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Music Notes and Rhythms

The ability to read and play music is a skill that can enrich your life. This whole site is not going to be an in-depth guide of everything there is to know in music cause there's a lot. This site is meant for people who want to get started. I will be linking to several websites that cover topics more in-depth. Here, you will learn to read basic music rhythms.

Music Basics

Music is read the same way you are reading this right now: left to right and a sheet of music looks something like the image above. Across the paper (or screen, it it's web based) you see long bars that stretch from the left margin to the right margin of the page.
They are divided my vertical lines each of these smaller boxes is called a measure. For beginner music charts, each measure lasts the same length: four beats. Have you ever heard of a steady beat? No? Well it's pretty self explanatory; the steady beat gives the basic speed (or tempo) of every song. It's steady so it stays the same. Think of a clock that goes tick-tock tick-tock. That's an example of steady beat. Four of those would make a basic measure (it doesn't have to be four but no need to worry about that now).

Now, on to the not so steady beats. Time to learn basic music notes, starting with the quarter note. You know how I said a measure most commonly four beats? Well time to do math! What's a quarter of four? One. So a quarter note is equal to one beat. Also, every If a song was just all quarter notes it would sound like the steady beat. Then, there are eighth notes which are half a beat so they are half as long and eight fit in a common measure. There are also sixteenth notes that are half as long as eighth notes. These can be really hard to play for beginners (depending on how fast the song is) and you probably won't have to play them just yet. Now going the opposite direction, there are half notes and whole notes. Half notes last half a measure (two beats) and whole notes are the whole enchilada (four beats).

Now you may be asking, "What if these awesome composers want to make a beat last 3 or 1 and a half beats?" Well my inqusitive friends that brings us to dots. This dot in particular(because there are other dots in music) comes after note like a note period. It basically makes the beat a half longer. A dotted half note goes from 2 to 3 but a dotted quarter note goes from 1 to 1 and a half because the dot adds half of the note's regular length (this works for eight notes as well). Then there are rests. Basically, a measure has to be full. You can't only have two notes if a measure is four, so anyplace where there aren't any notes, there are rests to fill the spaces. Rests can last for whatever amount of time is required. There are no dotted rests though.

Now we move on from numbers, to letters. You need to learn the alphabet of notes: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and then repeat. All the horizontal lines, and the spaces between them, on a piece of music are called the staff. There are five lines and four spaces. Your music can either be in treble clef or bass clef and this makes a difference.

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. (n.d.). Treble clef and bass clef [Illustration]. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/bass-clef

To remember the letters, think of "Every Good Burger Deserves Fries"(any conradicting statemnet is blasphemy) and for the spaces remember FACE for treble clef. For bass clef remember "Good Burgers Deserve Fries Always" for lines and "All Cows Eat Grass" for spaces.

Of course their are other notes between them as well. There are also flats and sharps. Now if someone says you're playing sharp or flat, that's not a good thing. But that's not the same thing as playing a b flat or g sharp. Every note has a sharp and flat so really, it goes e, e sharp, f, f sharp, and so on. Now these overlap. For instance, a d sharp is also an e flat. However, a b sharp is just a c. there is no c flat note in between.

It's okay if this felt like a lot of information because, well, it is. While I hope you got something out of this, honestly, the best way to learn music is to find someone to teach you and to learn hands on. If you're in highshcool or midddle school, most likely, you're school has a jazz band or an orchestra, or a choir. Maybe you should think about joining.

Now, I leave with a final note. You may be thinking, "Why should I play music? Seems like a lot of stuff to learn." Well, it is. Music is it's own language. You know what else music is? It's also a lot of fun. Trust me. Even if you don't pick up an instrument, music is everywhere. Next time you here a song you like, maybe you could try to decipher the notes and rhythms. If you do decide play an instrument, know that playing music actually has real cognitive benefits. Studies have shown that musicians activate and strengthen regions of their brain when reading and playing music. To learn more about this, watch this TED-Ed animation. If you feel inclined to learn more, than here's a site all about music theory.