Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People

1 Music Theory . This file was Created on march 10, 2016! hello! for this file is a collection of individual sheets covering a bunch of lessons on Music Theory . Musicians . it's not a yet. it might be someday! but as of right now, it's incomplete. The truth is, they weren't intended to be a single volume when I started making they were just review sheets for my own Theory students. but the more I made, and the more I realized Normal . they could be collected into a textbook of eventually! I still have a lot of work to do, but I've collected the ones I've made so far into a single document to make it easier for the folks who wanted them but didn't want to download every file individually! so understand it's a work in People . the progress is slow sometimes, because I teach Music Theory and aural skills during the day at the university of dayton in dayton, ohio, so if you've been sent this file and then head home to spend time with by someone, know that there my wife and six kids! might be a newer version.

2 Or more pages . at but if you like this, or find it useful, great! feel free to share it, copy it, and use it. My Dad . Sofia Rush, Age 5. Pen and crayon on printer paper now let's learn some Music Theory ! just don't sell it, change it, or tell others you made it!*. by Toby W. Rush Rush *for more info, see Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People by toby w. rush What is Music Theory ? Chances are there's a piece of Music so then the bassoon choir comes in like flaming honeydew melons that moves you in a profound from on high a way that is frustratingly difficult to describe to someone else! Like other forms of art, Music often has the capability to create emotional reactions in the listener that please transcends other forms of communication. bradley it's late though a single piece of Music may elicit different reactions from different listeners, any and if i'm lover of Music will tell you that they're real, almost those feelings are real! they're worthy done of study. one of the most valuable parts coming up with terminology of Music Theory is giving names to doesn't just help us talk to musical structures and processes, others about Music , which makes them easier to talk about!

3 It actually helps us learn! but while it's an important step, and a great place to start, Music Theory is much more than just coming up with names for things! when composers write Music whether it's a classical- era symphony or a bit of japanese post-shibuya-kei glitch techno they are not following a particular set of rules. If anything they are often trying to break them! so while a lot of People think Music Theory is about learning the rules for how to write Music , that's not mozar quite right. Music theorists don't create rules for nakata t writing Music ; they look for patterns in Music that is already written. composers ..theorists analyze! which leads to the most important why dissect Music ? what's the the one that, as you study Music Theory , you should be constantly asking yourself: why? point of figuring out rules that composers themselves weren't even worried about? because somewhere maybe it's in the notes. in there is the reason maybe it's in the silence. Music Theory is why that piece of Music maybe it's somewhere moves you.

4 In between. but figuring out what Music theorists are going to makes Music work. it may take a the reason it find it, long time, or makes you cry, even create And you just gives you chills, joined the team. more questions reminds you of home. grab your than answers. let's go! licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit for more Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People by toby w. rush Notation: Pitch Music notation is the art of recording Music in written form. # #g#F#d#D D#S S#d#Mf#S S g#F . liz phair what makes you happy [melody from chorus]. whitechocolatespaceegg (1998). modern Music notation is a product of centuries of the system of musical notation and it is neither efficient nor intuitive! we use is essentially a stylized . graph of pitch versus time. pitch is the highness or lowness of a sound. & . for example, a flute has the five lines on which notes pitch pitch a high pitch, while a tuba appear is called a staff. has a low pitch. time a note is a written representation of a particular pitch.

5 Notation is based on the piano keyboard;. lines and spaces on the staff represent F g a b c d e F g a b c d e the white notes on the keyboard. the white notes on the keyboard are labeled with letters from A to G. & w w B B w w to display notes outside the ? staff, we use shortened staff lines called treble clef ledger lines. alto clef tenor clef bass clef the clef determines what notes each staff line corresponds to. the four modern middle c is the c that is closest to clefs are shown here; the note displayed the middle of the piano keyboard.. on each staff corresponds to middle c. these symbols are placed to To notate the The double sharp raises the the left of the note that they #. black notes note by two half steps. affect, and they apply to all the on the piano notes on that line or space n . keyboard, we use for the rest of the measure. & b n # . accidentals, The sharp raises the n which alter the note by one half step. note by one or two half steps. The natural cancels out b a half step is any previous accidental.

