Introduction
Welcome to Part II of our Music Notation Basics Series. The Series provides a foundation in the very basic aspects of written music, hopefully with just a little something more. It is for those members who have asked for material that allows them to start at the beginning.
In Part I we presented the music staff, how the bass and treble clefs are related, and how we label notes. We introduced some language that may not have been familiar, and gave you a few basic working definitions of words such as pitch, tone, staff and note.
Part I presented a vertical view of the music Staff—an 'up and down' view—and how we use it to imply pitch. I planned for Part II to expand a bit on Part I topics, but to mostly focus on a horizontal view--one that showed how we use the staff (and notes) to depict time. This two-dimensional theme of 'staff as graph' is shown below.
But, there were still many basics I didn't cover in Part I, so the topics that relate to how music behaves in time will be deferred until Part III. So, this article continues with more material related to pitch:
- Moveable C & percussion clefs.
- Key signatures and how they relate to major and relative minor scales.
- Three new accidentals.
- How accidentals are used to override a key signature.
- Transposing & so-called 'transposing instruments'.
So that covers what I wanted to say about pitch-related notation. I'm going to encourage others to contribute later on what I'd call 'pitch ornamentation' notations—things like bends, slides, vibrato and so on. Maybe we'll give those topics a guitar spin, or maybe we can use examples from other instruments—the guitar isn't the only instrument in the world that can do this stuff, you know!
Moveable C & Percussion Clefs
In Part I we mentioned the bass and treble clefs and how they were born from the splitting of the Grand Staff. I did not mean to imply these were the only two staves in music. Just like any piece of graph paper, the staff can refer to any set of notes you choose—you simply need a symbol to place on the staff that shows what note a selected space or line on the staff refers to. As you learned in Part I, that is exactly what a clef does…it tells you what note the composer intends for some specific line of the staff.
Long ago, musicians selected a clef that specifies the location of Middle C. Now, we already learned that Middle C was the leger line just below the treble clef (and the leger just above the bass clef). That's true, but so long as I tell you first, I can put any note any where I choose to. So, if I tell you Middle C is the 2nd line on the staff (from the bottom), don't you automatically know what the rest of the staff represents? Of course you do.
The 'moveable C' clefs are examples of how I can use the staff as a piece of graph paper. Just like the F clef and the G clef 'point to' F and G respectively, the moveable C clef points to Middle C—and I can place it anywhere I want on the staff. Two common C-clef placements are shown below.
The first moveable C clef above is the alto clef, and the second one is the tenor clef. Notice that the clef is centered on and highlights a particular line of the staff. Whichever line the clef is centered over is automatically assigned as Middle C.
Now, this would not be Music if there were no exceptions. Musicians want to use the staff even when pitch has little meaning—to write only ideas of rhythm. What we need is a 'clef' that tells you, “There is no up-down (pitch) meaning implied by this staff”. For instruments where it is felt that pitch is not too important, for selected percussion parts for example, several clefs are commonly used. I've shown these below.
Key Signatures
In Part I we covered the idea of modifying the natural notes by using the sharp and flat operators, or accidentals as we called them. You will often see a number of accidentals immediately to the right of the clef symbol, although sometimes there are not any at all. The set of accidentals that you see next to the clef is called the key signature. Shown below are three examples. This is what we will cover next.
If you do not know how a major scale is defined, no problem. In that case, I recommend you look at Guni's Chord Scales series of articles though, because so many aspects of music theory begin with the major scale, and can be easily remembered by using it.
For now, just know that the notes of the C major scale are as follows:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B
There are no sharps or flats in this major scale, and in Part I you learned that these notes are called the natural notes. When a piece of music is written using just these notes, musicians say the music is written “in C major”, “in the key of C” or simply "in C". All phrases mean the same thing.
Since the key of C has no sharps or flats, its key signature has none, either. A piece of music written in the key of C will have no accidentals at all immediately to the right of the clef.
The C major scale is a great starting point for creating the remaining eleven major scales. A common way to do this is to write out the notes of C major, beginning with C just as I did above. Then, follow two simple rules to create the rest of the scales. The rules come from what is known as the Cycle of Keys. There are actually two cycles of keys—one is the cycle of fourths, the other is the cycle of fifths. We will use one cycle to create half of the major scales, then the other cycle to complete the other half.
