Basic musical theory you should know

In a music sheet, notes are written on music staves. A music staff has five lines and four spaces between those lines.

Pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G).

A clef is a musical symbol placed at the beginning of the staff that determines the letter names of the lines and spaces.

There are many kinds of clefs. Two most popular clefs are the treble clef and the bass clef.

A treble clef sign indicates where the G note is located. A bass clef sign indicates where the F note is located. Staves with treble clefs are usually played by right hand and staves with bass clefs are played with left hand.

A grand/piano staff is a combination of both the treble and bass clefs connected by a vertical line on the left side of the staves (plural staffs). When both staffs are presented together it indicates where both G and F clef are in relation to each other a brace is added to the staffs.

Ledger Lines are an extension of the staff. They are additional lines both above and below which are parallel to the staff. Each ledger line contains one note. As with the staff, both lines and spaces created by ledger lines can have notes placed on them.

When a sharp or flat sign is placed in front of a note it changes the pitch of that note.

Sharps indicate to raise the note a semitone. Flats indicate to lower the note a semitone.

Notice that the sharps (#) or flats (b) are written before the note on a music stave and after the note when written as a letter name (e.g. C#, Eb).

What is interval?

An interval is the distance between two notes. Intervals are counted from the lower to the higher note, with the lower note being counted as one. Intervals come in different qualities and size. If the notes are sounded successively, it is a melodic interval. If sounded simultaneously, then it is a harmonic interval.

In general, the smallest interval is the half step. A visual demonstration of a half step would be the distance between a white and black note next to it on the piano. There are two exceptions to this rule because there are two natural half steps that occur between E and F, B and C.

A whole step is the distance that is made up of two half steps.

Intervals include Major (M), Minor (m), Perfect (P), Augmented (A), and Diminished (d).

Intervals come with different sizes: Unisons, Seconds, Thirds, Fourths, Fifths, Sixths, and Sevenths.

2nds, 3rds, 6ths, and 7ths can be Major or Minor.
Unisons, 4ths, 5ths, and Octaves are Perfect.

For you to remember, there are some simple rules:

1. When a major interval is raised by a half step, it becomes augmented.
   When a major interval is lowered by a half step, it becomes minor.
   When a major interval is lowered by two half steps, it becomes diminished.
   

2. When a minor interval is raised by a half step, it becomes major.
   When a minor interval is raised by two half steps, it becomes augmented.
   When a minor interval is lowered by a half step, it becomes diminished.
   

3. When a perfect interval is raised by a half step, it becomes augmented.
   When a perfect interval is lowered by a half step, it becomes diminished.

There are many types of scales. They are considered the backbone of music.

A major scale is a series of 8 consecutive notes that make up the following pattern of half and whole steps:

You can play these notes to listen how a major scale sounds. A major scale is often described as bright and strong.

There is only one type of major scale, while there are 3 forms of minor scales including: Natural, Melodic, and Harmonic.

Chromatic Scales are made up entirely of half steps. When ascending, the scale uses sharps, when descending it uses flats.

Whole Tone Scales differ from the other scales because it only has 6 tones.

Key signatures decide which scale is used in the music piece. There are 15 major and 15 minor key signatures. The sharps or flats at the beginning of the staff indicate the main tone (diatonic) to which other tones are related.

Notes: Db-C#, Gb-F#, Cb-B, ... are enharmonic keys, meaning that they are written differently, but sound the same.

What is a triad?

A triad is a group of three notes that have some relationship to one another. Each member of the triad is separated by an interval of a third. The triad is made of a Root, Third, and Fifth.

There are four kinds of triads: major, minor, diminished and augmented triads.

Inversions of Triads

Root Position Triad: If the triad root is in the lowest voice then the triad is in Root Position.

1st Inversion Triad: If the third of the triad is in the lowest voice the triad is the 1st inversion.

2nd Inversion Triad: If the 5th of the triad is in the lowest voice, the triad is in the 2nd inversion.

There are 4 types of expression marks.

Tempo marks

Largo         Very slow

Larghetto     Not as slow as largo

Adagio        Slow, leisurely

Lento         Slow

Moderato      Moderate

Andante       Moving with a moderate tempo

Andantino     Faster than andante

Allegretto    A little slower than allegro

Allegro       Moderately fast

Vivace        Lively, animated, brisk

Presto        Fast, rapid

Prestissimo   Very rapidly

Dynamics marks

Pianissimo    Very soft

Piano         Soft

Mezzo piano   Moderately soft

Mezzo forte   Moderately loud

Forte         Loud

Fortissimo    Very loud

Crescendo     Increasing in loudness

Decrescendo   Decreasing in loudness

Diminuendo    Diminishing in loudness

Rinforzando   Dudden increase in loudness

Sforzando     Play the note with sudden emphasis

Style marks

Amoroso       tender and affectionate

Animato       animated; lively

Calando       gradually softer and slower

Cantabile     in a singing style

Con Anima     with life and animation

Con Brio      with vigor and spirit

Con Fuoco     with energy or passion

Deciso        decisively

Detache       detached

Dolce         sweetly

Doloroso      sorrowfully

Espressivo    expressively

Furioso       furious

Giocoso       humorous

Grandioso     with grandeur

Grazioso      gracefully

Legato        smooth and connected

Leggiero      lightly

Maestoso      majestically

Marcato       marked and stressed

Marzial       in the style of a march

Morendo       dying away

Perdendosi    dying away

Pesante       heavy

Religioso     religious, solemn

Rubato        taken out of tempo

Semplice      simple

Sempre        always, continuously

Sostenuto     sustained

Soto voce     in an undertone

Staccato      short and detached

Tenuto        sustained, held for full value

Tranquillo    tranquill