6 The distance between two adjacent keys The flat lowers the on the piano note by one half step.. keyboard, F g a b c d e F g a b c d e regardless of what color The double flat lowers two notes which have the same the keys are. the note by two half steps. pitch (for example, f sharp and g flat) are called enharmonics. licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit for more Notation: Rhythm Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People by toby w. rush while pitch is pretty clearly notated on a K. vertical axis, note length is indicated using a K K K. somewhat arcane system involving noteheads, stems and flags. double whole note W w thirty-second note twenty-eighth note h q e x x x x sixty-fourth note sixteenth note quarter note one-hundred- eighth note whole note half note in this chart, each successive type of note is half as long note lengths in a piece as the note to its left. none of these notes has a standard are indicated by the tempo length; a half note in one piece may be the same length as marking at the beginning an eighth note in a different piece.

7 Of a piece or section. double whole rest . thirty-second rest . twenty-eighth rest sixty-fourth rest . sixteenth rest one-hundred- quarter rest eighth rest whole rest half rest a rest is a period of usually rests are silence the length of placed on the staff at a which corresponds to a particular vertical particular note. position as shown here. the augmentation dot is a dot placed to the right of a notehead. though small, this dot multiple dots can also be added, wields some serious power: it adds half each one adding half of the of the original note's length! previously added value.. K. ack! q. = q + e = q + e + x q e x x Get it off! GEt it off! = + + +. ties are curved marks which connect to tie more than two notes together, two notes together to create draw ties between each note; do not j j j a single, extended sound. use a single, extended tie. = = .. a tuplet is any non-standard division of a most tuplets are simple divisions, like note. these are usually written as a group the triplets to the left.

8 But anything is of notes delineated with a bracket and possible! chopin, for example, would a number showing the division being made. often go to town with these things. 3 for example, these aren't 62, no. 1 (1846). b major, op.. frederic chopin nocturne in exactly quarter notes; gah! they are each a third as chopin, no! long as a half note. down, boy! licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit for more Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People by toby w. rush Notation: Meter a fundamental feature of most pieces of Music is a consistent rhythmic pulse. this pulse is called the beat, and a single pulse forgiven, not forgotten (1996). heaven knows [drum intro]. the corrs is called a beat unit. q q. E E E EE. there are two types of beat units: ..and those containing those containing two divisions, three divisions, called simple beat called compound beat units. in Music , beats are organized into patterns of accented and unaccented beat units. Q Q Q Q Q Q> Q Q Q Q> Q Q Q Q> Q Q Q Q> Q Q Q >Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q.

9 In fact, if you listen to a sequence of repeated notes, your brain will probably start to perceive the notes as groups of two, three, or four, even if no accents are present! 3. these groups are called measures, barline measure and they are delineated with barlines. 4. 3 QQQ QQQ. the organization simple TIME SIGNATURES are easy. of beat units 4. and measures in the top number a piece is called indicates the number meter. Meter is of beats in a measure. described by two is pretty easy: 4 refers to numbers placed the bottom number the code for the bottom note a quarter note, 8 to an eighth at the beginning indicates the type of 6 2. note, 16 to a sixteenth note, note which serves as of the piece: the beat unit. the time signature. and so on. 8. 6 Q. Q. Q. Q. compound TIME SIGNATURES are kind of lying to you. 8. the top number indicates the number of divisions in a measure. to get the number of beats, divide it by three. the bottom number indicates the type of note which serves as the division.

10 In fact, wouldn't this be to get the beat unit, use the note that an easier way to notate is equal to three of these notes. compound meters? in a compound meter, the beat unit is always a dotted note! the man says you have to do it by looking at the top the other way. number of the time signature, you can tell two things about the meter: whether it's simple notes that have flags can or compound, and how many be grouped together by using beats are in a measure. beams in place of flags. 2 6. simple compound beats per measure 3 9. 2. however, beaming is only used to group notes within beats. 4 12. 3 for the most part, you shouldn't beam notes between beats, nor should you tie notes within beats. 4. licensed under a creative commons BY-NC-ND license - visit for more Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People by toby w. rush Hey, it's kids! Sparky the Music Theory dog! Dear Sparky: Q: Ibeats understand that we're supposed to beam rhythms to show the organization of in the measure, but is there an easy way to beam complex rhythms?