The Basic Guide to How to Read Music

by Helen Cooper

Overview

(Music Sales America). This basic guide takes the reader through rhythm, scales and intervals, keys, and tonality, right through to score reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780825623097
Publisher:	Music Sales America
Publication date:	01/01/1992
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.21(d)

About the Author

Helen M. Cooper is associate professor of English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	6
1	Pitch
	The concept of pitch	10
	The Staff	10
	The clef	10
	Notes	11
	Leger lines	13
	Other clefs	13
	Naming notes	14
	Following the shape of a melody	15
2	Rhythm
	The concept of rhythm	18
	Rhythm values	18
	Simple rhythm values	18
	Compound rhythm values	19
	Note stems	20
	Flags and beams	20
	Rests	21
	Bars (measures) and barlines	22
	Stresses in music	22
	Time signatures	23
	Simple time signatures	23
	Compound time signatures	24
	The organization of rhythm values	30
	Learning to read rhythm patterns	32
	Tied notes	33
	Syncopation	35
	Triplets and duplets	36
3	The formal organization of pitch: the structure and notation of intervals, scales and keys
Section A	The piano keyboard	40
	Introduction	40
	Intervals	40
	The octave	40
	The piano keyboard	41
	Steps and half-steps	42
	Sharps, flats and naturals	42
Section B	The structure of the major scale	44
	The structure of the major scale	44
	The construction of subsequent sharp major scales	44
	Flat major scales	46
	Technical names for the degrees of the scale	48
	Intervals of the major scale	48
	Key signatures	50
	Enharmonic keys	51
	Key circles	51
	Double sharps and double flats	52
	Accidentals	53
Section C	The structure of the minor scale	54
	The structure of the minor scale	54
	Harmonic form	55
	Melodic ascending form	55
	Melodic descending form	55
	Comparison of major and minor forms	55
	The construction of subsequent sharp minor scales	56
	Flat minor scales	60
	The minor key circle	63
	The intervals of the minor scale	64
	Relative keys	65
Section D	The chromatic scale	66
	The chromatic scale	66
	The intervals of the chromatic scale	66
4	Transposition and score reading
	Transposition	70
	Transposing instruments	71
	The transposing instruments of the orchestra	72
5	Glossary of terms
	Tempo	76
	Dynamics	77
	Mood, feeling and style	77
	General terms	78
	Articulation	79
	Signs on the staff	79