1. Reading Music
There are four basic components when looking at music that we must always do, and will do from now until we choose/cannot play.
Musical staff – where the notes live
There are five lines and four spaces

2. Reading Music Cont…
Sometimes we need to go beyond the range of the five line, four space staff because we have the ability to play notes that are higher and lower.

3. How do we tell note names?
Clef – tells us what voice/instrument/range we are playing in.
Violins play treble clef (&)
Violas play alto clef (B)
Cello/bass play bass clef (?)
More on this later…

4. Key Signatures Key signatures tell us what key we are in.
If we don’t know what key we are in, we don’t know where to place our fingers, and we play out of tune.
Playing out of tune is unacceptable when we can easily read what key we are in.

5. Examples of Key Signatures
Music is cyclical because it involves A LOT of math.
The circle of fifths presents a view of how all the keys relate.
We will start in D Major (two sharps, F# and C#)

6. Circle of Fifths

7. Usually in music when notes are being played in a descending pattern, they will be flat. If they are being played in an ascending pattern, they will be sharp.
A lot of this also depends on the key signature/key you are playing in.

8. Time
Signatures
Time signatures tell us how many beats will fit in a measure.
Not all time signatures are created equal, and we will now discuss what makes up a time signature.

9. There’s a lot of math in music…
Time signatures look or are fractions
Numerator (top number) tells you the number of beats per measure.
Denominator (bottom number) tells you the type of note that gets the beat.

10. Upper Number
This number can usually be anything between 1 and ___, depending on the composition.
This number is how many beats there are in a measure.
If the top number is 4, there are 4 major beats in the measure.
If the top number is 3, there are 3 major beats in the measure, etc…

11. Lower Number
The lower number is governed by the types of notes that are available.
This helps us determine what type of note will receive the beat.
Most commonly seen lower numbers are
2 (H half note gets the major beat)
4 (Q quarter note gets the major beat)
8 (E eighth note gets the major beat)

12. Time Signature Activity
How many beats are in the measure?
What type of note gets the beat?
4 , 4 , 4 , 2 , 8

14. Putting it all together
Music, like language or reading, follows an order on how we read it.
You will always see the clef first on the five line staff.
Then, the key signature.
Then the time signature.