Creating the Major Scales from C Major
Begin by writing down the notes of C major:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B
We will create the first half of the twelve major scales by following two simple steps. First, re-write the previous major scale (in this case, C major) beginning on the fifth note of that scale:
G – A – B – C – D – E – F
Next, sharp the seventh note of the new scale:
G – A – B – C – D – E – F#
You have created a new major scale, G major. Notice that G major has one sharp note. The key signature used to show that a piece of music is in the key G is shown below.
Notice that this key signature is a) immediately to the right of the clef, and b) has one sharp accidental on the line of the staff that represents the note F. Pretty simple--so let's do it again.
This time though, begin with the new G major scale as our starting point. We will follow the same two-step process, first by writing the scale beginning with the fifth note, just as we did with the C major scale:
D – E – F# - G – A – B – C
and finishing by sharping the seventh note of the new scale:
D – E – F# - G – A – B – C#
This is D major. Here is the key signature for D major.
Notice that the D major scale has two sharps (F# and C#), and that the key signature has two sharp accidentals on the staff, one on the 'F' and one on the 'C' space.
Notice the order of placement of the accidentals in the key signature. From left to right, they are in the same order they are appearing as we create our scales. Repeat the process we just completed, but begin this time with the D major scale. Again, first step is to rewrite it beginning on its fifth note (A). The second step is to sharp the seventh note of the new scale (in this case F). THe result is A major:
A major: A – B – C# - D – E – F# - G#
Repeating this simple process two more times produces E major and B major:
E major: E – F# - G# - A – B – C# - D#
B major: B – C# - D# - E – F# - G# - A#
Let's stop at this poit and notice the order that we gathered sharped notes as we made the major scales. They appeared in the following order: F#, then C#, then G#, D# and A#. Here is the key signature for our final scale, B major.
Sure enough, the accidentals in this key signature come in the same order, read from left to right.
At this point we have created five new major scales, beginning with C major, choosing the fifth note as the new starting point, and sharping the seventh note of the new scale. That was making use of the cycle of fifths I mentioned. Before moving on to create the remaining major scales, let's make a note of something useful. The last accidental that appears in all of the above key signatures is one half-step below the note name of the key itself. So for example, the last sharp to appear in the key signature for A major is G#. G# is one half-step below A. For B major, the last sharp to appear in the key signature is A#, which is one half-step below B. This fact will help you quickly recognize the name of a key from its key signature.
Now, we are going to being with C major as our starting point again, but this time we will apply a different two-step process, based this time on the cycle of fourths. As always, we begin with C major:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B
Step one is to re-write the previous scale, but beginning on its fourth note:
F – G – A – B – C – D – E
Step two is to then flat the fourth note:
F – G – A – Bb – C – D – E
Voila! There is our sixth new major scale, F major. Here is the key signature for F major.
So, the key signature for F major shows a single flat, surprisingly enough, on the line of the staff that means B.
I'll do it just one more time, so you can do the rest yourself. Remember the steps—first take the previous scale and re-write it beginning on its fourth note:
Bb – C – D – E – F – G – A
then flat the fourth note of the new scale:
Bb – C – D – Eb – F – G – A
The new scale is Bb major. The new flat is Eb, and so you will expect a new accidental in the key signature, on E, just to the right of the flat that is on B.
Continue this process until we have little left to do, and you will create all the remaining major scales, in order:
Eb major: Eb – F – G – Ab – Bb – C – D
Ab major: Ab – Bb – C – Db – Eb – F – G
Db major: Db – Eb – F – Gb – Ab – Bb – C
Gb major: Gb – Ab – Bb – Cb – Db – Eb – F
I stop here because the next step would be to create a scale that looks like this:
Cb – Db – Eb – Fb – Gb – Ab – Bb
If you rename each of these notes using their enharmonic names (discussed in Part I), you will see that this scale is exactly the same as one that we have already created. The key signature for the last scale we made above, Gb major is shown below.
You can check for yourself to see that these accidentals appear, from left to right, in the same order they appeared as we built our major scales. We had a little 'trick' for identifying the name of a key from its key signature for the major scales that contain sharps, and we also have one for these major scales--the ones containing flats. The next-to-last flat that appears in these key signatures has the same name as the key itself. You'll just have to remember what F major looks like--it only has one flat!
