STAFFS EVERYWHERE

Any time I picked up a music book to read back then, I instantly got fed up reading it. Seeing those lines drawn across the book confused the hell out of me. There are some music terms you need to get used to before we go into today's topic. These are

1. PITCH: Simply put, the highness or lowness of a sound or note
2. CLEF:  A clef is a symbol used to name a line of the staff, thereby setting the names of the other lines and spaces.. There are several different kinds of clefs: C clefs, treble clef, bass clef, and rhythm clef (also called the percussion clef). We’ll only be learning the three most common ones: treble clef, bass clef, and the rhythm clef. 

C CLEF
TREBLE CLEF
BASS CLEF
RHYTHM CLEF

At the moment, we shall be considering just the treble and bass clef
Note:

• Treble clef is used for instruments with a high pitch. Some of them are: piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, guitar, violin, French horn, saxophone, trumpet, and piano.
• Bass clef is used for instruments with a low sound. Some of them are: tuba, cello, double bass, trombone, bassoon, electric bass, and piano
• The treble staff has on it the treble clef 
• The bass staff has on it the bass clef.

                                                    THE GRAND STAFF 

Music is written on the Grand Staff. The Treble Staff and the Bass Staff are joined together  by a Brace to form the Grand Staff.

                                                      LEDGER LINES

Most notes are written on the staff, but some notes are higher or lower than the staff can show. When a note goes beyond the range of the staff (higher or lower), small horizontal lines are used to show where the staff would be if it had more than five lines and four spaces. These are called ledger lines. An example is the Middle C note shown in the grand staff above. You can see that the Middle C note is placed on a line that is not part of the treble staff or the bass staff. Below is a well detailed example

 Our next topic centers on Bar Lines, Double Bar Lines, Measures. Have a nice day.

STAFF NOTATION

What are musical notes? Notes are symbols used to represent musical sounds which are represented by the first seven letters of the English alphabet: A B C D E F G. These notes are written upon what is called the staff. The staff consists of five lines which create four spaces between them.

The lines and spaces are counted from the bottom to the top

You can also use your hand to represent the music staff.

Placing notes on the staff come up next. Remember these notes are the first seven letters of the English alphabets.
This image shows how notes are placed on lines of the staff

This image shows how notes are placed on spaces of the staff

Have it at the back of your mind that after a line note comes a space note, and after a
space note comes a line note. An example is shown below

In our next class, we shall be discussing about the Grand Staff. Do have a nice time
                          

RUDIMENT OF MUSIC FOR BEGINNERS

Why Rudiment of music? Rudiment of music or music theory is a language that is used by all Western instruments. Whether you play the French horn or percussion, trombone or
triangle, electronic keyboard or Saxophone…. You get the idea. Whatever instrument you play, reading music will be a useful tool to perform optimally.

HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC
Although western music started about a thousand year ago, it wasn’t until around 500 AD that we see the first glimmer of written western music. Great credits can be given to Guido di Arezzo, a Benedictine monk who was thrown out of his monastery for his radical innovations in music. It’s believed that he didn’t actually invent the staff, but increased the lines from two to four. We’re lucky he got kicked out of the monastery because it caused his ideas to be spread more widely. After he had an audience with the Pope who recognized Guido’s skill, his monastery wanted him back.
Monophonic music (music with one part usually vocal) was the earliest form of music adapted by composers and singers. An example is the plain chant which is widely used by the Roman Catholic Church. Eventually all monks were bored with monophonic music and started adding other parts to it which gave birth to polyphonic music i.e. music with more than one part.
In my next post, we shall get down to some more specifics. Do have a nice time. 

MUSIC AND CHOIR IN THE BIBLE

Singing has always been a part of worship and praise to God. The Psalms is the largest collection of hymns written by many composers and was used as a hymn book in Bible times. Many of the songs written were sung by either two choirs or by a choir and congregation.
Instruments used in the bi ble can be classified into three groups. These are

• String Instruments. Examples include violin, viola, cello, doublebass, harp, guitar
• Wind Instruments. Examples include flute, Horn, cornet, trumpet
• Percussion Instruments. Examples include cymbals, Triangles, bells.

In our next class, we shall be discussing about "how to read music". Feel free to make comments that would assist us in providing you better learning experience. See you next time.

Why Classical Music?

Researchers have found out that

• Music makes you smarter! No Joke.
• Music may be a key to understanding intelligence
• Teaching and learning music is good for the soul

Over the years, I've been approached by folks who have little knowledge about music. This blog will serve as a medium of interaction between teachers and students willing to practice and sing music a better way.
Some of the topics to be covered are

• Rudiment of Music
• Sightreading and Sightsinging
• How to play the PianoForte (electronic) keyboard
• Introduction to brass instruments
• How to play the violin, viola, cello and doublebass and lots more 

Do well to invite others to this blog as music training starts soonest.