Grade 1:1 - Introduction to Musical Notes
- Tom Glasson
- Mar 21, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Introduction
Welcome to the Grade 1 Music theory series!
This series will introduce music theory from the very beginning and by the end, you will have an understanding of most musical concepts and be able to read and write sheet music.
Learning music can be massively rewarding, wether you want to learn how to write or play music, or just gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the music you love listening to. You are at the start of an incredible journey, I'm excited for you!
If you need any help along your way, I'm always happy to be there for you, so get in touch at any time tom@musictheorycentre.com
Before you start, there is a pdf below which contains all the terms, signs and symbols you may come across in grade 1. This will be a really useful tool as you study music, download it now and refer to it whenever you need to.
On to lesson 1...
Video Lesson:
This is the first lesson of Grade 1 music theory. The first few lessons of this series will introduce the basics of music to you. We are starting by looking at the musical notes, these are the symbols used to write music.
When music is written down, it is formed from different symbols, or notes. These are written onto something called a stave, or staff. You may have seen this before.
We’ll go into more detail later, but this is where the music is written.
On the stave, There are always 5 lines, numbered 1 to 5, from the bottom. The horizontal axis represents time, from left to right, which forms rhythm and the vertical axis represents pitch, how high or low a note sounds this is called harmony. Together the pitch and rhythm create a melody.
In a piece of music, the stave is split into bars, like this.
We will see how these work in lesson 2 - Bars & Time Signatures.
First, let’s look at how we write music onto this stave.
Musical Notes
Music is represented by ‘notes’, which are drawn onto the stave. There are different symbols that represent the notes and they have different meanings. Here are the notes you will need for grade 1. There are others we will come across in later grades.
There are 2 different names for each note, referred to as the US and the UK naming system.
Both systems are widely used, and not limited to those countries. The US system is often used in genres such as Jazz or Rock, even in the UK. I have had to use both systems and it is worth being aware of both styles so that you can easily communicate with other musicians, in any situation.
For that reason I will use both styles throughout the book, and you will become familiar with them over time. The US fractional names are particularly useful to learn because they tell you exactly the function of the note. We are about to see why, but simply, a quarter note is worth a quarter of a whole note, and so on...
The Traditional or UK names can be confusing because they don’t mean anything but as you become familiar with them they will become second nature.
We will learn how these notes are used over the next two lessons.
The next lesson moves on to how the stave is split up to create different rhythms, when you are ready, click the link below to move on to lesson 2.
A Free Gift for you...
Download the Grade 1 Music Theory Workbook - An Introduction to Music Theory for free. The workbook teaches you the entire content of Grade 1 music theory from start to finish. It contains activities, with answers, to test your knowledge and give you chance to practice what you are learning.
There are 19 sections, covering every topic as well as reference sheets and materials which will come in handy as you study.
Click here to check it out.
