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Course: Music | All-Star Orchestra > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Reading music- Lesson 1: Staff, names of notes, treble clef
- Lesson 2: Ledger lines and the octave
- Lesson 3: Bass clef, grand staff and the octave
- Lesson 4: Reading music in treble clef and the C Major scale
- Lesson 5: C Major scale in bass clef and reading in bass clef
- Lesson 6: Alto and tenor clefs.
- Lesson 7: Accidentals
- Lesson 8: Natural sign, more on accidentals and key signature
- Lesson 9: More on sharps and flats
- Lesson 10: Chromatic scales and the half step
- Glossary of musical terms
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Lesson 4: Reading music in treble clef and the C Major scale
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Why there so many dots above the notes (at01:32)? I count six of them surrounding the boldface 2 (at the center and bottom of the screen).(7 votes)
Those dots are articulations, which are symbols emphasizing ways to play notes differently. In this case the dots are staccatos, which mean to play the notes short and stopped. There are other articulations than staccato, an accent is represented as a sideways v showing the musician to play the note with force throughout its duration, tenuto is represented as a horizontal line whish shows to play the note smoothly, ad many others.(10 votes)
In one of the music sheets in the video there was a note that had a "a2" on it what does that mean?(8 votes)
I don't think that's it, Samuel. Classical music scores don't usually include the names of the chords.
Notice how, up until measure 7, there are two different parts written on the same staff for the flutes (flauti). But then at measure 7 there's only one line of notes on the staff. "a2" means that both of the flute players will play these notes. Nowadays, we would write "unison" when we want musicians to do this.(5 votes)
My question is slightly off topic. Which orchestras have the finest combination of technical and artistic musicians? I am searching for inspiration :)(7 votes)
The answer to your question would be subjective, so the best answer here would be to search and listen to a bunch of orchestras and choose the best for yourself.(6 votes)
How do you make a orchestra with only Bass Clef's(5 votes)- Don't listen to Willis, write for whatever instruments you want! I've heard some pretty good trombone quartets. Granted, that's not an orchestra, but still.(7 votes)
- So is a C major scale ANY acending/decending notes on a cleff from C to another C?(7 votes)
The C major scale goes C D E F G A B C. If any of those notes are different it's not a C major scale.(6 votes)
- Why does the music sheet in the video have notes that look kinda "ripped".
Why?(6 votes)- Are you talking about those notes on the second page that have a slash through them? Those are called grace notes. You would play that note really quickly right before the big note it's slurred to.(6 votes)
Complete newbie to music theory here, so forgive my ignorance.
Why are some notes connected with a line? What difference does it make?(5 votes)
Actually, to give more information to both you and future readers, the beams designate notes that have a smaller value than a quarter. For example, an eigth note would have one beam, a sixteenth note would have two, a thirty-second note would have three, and so on. No, the beams do not change the note, but they make it easier for the musician to read and tell which note it is.(5 votes)
I still don't understand what they mean when they say C major or A minor. I know that minor is a bit sad and major is more uplifting but what do the letters specify?(5 votes)
The letters represent how many sharps or flats are being played. So a C Major scale has no sharps or flats and an A Minor scale has no sharps or flats also. Usually in a band you like in college or some high schools you have to memorize all of the twelve major scales. I hope I am not confusing you more and this helps.(4 votes)
Why is there two clefs for one scale, can't there just be one?(4 votes)
If you are referring to what was shown at1:50, both of these scales are actually part of one scale of two octaves. These notes are all written using the same clef, the treble clef, however, the first series of notes are an octave (eight notes) above the other series of notes.(6 votes)
- In songs I am wondering how do you know the time signature for it?(4 votes)
- The time signature is always located at the beginning of a piece, and sometimes the time signature changes throughout the piece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature(6 votes)
01:32
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Now let's read some music using these two clefs. For the treble clef, let's look at the beginning
of the last movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony. First, let's look at
the notes that are used in the melody played by
the treble instruments beginning on C, the third space, then E, the fourth space, G on the top of the staff, and then descending FEDCDC. (stately orchestral music) Now the next part of the melody or phrase. C to D, D to E, and then a scale from the third space C to the C with two ledger lines an octave above the third space C. (stately orchestral music) A scale is a series of single notes ascending or descending stepwise. Any note that connects
to the previous note without skipping a letter
in the naming of the note is a step. The notes also must connect
from a space to a line or a line to a space directly next to it. In the Beethoven fifth example, we have a series of notes
that connect in this way, CDEF, EFGA, GABC. If we look at the bracketed notes, we create a C major scale, CDEFGABC. We can also do this scale on
the treble clef an octave lower staring with the ledger
line below the staff. Again, CDEFGABC. More about scales and steps later. Here is this passage
from the Beethoven fifth played by the full orchestra. We will highlight the treble instruments playing these notes. (stately orchestral music)