We’ve looked at how the time signatures determine how many of what kind of note fills a measure. But, songs are made up from many different kinds of notes. Here, we’ll look at how those different kinds of notes are still controlled by time signatures. In our first time signature example, we showed 3/4 time and showed [...]
All time signatures provide us the same important information, telling us how many of what kind of note will fill a bar – or measure. Even “odd” time signatures like 6/8 and 3/2 are telling us how they should be read. Let’s take a look at 6/8 time. Remembering that the top number tells us [...]
Time signatures are not nearly as complicated as they first seem. In fact, the information they give us is so straight forward that once you get it you’ll never forget it. Time signatures answer a couple of simple (but important) questions, and when you know what those are, time signatures are a snap. We’ll look [...]
Measures and time signatures divide a staff into certain sets of beats, providing valuable indications about how notes are to be played. Understanding the beats in a measure, and the duration of the notes in a measure is essential for both reading and writing music We mentioned “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” in the last article, [...]
Just as the staff lines and spaces indicate which notes are to be played, the written notes, measures and time signatures show how the music relates to the simple idea of “beats”. And, as complicated as it seems, it really is easy to learn. Starting with notes, let’s look at some of the different notes [...]
To read and write music you need to have a solid understanding of the most fundamental aspects of music notation. Those are the staff, clefs and lines that make up the visual mapboard you’ll use to read and write music. Here’s a staff. You can see 5 lines with four spaces in between. The lines [...]
When we discussed whether one must know music theory to write music – and then again when we discussed the sweet notes in melodies – we mentioned the importance of knowing and communicating music. Knowing a little music theory never hurt anyone, and communicating your ideas will be greatly enhanced if you can read and [...]
One of the most celebrated song writers of all time, Bob Dylan has been writing songs since the 1960s. In addition to many Grammies, Golden Globes and Academy Awards, Dylan has also been elected into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A [...]
Is reading music a must for a song writer? Whether or not you can read and write music, you can write songs. A great many people write songs without knowing how to read (or write) any music whatsoever. But, it could become a problem if you need to communicate what you’ve written.If you don’t have [...]
If you’ve studied song writing much at all, you are probably aware that melody used to get much greater effort and emphasis than it does in song writing today. These days, a lot of songs start out as a riff or a progression, and the music is taken to a fairly final form before lyrics [...]