The pattern of sharps or flats that appear in each key signature are standard and never change. When key signatures are shown with other clefs, such as the bass clef, they are simply shifted up or down so that they are positioned correctly over the lines and spaces of the staff. The left-to-right pattern remains the same regardless of clef.
Finally, the figure below depicts a mnemonic I use to help me remember the relationship between the number of sharps and flats in a given key and what order the key comes in when the major scales are created the way I just showed.
In the figure above, I've listed the names of the major scales from top to bottom in the order we generated them using the cycle of keys. Then, a horizonatal line separates the scales into two groups: C major and all the scales having from 1 to 5 sharps appear above the line, and all the scales having from 1 to 6 flats are shown below the line.
Also notice the pair of braces to the left of the list of scale names. These braces highlight the ordered sets of scales whose names begin with B, E, A, D and G. I find 'BEADG' easy to remember, and useful. You can relate these ideas to the number of sharps or flats you see in a key signature until your recognition is automatic. If you find it hard for this to become automatic because you don't spend that much time with music, you have a scheme to fall back on, and you know where the scheme comes from.
Using Key Signatures
You could make a lifelong career as a successful musician without ever knowing how key signatures are created. But, you now know what they are, where the flats and sharps come from, what scales they pertain to and why the sharps and flats are written in the order they are. Why do we even care?
Here is a short piece of music in B major. The notes of this scale are B - C# - D# - E - F# - G# - A#, and I've used a number of those notes here:
Ignore what this sounds like and focus instead on what it looks like. There are just seven notes here, but four of them use accidentals. Imagine an entire composition where nearly all the A, C, D, F and G notes have accidentals in front of them. It would be tedious, and hard to read. Let's look at the same award-winning composition using a key signature:
What happened? The key signature—over there on the left next to the clef—tells you that the music is in B major (“in the key of B”). But, it also says this: every A, C, D, F and G that appears in this music is to be played as though there were a sharp; that is, as though the note had a '#' in front of it. In other words, the sharps are understood, not written. Also, because none of these notes has an accidental in front of it, it also tells you they are all members of the indicated key. That seems handy.
The Natural Accidental
You may be wondering what to do if, in your composition, you want to write a note that does not agree with what the key signature indicates. In the last example above, we said the key signature means all Fs are to be sharped. As a composer, I'm certainly free to write in B major, but occassionally use an F natural! How do you write an F natural? You do this using the new accidental I promised earlier, called the natural. I show it below:
The natural appears in front of the F. It always appears in front of the note just like the sharp and the flat, and it 'overrides' or 'takes precedence over' what the key signature says to do. In Part III, I will provide some rules that apply to all accidentals that make it easier to read and write music using them. For now, just think of the natural accidental as temporarily canceling the key signature for a particular note.
Other Accidentals
There are two more accidentals I need to introduce, then you will have seen them all. The first is the double sharp, the other the double flat.
A single sharp raises the tone of a note by a semitone, and so a double sharp raises it by two semi-tones, or a whole tone. The double-sharp looks like an 'x', often with four dots at the left, right, top and bottom of the 'x'. The double flat lowers the tone of a note by a whole tone, and is written using two flats side-by-side ('bb').
Now, since by now you know that there are two semi-tones between say C and D, you may wonder why I'd ever write Cx (C##) instead of just D. Or, why you would ever write Dbb instead of C, for example. For this Basic Notation series, let me just say that sometimes we might not want to change the letter name of the note. Leaving the note name 'C' and just adding the double sharp, instead of using the letter name 'D', may convey some other important fact to the musician. This is a detail that is good to set to the side for now.
Transposing
In Part I we learned how the lines and spaces of the staff correspond to specific note names. The bass and treble staffs are shown below, labeled with the note names for review.
The location of the note names on these staffs is standard and is never changed for any given clef. But, in Part I, I described how music for guitar is written one octave higher than the instrument actually sounds. This is a standard practice, and results in guitar music that is generally more centered on the treble clef. The example below shows that, to sound out a Middle C on guitar, guitar music will actually show the C in the 3rd space of the treble staff. We say the music has been 'transposed', or shifted, up one octave.
Other instruments also play tones that are one octave lower than the music written for them, including the string bass and bassoon. On the other hand, piccolo music is written one octave lower than the notes actually played.
What these examples have in common is that the music written and the notes played have the same names. Music for guitar, string bass and piccolo will all show a 'C' when the composer wants the instrument to produce a C. The same is of course true for all other notes as well, not just C. These instruments are said to play in 'concert pitch', and for convenience, are called "C instruments".
