Learning Music Symbols and their Meaning

   

Musical notes are written in symbols or easily distinguishable marks. The musical notes have a pitch, duration, and intensity. It is beneficial to have knowledge about these marks. The meaning of music symbols is given in this article.  

    The mnemonics “Every Good Boy Does Fine” and “All Cows Eat Grass,” helps kids memorize the notes on the lines of the treble clef and the spaces of the bass clef, respectively.

 

    Sheet music or music notation employs a series of symbols and marks that pertain to certain notes, pitches, and tones. Music notations are visually represented symbols, which often include both modern and ancient musical symbols.

    Modern music notation is commonly used by musicians of different genres throughout the world and is said to have its origins in European classical music. This popular system uses a five-line staff to place the musical notes. Sheet music used is as a record or a guide to perform or compose a piece of music.

 

    To be able to read this sheet music, one has to study the musical notations, for which, one has to be acquainted with the symbols used to represent the notes. 

    Below is a list of the musical symbols employed to write sheet music:

    The staff (or music stave as it is also called) is the series of 5 lines and 4 spaces that music is written down on. Music notation developed from one single line, used in the early days of writing down church chants. The first person to come up with the idea of writing music down on a line was Guido of Arezzo who was a Benedictine monk and singing teacher who became famous across North Italy for the speed at which he managed to teach students to sing chants. He also invented the doh-re-me system, although it was called ut-re-me when he first developed it.

    The terms music staff and music stave are interchangeable. Staff tends to be the American usage and Stave tends to be the British usage. I shall use staff on this site.

 

Ledger or leger lines extend the staff to pitches that fall below it. It is a short line added above or below the staff. Ledger lines are generally placed behind note heads and are spaced at the same distance as the lines of the staff. A range of notes that go beyond the two staff is put on extra short lines or between the spaces formed between them.

Vertical lines called bars are used to connect the upper and lower staffs of the grand staff. The vertical bars are used to divide the staff into measures. 

A single bar line is used to separate a measure. Each bar or measure refers to a segment of time that is defined by a given number of beats and note values. To make it easier to understand, the term bar refers only to the vertical line, while the term measure refers to the beats that are contained between two bars.

A double barline is used to separate two sections of music. A double bar line is also used to signify changes in the key signature, time signature, or major changes in style and tempo. A dotted bar is used to subdivide long measures of a complex meter into shorter segments.

                                                           

A bold double bar or the end line is used to indicate the end of a movement in a piece of music. It is used to signify the end of an entire composition.

A bracket is generally used to indicate the connection between the staff of two or more separate instruments. To say the least, it is used to connect two or more lines of music that are to be played simultaneously by multiple instruments.

The brace on the other hand connects two or more lines of music played simultaneously by a single instrument. Also called an accolade, the brace connects multiple parts for a single instrument (the right and left-hand stave of a piano―for instance is connected using a brace).

The stave, essentially, is mere lines; however, the presence of the clef marking the beginning of the stave is what assigns a certain pitch to the notes. The clef, in other words, helps to accurately relate to the pitch of the musical note placed on or between specific lines on the stave. In short, a clef is used to fix the position of certain high and low notes on the stave.

G Clef or the Treble Clef

Originally resembling the capital letter ‘G’, the treble clef fixes the second line as the note G on the stave. The treble clef denotes the high notes on the stave and is commonly used for most modern vocal music.

F Clef or the Bass Clef

The bass clef fixes the fourth line as the note ‘F’ on the bass stave. The two dots placed above and below the fourth line from the bottom of the staff is the pitch F. Specifically used in choral music, the bass clef represents the bass and baritone voices.

C Clef or Alto and Tenor Clef

The alto and tenor clef fixes the third line on the stave as the middle C. In modern notation, it is used for the viola and is often used when composing music using the bassoon, cello, trombone, and double bass. It is a movable clef, and when it points to the fourth line, it is called a tenor clef.

Octave Clef

The octave clef is nothing but a modified version of either the treble or the bass clef. The number 8 or 15 is affixed either to the top or bottom of the clef to raise or lower the intended pitch by one or two octaves, respectively. Generally, you will find a treble clef with an eight below in notes written for the guitar and the octave mandolin.

Tablature

Used specifically for stringed instruments, the tablature or Tab is often written instead of a clef. Like the neutral clef, the Tab clef is not a true clef, but a mere symbol used instead of a clef. Tablature generally involves writing notes on six lines when writing notes for a regular six-string guitar.

Neutral Clef

The neutral clef is used while composing musical notes for non-pitched percussion instruments like drums and cymbals. It is simply used as a convention to indicate that the lines and spaces on the stave are assigned to a percussion instrument with no precise pitch. Generally, it is not a compulsion for the neutral clef to be placed on a regular five-stave, it can be placed on a single stave or line.

Notes and Rests

Notes represent the length of time of a particular pitch. Each note stands for a particular number of beats. In written music, the length of a note is shown by its shape. When there is no note sounding, a rest is written, and the duration is shown by its shape. To make things easier, we have classified notes on the basis of their relationship with the whole note or a semi-breve.

Whole Note or Semibreve

A hollow oval note head represents a whole note or a semibreve. The length of a full note is equivalent to four beats in a 4/4 time. A whole note receives 4 counts, which means, you have to hold the note for its full value.

A whole rest corresponds to a whole note, which means, the rest period is equivalent to the duration of the musical note. A whole rest is denoted by a filled-in rectangle hanging under the second line from the top of the staff.