Types of Musical Symbols
In many ways, learning to read music is similar to learning a new language. One of the first things \you have to do when attempting either task is decipher a set of seemingly arbitrary symbols. With a language, these symbols are letters and punctuation marks, with music, these symbols are, among other things, notes, rests and key signatures.
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Musical Staff
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The musical staff is the five connected lines upon which the majority of musical symbols are written. The staff is divided into sections called measures by single vertical lines drawn at intervals along the staff. Two stave (the plural of staff) can be connected by a line and a brace to form what is known as the grand staff. The grand staff can display a wider range of notes than a single staff can. Pianists read music from the grand staff.
Clef and Signatures
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The first symbol that appears on the left of a musical staff is the clef. The clef is a fancy symbol that tells the reader which lines of the staff equal which notes. The second set of symbols from the left are called the key signature. These symbols, sharps and flats, look like small number signs (#) and the lowercase letter "b." The key signature tells the reader what key to play in. If no sharps or flats are present, the song is in the key of C. The time signature is placed next to the key signature. The time signature looks like a fraction and tells musicians how many beats are in a measure.
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Notes and Rests
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Notes look like small dots on the staff. The placement of the notes on the staff tells the musician what notes to play. The style of the note--whether it is colored in, if it has a stem, if the stem has a flag etc.--tells the musician how long to play the note. Rests are symbols that tell musicians not to play any notes. Several different specific symbols represent different length rests.
Other Symbols
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Accidentals are sharp and flat signs that appear in the body of a piece of music. They tell the musician to play notes that don't naturally fall into the key in which the music was written. Ties are lines that connect two or more notes. They tell musicians to slur these notes as opposed to sounding each individually. Letters above the staff are used to designate dynamics, with "p" meaning soft and "f" meaning loud. Letters above the staff also may be chord markers that tell the musician the names of the underlying chord progression in a piece of music.
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References
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