The music for some instruments, however, is shifted (transposed) by an amount other than an octave. You may have heard the term 'Bb clarinet' or 'Bb cornet' in school. These are called 'Bb instruments' because when the music for these instruments includes the note C, these instruments actually produce a Bb below that written C.
So, music for Bb instruments is transposed up two semitones to compensate for this fact, and to ensure the musician plays in concert pitch--that is, plays with everyone else! You can therefore find 'Bb Edition' fakebooks or other sheetmusic, where the transposing has been done for you. Below is a section of an etude previously published here at iBreathemusic. The first is the etude as written for a C instrument. If this music were handed to a clarinetist, the actual tones produced when played would be those shown on the second section of music below. Notice that these notes are each a whole tone below the corresponding notes in the first section.
Tenor and soprano saxophones are also Bb instruments, but alto and baritone saxophones are Eb instruments. The naming convention is the same as for Bb instruments: when music for an Eb instrument includes a C, the instrument actually produces an Eb. Alto sax music is transposed up nine semitones, from Eb up to C, but the baritone sax is shifted nine semitones PLUS a full octave more. You will see music labeled 'for Eb instruments' or simply 'Eb Edition'. Instruments such as Bb and Eb instruments, where the music is transposed by some amount other than an octave, are called 'transposing instruments'. Even though guitar music is transposed, it is a C instrument--it plays C when the written note is a C. C instruments are not usually referred to as transposing instruments.
Next time you look at published sheet music such as The Ultimate Jazz Fakebook, for example, notice that the books are available in a variety of editions, including C Edition, Eb Edition, Bb Edition and so on. You now know what this means and that, for guitar, you want the C Edition. You also know now that these labels do not mean that the music in the book has been written in the key of C or Bb. It means all of the music has been written for play by C instruments, Bb instruments or what have you. But, C Edition music has NOT been transposed for guitar. Since it is written for all C instruments, some of which are transposed and some of which are not (such as piano), you have to do the one-octave transposing yourself.
I added all this material because I felt it is a simple but very important thing to know as you start reading music notation, and it all has to do with how we place notes on a staff vertically, which was the main theme of Parts I and II of this Series. Plus, I also felt that we often stumble across the idea of transposing instruments accidentally--it is not a topic that seems to be covered at the right time to me.
Summary and Exercises
SUMMARY
As in Part I, I have again described the staff as a graphic, or pictorial, device that gives us a sense of 'up and down' to music. You should have the idea that the staff can mean exactly what we want it to--so long as we use accepted symbols to tell us what one line or one space stands for. We use clefs to specify what the note values on the staff are.
Since a lot of music is written using notes that belong to a particular major scale, it is handy to list the sharps or flats for that scale in one place called a key signature. Then, we know to play those sharps and flats wherever the corresponding notes occur in the music, unless we are told otherwise by an accidental.
Accidentals are symbols that tell us to sharp or flat a note (or to play the natural note), and can be used to override the key signature. The use of key signatures and accidentals makes written music less cluttered and easier to read. I also showed how the key signatures are written based on how the scales are built, starting with the C major scale.
Finally, I got back to the idea that we are free to place our music on the staff wherever we choose, so long as common practice among composers and musicians ensures the right notes get played. So, to accomodate the ranges of instruments and how they are played, we can shift music on the staff for specific sets of instruments. We name these different sets of instruments based on how much the music for them is typically shifted, or transposed.
You now have a good set of basics regarding how the staff is used in a vertical sense. You know the origins of the staff from a piano keyboard view, the notation that tells us how the staff is being used, and some idea of just how flexible those rules can be. I think you now have a good basis to move on to another important dimension of music--the time dimension.
I hope you had fun with Part II. In Music Notation Basics Part III, I promise to provide a view of the 'temporal' or time dimension of music that is as naive and bizarre as the presentations in Parts I and II. You should expect no less!
EXERCISES
In exercises 1 through 4 below, write the name of each note on the staff. Look at the clef first, check for a key signature, determine the note name, then apply any accidental that may appear with the note. Git 'er done!
1.
2.
3.
4.
ANSWERS
1. D, Ab, G, C, E
2. C#, A, G, C#, E
3. A, D, B, A, Eb
4. B, E, C, B, Gb