Posts Tagged ‘song’
Key Signature
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
A Key signature is shown to the right of the clef symbol and will show a series sharp symbols or flat symbols which can be interpreted to deduce which key the piece is written in.
The Key of a piece means that when playing a piece of music, certain notes may be sharpened or flattened by the pieces key signature unless overridden by a natural symbol or an extra sharp/flat symbol. Therefore, on a Key Signature such as D Major, where the sharps are F# and C# each C note you see on the notation is played as C# and not C natural.
The word / term Sharp means to increase the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.
The word / term Flat or Flatten means to decrease the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.
The Table Below outlines the various Key Signatures you may encounter. There are many others but these are simply the basic or most common key signatures.
| Common Key Signatures | ||
| Key | Description | Key Signature |
| C Major | No Flats |  |
| D Major | Two Sharps |  |
| E Major | Four Sharps |  |
| F Major | One Flat |  |
| G Major | One Sharp |  |
| A Major | Three Sharps |  |
| B Flat Major | Two Flats |  |
| B Major | Five Sharps |  |
Time Signatures
A Time Signature indicates how many beats there are in each bar and which note is to be used as a beat. This basic introduction to time signatures will assume that the crotchet is to be used as the one beat measure – therefore all times will be something:4 time. Certain time signatures lend themselves to certain styles of songs, e.g. most waltzes are written in 3:4 time, and the majority of rock songs would be based around 4:4 time.
| Time Signatures | Symbol | |
| 4:4 Time |  |
|
| 3:4 Time |  |
|
| 6:4 Time |  |
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Read Key Signatures in Music
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Ready to tackle the next lesson for learning to read sheet music? Musical key signatures are not all that difficult to understand when put into perspective. Just like a scale, music notes go up and down but in half steps instead of full.
Natural notes appear by themselves in written music. But sharps and flats have their own symbols:
 |
Sharp |
 |
Flat |
On a keyboard, a sharp note is the black key that’s one note higher than its natural counterpart (the white key). A flat is a black key that’s one note lower than its natural counterpart.
When sharps and flats are written into music as needed (next to the notes), they’re called accidentals. But sometimes they are shown at the beginning of a stave, right after the clef. In this case, they indicate a key signature.
Key signatures show which notes are to be played or sung as sharps or flats throughout the song. So if there’s a sharp sign on “F” and one on “C”, every “F” and “C” note throughout the song should be played as a sharp. There will be no “F” or “C” natural unless specifically indicated by a natural symbol:
 |
Natural |
Key signatures (in this case, D Major) indicate the general tone of a song, as well as where its basic scale begins and ends. For example, a song in the key of D is based on the D Major scale, which begins and ends with “D” — with “F” and “C” played sharp throughout. However, the same song can be written and played in different keys.
Key signatures are a type of musical notation that indicate which key the song is to be played in. But key signatures, despite the name, are not the same thing as key.
Key signatures are simply notational devices; just as a note is the notational name for a pitch, key signatures are the notational names for keys. It is what it says it is: a signature, a simple piece of information that tips you off to the physical form (the key) to be played.
What does it mean to be “in the key of F”, or “in the key of Bb”?
It means that the composer based the composition on the scale of F (which has 1 flat in it), or the scale of Bb (which has 2 flats in it).
Key signatures appear right after the clef (before the time signature) and show a sharp or flat on the line or space corresponding to the note to be altered. Key signatures placed at the beginning of songs will carry through the entire song, unless other key signatures are noted after a double bar, canceling out the first.
For instance, it’s entirely possible to start a song in the key of F but end it in the key of E flat; it all depends on the key signatures and where they’re placed throughout the song (a key signature can change at any point).
Accidentals can also show up throughout a song and only once or twice flatten or sharpen a note that was not previously indicated; this cancels out the key signatures, as well, but only temporarily, for as long as the accidental lasts.
Beginners just learning to read music often have a hard time with key signatures because the key itself is not expressly written, and it’s sometimes difficult to remember what goes where.
Key signatures with five flats or sharps have been known to terrorize new musicians — how in the world, they think, are we supposed to remember all these note changes while we’re playing the song?
It’s obviously possible, though, and there are some rules that can help beginners identify and remember the key as it relates to the key signatures, rules that go beyond rote memorization. If there is more than one flat, the key is the note on the second to last flat.
If there are any sharps at all, the key is a half step up from the last one noted. F major, a key frequently found in beginning sheet music, only has one flat (B), and C major has no sharps or flats at all. Key signatures, when viewed in light of these rules, are much easier for beginners to digest, ensuring that a proper knowledge of key signatures is on its way through the door.
One fact that most people don’t realize is that sharps and flats always occur in the same order:
The order of the flats is B, E, A, D, G, C, F.
