Lesson #2 1.2&1.3

Lesson #2: Continuation of Sheet music basics

1.2: Key Signatures

Image 3: Key Signatures

A Key signature is shown to the right of the clef symbol and will show a series sharp symbols or flat symbols which can be interpreted to deduce which key the piece is written in.

The Key of a piece means that when playing a piece of music, certain notes may be sharpened or flattened by the pieces key signature unless overridden by a natural symbol or an extra sharp/flat symbol. Therefore, on a Key Signature such as D Major, where the sharps are F# and C# each C note you see on the notation is played as C# and not C natural.

The word / term Sharp means to increase the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.
The word / term Flat or Flatten means to decrease the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.

Image 3 outlines the various Key Signatures you may encounter. There are many others but these are simply the basic or most common key signatures.

1.3: Time Signatures

A Time Signature (Image 4) indicates how many beats there are in each bar and which note is to be used as a beat. This basic introduction to time signatures will assume that the crotchet is to be used as the one beat measure - therefore all times will be something:4 time. Certain time signatures lend themselves to certain styles of songs, e.g. most waltzes are written in 3:4 time, and the majority of rock songs would be based around 4:4 time.

Image 4: Time Signatures

   In our next lesson we will continue on 1.4: Types of Music Notes
  Stay tuned !!