Cello Notes

The Bass Clef Music in the bass clef is low music and is suitable for low instruments – like the cello. The Staff How many lines are there? Notes Notes can have stems or no stems and colour or no colour. This tells you how long to hold each note for.

The notes on the staff Open Strings: A D G C “All Dogs Get Cuddles” The A string is the top line The D string is the middle line The C string is SOOO low that it has 2 lines below the staff! The G string is the bottom line

What notes are these?

Do you know the musical alphabet? D E F G A B C

Going UP a note!  If you pluck the A string with one finger on it the note is a B.  If you pluck the D string with one finger on it the note is an E.  If you pluck the G string with one finger on it the note is an A. (in music after G comes A)  If you pluck the C string with one finger on it the note is a D.

What notes are these?

AB DE GA CD  See how the notes go from the lines to the spaces on the staff when you go from the open strings to one finger notes? C D

Other Staff Text  Dynamics – what’s that? How loud or soft you play! Tempo – what’s that? How fast or slow you play!

Joggers Book Time!  Remember that in the Joggers Book, there is a blackboard that shows you all of the information that you need to know to play the songs. Good Luck- Miss Monkhorst

What notes are these?

What fingers go on these notes?

2 nd and 3 rd fingers!  The D and A strings use the 2 nd finger  The G and C strings use the 3 rd finger The 2 nd and 3 rd finger notes have lines going through them. The 2 nd and 3 rd finger notes have lines going through them.

Key Signatures!!  A key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than normal. Key signatures are written after the clef. sharpflat staff notessemitoneclefsharpflat staff notessemitoneclef

Major Key Signatures  The key signature of a song refers to the sharps or flats at the start of each line.  If a song has one sharp on each line, the piece is in G Major and every F that you play needs to be adjusted to an F#. Ab Eb Bb F C G D A E SHARPSFLATS

GAME TIME!!  Call out the key signature as soon as you know what it is. Try to get it before the timer! D Major C Major G Major

A Major Bb Major C Major F Major G Major D MajorEb Major

What is the key signature of each excerpt?

Key Signature Questions…  If Schostakovich wrote a song with 2 sharps, what is the key signature?  If Beethoven wrote a song with 3 flats, what is the key?  If Mozart wrote a song with no sharps and no flats, what is the key? What does that imply if you What does that imply if you had to play it on your cello? had to play it on your cello?

Try to figure out the key signature of the pieces in your Cello Time Runners book