|
Notes can be read like math (oh what fun, right?). Notes are divided up into main types. Whole notes (4 counts), half notes (2 counts), quarter notes (1 count), and eigth notes (1/2 a count), this goes on, but let's stay simple for now. The notes lay on a bar, or 5 horizontal lines. The song is divided up into measures. Each measure is a division of the piece of music. Notice in Redlemons post, after every 4 notes there is a line that intersects the bar. In the beginning of a song is your time signature. This is the set of two numbers, one atop the other. The top number tells you how many beats are in a measure. The bottom assigns worth to those beats. For example: 4/4 time means that there are 4 beats per measure, and each beat is given a quarter of value of the measure. Again, in Redlemons post, you see there are 4 quarter notes (quarter note is a vertical line with a solid oval attached to it) in every measure. This is because it is in 4/4. I know I'm going too fast, but rereading is a great tool of the forum, right? If those were in 3/4, or 3 beats per measure and 1/4 value for the notes. So there would be only 3 quarter notes.
I want you to count outloud to 4 over and over again. Now do it to a song. Go turn on the radio to a pop station or jazz or counrty or whatever. Odds are that the song is in 2/2, 2/4, or 4/4, so you can count outloud in 4s to the music. Get the feel of how the beats coincide with the song. You are counting off measures. every time you begin a new set of 4, you are in a new measure. One you have that down, try to look for songs that are in 3/4. Songs that feel like down, up, up in their beat are usually 3/4.
This is enough for now. Please PM or post here if you have any questions.
I am a music major, so I should be able to explain most of this stuff (but I hope I don't have to pull out the old textbooks, I am a bit rusty).
|