This explanation of how to read music is intended to get you through the beginner and intermediate programs
only. Students in the advanced program are required to understand staff notation in greater detail,
sight read, and write music.
Music is written on a Stave or Staff. A Staff is comprised of 5
lines and 4 spaces. Notes are written either on a line or in a space. Because the High A is above the
Staff it is written on a ledger line. At the beginning of every line of music is the information that
we need in order to correctly interpret the music.
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The treble clef is used exclusively in all bagpipe music, as we only have 9 notes and no key changes.
The time signature is indicated by two numbers which is explained below. Notes are arranged in phrases
and are contained within a measure. A vertical bar separates measures. A double bar indicates the beginning
and end of each part of music. Bars contained with two colons indicate that they are to be repeated
in sequence before proceeding to the next part of the tune.
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Time signatures define the pulse of the music by indicating the number of beats per measure. There
are two types of time signatures; Simple Time and Compound Time.
The most common Simple Time
signatures are 2/4s, 3/4s, and 4/4s. The top number indicates the number of beats per measure while
the bottom number indicates the kind of note receiving the beat. In the instance of a 2/4 we know that
there are two beats per bar with each beat being a quarter note. Similarly in a 3/4 we know that there
are 3 beats per bar with each beat being a quarter note.
In Compound Time, again, the top number
indicates the number of beats per bar and the bottom number indicates the kind of note receiving the
beat. In compound time the eighth note represents a single beat. In bagpipe music, we group beats together
to correspond to marching tempos.
6/8s, 9/8s and 12/8s are all considered compound time. In a
6/8 March, we group our eighth notes in two groups of 3. When marching we play the first group of three
eighth notes on the left foot and the second group of three eighth notes on the right foot.
The
easiest way to understand compound time for marching tunes is to divide the top number by 3 to give you
the number of steps per bar. Each step (or compound beat) will contain three notes of the value indicated.
This explanation will suffice for the time being. We will revisit this later however let’s
now turn our attention to note values before we get into our first tune.
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Note value is very simple to understand. The duration of the whole note is determined by the tempo.
A whole note played at a slower tempo will be longer in duration than a whole note played at a quicker
tempo.
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Notes are sometimes coupled together which is just an alternative way of writing the notes. The beat
will always fall on the first note of a coupling.
Notes can be expressed by technical name, common
name, and numeric symbol.
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whole note
half-note
quarter-note
eigth-note
sixteenth-note
thirtysecond-note
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semi-breve
minum
crotchet
quaver
semi-quaver
demi-quaver
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Here's another way to think about note values. Let's say that "1" is the beginning of the sounded note.
In a 4/4 tune a full note would last for 4 beats with "X" being the end of the last beat. A half note
would last for 2 beats, a quarter note would last for 1 beat and an eigth note would last for 1/2 beat.
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A flag (or tail) is used to cut the value of notes smaller than a quarter note in half. For instance
a quarter note has no flag. One flag indicates that the value of the note is 1/8. Two flags indicate
that the value is 1/16 and three flags indicate that the value is 1/32.
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The example above shows you the value of the notes in Simple Time signatures.
Additionally adding
a “dot” immediately after a note increases its value by one-half. For example, adding a dot to a quarter
note increases the note value to 1 ˝ beats. Adding a dot to an eighth note will lengthen its value to
3/16ths. Generally these dotted notes are followed by a shortened note creating a “skipping” rhythm
referred to as “dot / cut”.
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One way to learn how to read music better is to simply take a tune and break it down. Note-by-note go
through and identify its value and where it is relative to the primary beats within the bar.
Another
great way to improve your music reading skills is to write out bars of music in various time signature.
The notes don't have to make music, but they do need to add up to the correct aggregate value. In other
words, write out a bar of music in 4/4 time. There are four beats in the bar and each quarter note (or
equivalent thereof) gets one beat. Good luck!
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STOP!!! Go back and read this again! Download this blank music sheet and start writing your notes.
Make sure they add to the correct value per measure. Once you can recognize the notes and their values
without checking back here, you're ready to proceed to lesson six!
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In my experience, understanding these concepts do not alway come easily. No two students learn exactly
the same way. If you have questions or if something isn't making sense, please send me an email or pick
up the telephone and call. I also do distance teaching using SKYPE or land telephone line!
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