Music Theory Blog Episode 1: Musical Alphabet, and Note Values

By: Sulliadm

Musical alphabet
A-B-C-D-E-F-G Note: The symbol or letter associated with music Tone: The sound you hear from an instrument
Note: Note and tone should NOT be used interchangeably.

Octave: The distance from one tone to itself when repeating the alphabet. (A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A)
Practice saying the alphabet forwards and backwards. (A-G-F-E-DC-B-A)

Rhythm and Note Values

Rhythm: a repeating pulse, or beat. Tempo: The speed in which a piece should be played.
BPM = Beats Per Minute

2 types of beat: Strong beat and Weak beat.

Note values:

Whole Note (Beats 1-4) Half Note (Beats 1-2)

Quarter Note (Beat 1)

Eighth Note (Beats 1 &)

Sixteenth Note (Beats 1 e & a)

The Staff
Staff: The notation of how western music writes music 5 lines, and 4 spaces. Can hold either treble cleft or bass cleft.