradition. Often, that tradition has attached to it some very interesting stories.

Do you know about Duane’s Crash Course in Exciting Piano Playing?

Dotted notes in music.

Some things in music that should be easy just aren’t. If you’re having trouble wrapping your brain about some of the concepts that you think should be easy, don’t beat yourself up. Learning to read music isn’t any different than learning a new language. The world accepts the fact that learning Spanish, French, or Latin are difficult tasks but sometimes music doesn’t get the same credit. You’ve come this far and while there may be a little bit of distance yet to travel, be patient.

Today we’re going to help you with one of those concepts that many people have a tough time understanding: The dot! That little dot can cause so much trouble but once we’re done with it, you’re going to have very little trouble reading right through it.

The textbook definition of the dot is that when a dot is added to a note, it adds half of the notes value. We know…that really doesn’t help! To help us, we have to do a little math.

Remember that in meters like 4/4, A whole note gets 4 beats, a half note gets 2 beats, a quarter note gets 1 beat, and an eighth note gets ½ of a beat.

Now, let’s say that you are looking at a dotted half note. Let’s figure out how many total beats this note has. Without the dot, we know that the half note has 2 beats by itself. Remember that the dot adds half the value of the original note. Our half note has two beats so the dot will add half of that which is one beat. When we add the 2 beats of the original note with the 1 beat that the dot added, we have 3 total beats.

Clear as mud? Let’s look at a few:

How many beats are there in a dotted whole note? The whole note is 4 beats, the dot adds half of the 4 which is 2. 4+2=6 beats
How about a dotted quarter note? A quarter note has one beat, the dot adds half of the one beat which is ½ so a dotted quarter note has 1 ½ beats. Make sense?

Who came up with this confusing dot thing, anyway? The truth is that once you get the hang of the dot, it’s a lot easier to read than the alternatives that music publishers would have to use. When we write music we try our best to use the least amount of symbols as possible. If we can write something with a note and dot, that’s easier to read than writing multiple notes tied together.

If that doesn’t make you feel better about these dots, then just trust us. Once you get the hang of these dots, you’ll see how easy to read they are. Spend some time figuring out how to count dotted rhythms. You’ll be a pro in no time!

 Music is written in notation that includes a staff  (five horizontal lines), ledger lines, time and key signatures, and other symbols that tell what notes are to be played and how long they are to be played. In addition to notes, rests of varying lengths are used. They are represented by certain symbols, and appear in measures when needed. It’s very common to have both notes and rests in a single measure. Measures and bar lines (the vertical lines separating and defining a measure) give written music its structure.
Placement of notes occur on the staff of five lines and the four spaces between them. Notes that occur above or below the staff are marked with ledger lines. It’s this placement that determines the note’s name (pitch). For example, the note on the top line of the staff (treble clef) is the note F. The note in the second space of the staff is the note A. Notes of three or more played together are called chords and they appear as notes “stacked” on top of each other.
The notes used in modern notation are either “natural,” “sharp,” and “flat.” These words refer to the pitch of a note. For example, the notes Db (flat), D, and D # (sharp) are different notes (tones) from each other.  On piano, for example, the three notes are played in adjacent keys, left to right.
A musician must not only know how to play the notes displayed (such as the pressing the corresponding keys on a piano, or pressing the proper valves on a trumpet), but how long (duration) the note is to be played. Notes are measured in note values (length of time) using a system of ovals, dots, stems, and flags.
The time signature of a piece of music appears at the beginning of each line. Common time signatures include 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, and 6/8. The first, or top number, represents beats per measure. The second, or  bottom number, tells the musician what kind of note gets one beat. In other words, 3/4 time means there are three beats to a measure and a quarter note receives one beat. 6/8 time means there are six beats per measure and an eighth note receives one beat.
A number of different clefs are used to indicate how the music should be read. These include the G or treble clef, the C or alto clef, and the F or bass clef. These clefs tell the musician on which lines, spaces, or ledger lines the notes will appear. For example, in the treble clef, the first line of the staff is the note C. In the bass clef, the note on the first line is G. Most piano music is written for both clefs with the left hand playing (in general) the notes of the bass clef and the right hand playing the notes of the treble clef.
Music’s rhythm and tempo are determined by beats per minute (bpm) and the use of various words and phrases that define the style of the music. Other terms such as pianissimo and forte tell the musician how loudly or softly to play a note or passage. Also, there are markings that direct the musician to repeat a section, go back to the beginning of the piece, or to jump ahead to a certain point in the composition.