The order of the sharps is just the opposite — F, C, G, D, A, E, B.
So if there is one flat in the key signature, it is always B. If there are two flats in the key signature, they are always B and E. Three flats are always B, E, and A. Four flats in a key signature spell the word BEAD. And so on.
It’s the same in sharps, too, except backward. If there is one sharp in a key signature, it is always F. Two sharps in a key signature are always F and C. Three are F, C, and G. And so on.
So once you have memorized the order of the flats, all you have to do is apply the rule mentioned earlier: the next to the last flat is the name of the key. For example, if you have four flats in a key signature, they are Bb, Eb, Ab, Db. The last flat is D, so the next to the last flat is A. So the key is Ab.
With sharps, just mentally go up 1/2 step from the last sharp, and that is the key. For example, if a key has 4 sharps, they are F#, C#, G#, D#. One-half step above D# is E, so the key is E.
Memorize the order of the flats and sharps and those two simple rules, and you’ll be able to identify what major key any song is in quickly and easily
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The Benefits Of Music Education To Children
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
Music is a very powerful subject – It has been used since the Greek times for healing, communication, relaxation and for enjoyment. Even before birth we are aware of our mother’s heartbeat and during infancy are relaxed by the song of a lullaby. Every day everybody hears some form of musical pitch or rhythm and it can even be found in nature such as how birds communicate through a song-like speech.
Music is such a powerful force, it creates deep emotions in humans – it is played at weddings for happiness, in horror films and during war for fear and at home for happiness and because of this lends itself to relaxation, stress relief and health therapy – and the connection between music, body, and soul has even been shown to improve physical and mental health.
Skills such as working in teams, communication, self-esteem, creative thinking, calmer attitudes, imagination, discipline, study skills and invention are learnt and improved through the study of music and by focusing on the fact that young children are mostly highly receptive to pitch and rhythm – one of the main ways a child learns its language – that we can drive education in music to children to help them with benefits ranging success in society and in life.
“We believe the skills the arts teach -creative thinking, problem-solving, risk-taking, teamwork and communications – are precisely the tools the workforce of tomorrow will need. If we don’t encourage students to master these skills through quality arts instruction today, how can we ever expect them to succeed in their highly competitive business careers tomorrow?” -Richard Gurin, Chief Executive Officer, Binney and Smith, maker of Crayola crayons
Music is a part of our society and a part of all communities – every human culture uses music to carry forward its ideas and ideals. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to developing greed and a selfish attitude, provides bridges across different cultures that lead to a respect of other races at an early age.
Music has a great value to our economy – it creates jobs, increase’s tax base, boosts tourism and spurs growth in related businesses. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace such as teamwork skills and discipline – during musical performances all members must work together to create the sounds they wish to achieve and for this regular practice is also required. Music favors working and ‘doing’ as opposed to observing, and these are the ethics employers are looking for.
Because of music’s ability to relax, calm and heal, and its optimal platform for emotions, the involvement with music helps to carve brighter attitudes – more optimism towards the future, less TV and non productive activities, low use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs and desire to develop individual abilities.
Music requires study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills and as these are learnt and developed they expand the student’s abilities in other academic areas and help them become better students. – Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. — College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College
Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
The discipline of music, particularly through participation in ensembles, helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior – According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” — Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992..
Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music in the brain. Scientists say that children who are exposed to music or those who play an instrument do better in school than those who don’t. Recent research suggests exposure to music may benefit a child’s reading age, IQ and the development of certain parts of the brain.
It can be shown that some measures of a child’s intelligence are increased with music instruction – a connection between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things) helps people to visualize and imagine solutions. This helps people to solve problems creatively and is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for solving mathematical problems and even general daily tasks.
“The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling–training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.” — Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.
Along with mental development music study can support the brains physical development – it has been indicated that musical training physically develops the parts of the brain known to be involved with processing language and reasoning, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Memory can be improved through the linking of familiar songs with objects just as linking images can – past memories and emotions can be triggered by audio.
“Why arts in education? Why education at all? The purpose of education is not simply to inform but to enrich and enlighten, to provide insights into life as it has been led and as it may be led. No element of the curriculum is better suited to that task than arts education.” -David Kearns
Now retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Xerox Corporation
Ideally we want our children to experience “success” throughout life itself. The benefits may be psychological, spiritual and physical and with the challenge of making life meaningful and fulfilled and to reach a higher state of development by participating in music we develop self expression which in turn leads to self esteem – ultimately helping us to succeed at these challenges.
“Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the ‘incredible marvel’ of being a human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds like a good cause for making music an integral part of every child’s education. Studying music and the arts elevates children’s education, expands students’ horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder of life.” — U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999. Get easy paymnet with payday advance
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