Understanding Basic Music Theory - Catherine Schmidt-Jones [9]
Figure 1.51. Stem Direction
Keep stems and beams in or near the staff, but also use stem direction to clarify rhythms and parts when necessary.
Note
Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey! It was very useful to me, both as a researcher and as an author, to get a better picture of my readers' goals and needs. I hope to begin updating the survey results module in April. I will also soon begin making some of the suggested additions, and emailed comments are still welcome as always.
Solutions to Exercises
Solution to Exercise 1.6.1. (Return to Exercise)
Figure 1.52.
Duration: Rest Length*
A rest stands for a silence in music. For each kind of note, there is a written rest of the same length.
Figure 1.53. The Most Common Rests
Exercise 1.7.1. (Go to Solution)
For each note on the first line, write a rest of the same length on the second line. The first measure is done for you.
Figure 1.54.
Rests don't necessarily mean that there is silence in the music at that point; only that that part is silent. Often, on a staff with multiple parts, a rest must be used as a placeholder for one of the parts, even if a single person is playing both parts. When the rhythms are complex, this is necessary to make the rhythm in each part clear.
Figure 1.55.
When multiple simultaneous rhythms are written on the same staff, rests may be used to clarify individual rhythms, even if another rhythm contains notes at that point.
The normal rule in common notation is that, for any line of music, the notes and rests in each measure must "add up" to exactly the amount in the time signature, no more and no less. For example, in 3/4 time, a measure can have any combination of notes and rests that is the same length as three quarter notes. There is only one common exception to this rule. As a simplifying shorthand, a completely silent measure can simply have a whole rest. In this case, "whole rest" does not necessarily mean "rest for the same length of time as a whole note"; it means "rest for the entire measure".
Figure 1.56.
A whole rest may be used to indicate a completely silent measure, no matter what the actual length of the measure will be.
Note
Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey! It was very useful to me, both as a researcher and as an author, to get a better picture of my readers' goals and needs. I hope to begin updating the survey results module in April. I will also soon begin making some of the suggested additions, and emailed comments are still welcome as always.
Solutions to Exercises
Solution to Exercise 1.7.1. (Return to Exercise)
Figure 1.57.
Time Signature*
Note
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The time signature appears at the beginning of a piece of music, right after the key signature. Unlike the key signature, which is on every staff, the time signature will not appear again in the music unless the meter changes. The meter of a piece of music is its basic rhythm; the time signature is the symbol that tells you the meter of the piece and how (with what type of note) it is written.
Figure 1.58.
The time signature appears at the beginning of the piece of music, right after the clef symbol and key signature.
Beats and Measures
Because music is heard over a period of time, one of the main ways music is organized is by dividing that time up into short periods called beats. In most music, things tend to happen right at the beginning of each beat. This makes the beat easy to hear and feel. When you clap your hands, tap your toes, or dance, you are "moving to the beat". Your claps are sounding at the beginning of the beat, too. This is also called being "on the downbeat", because it is the time when the conductor's baton hits the bottom of its path and starts moving up again.
Example 1.4.
Listen to excerpts A, B, C and D. Can you clap your hands, tap your feet, or otherwise