Staff Notation and Elements of Music

Introduction

Music, like language, can be written down. In the Kenyan Senior School CBC (KICD) Music and Dance curriculum, you learn staff notation so that you can read, perform and compose songs, from school choir pieces to traditional tunes of communities such as the Luhya isukuti and the Kikuyu mugithi.

Elements of music

• Pitch - how high or low a sound is.
• Rhythm - the pattern of long and short sounds.
• Tempo - speed (allegro = fast, andante = walking pace, adagio = slow).
• Dynamics - loudness: p (soft), mp, mf, f (loud), crescendo (getting louder), diminuendo (getting softer).
• Timbre - tone colour that distinguishes instruments and voices.
• Texture - how layers combine: monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic.
• Melody and harmony, and form (structure such as verse and chorus).

The staff

The staff has five lines and four spaces. Notes are placed on lines or in spaces. Short extra lines called ledger lines extend the range.

Clefs

• Treble clef (G clef) - for high voices and instruments. Lines from the bottom: E G B D F ("Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit"). Spaces: F A C E.
• Bass clef (F clef) - for low voices and instruments. Lines: G B D F A. Spaces: A C E G.

Note names use the letters A to G.

Note and rest values

Each note has a matching rest, which is a silence of the same length. A dot after a note adds half its value; a dotted minim = 3 beats.

Time signature and bars

The time signature has two numbers: the top shows beats per bar and the bottom shows the beat type (4 = crotchet). Common ones: 2/4 (two beats), 3/4 (waltz), 4/4 (four beats). Bar lines divide music into bars, and a double bar line marks the end.

Worked example 1

How many beats are in a dotted minim followed by a crotchet? Answer: Dotted minim = 2 + 1 = 3 beats; plus crotchet 1 = 4 beats, filling one bar of 4/4.

Worked example 2

Name the notes on the treble clef lines. Answer: E, G, B, D, F from bottom to top.

Try it

• Clap the rhythm: minim, crotchet, crotchet in 4/4.
• Draw the treble clef and place the notes C D E on the staff.
• Write a 4/4 bar using two crotchets and a minim.
• Listen to a Kenyan folk song and describe its tempo and dynamics.