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 Look
at the quarter notes above. They are all "F note" quarter notes.
There are 4 quarter notes showing in one measure. Remember that all the notes
in 1 measure, when added together, need to add up to the size for that measure?
Well we are going to learn about how to tell what size a measure is.
Look
at the first measure. It has some strange
signs at the beginning of it and it has
some numbers. We will be looking at the
numbers for now. The numbers tell you what
size the measure is. First let's learn a
little more about the different parts of
the staff before we learn more about the
measure size.
Look
at the staff again. Starting from the top
of the staff, there are five horizontal
lines. Count these five top lines. These
top five lines in the staff are called the
"Treble Clef." The "Treble
Clef" shows the notes that you
will be playing with your right
hand on the piano. The "Treble
Clef" has it's own label so that
you know it's a Treble Clef. Look at the
object that looks like a strange violin
on the left side of the Treble Clef (it
is next to the 4/4 numbers). This is the
sign (label) for Treble Clef. In fact it
is called a Treble Clef.
Look
at the staff once more. Starting from the
bottom of the staff, there are five horizontal
lines. Count these five bottom lines. These
bottom five lines in the staff are called
the "Bass Clef." The "Bass
Clef" shows the notes that you
will be playing with your left
hand on the piano. The "Bass
Clef" has it's own label so that
you know it's a Bass Clef. Look at the object
that looks like a backwards letter C on
the left side of the Bass Clef (it is next
to the 4/4 numbers). This is the sign (label)
for Bass Clef. In fact it is called a Bass
Clef.
Now
back to measure size. The measure size is
shown in two places on the staff above. It
is shown once on the Treble Clef and
once on the Bass Clef. The measure
size is shown by using the 4/4 numbers (number
4 over number 4). The top number 4
in either the treble clef or the bass clef
tells you that there are going to be FOUR
NOTES that when added together are going to
equal one measure. The bottom number 4 in
either the treble clef or the bass clef tells
you the "Rhythmic name" of
the FOUR NOTES. In the preceding lesson you
learned about "Rhythmic names"
for the notes. Which Rhythmic name had the
number 4 in it?
The
answer is a Quarter Note.
In
the staff above there will be four (4) quarter
(1/4) notes that when added together will
equal the size of one measure.
Another
way of saying this is that each measure
will be 4 quarter notes long.
A
measure can have any combination of rhythmic
notes (quarter, eighth, sixteenth, half) as
long as when you add them all together, they
equal 1 measure or they equal 1. Yes, it's
mathematics again. Let's go to the next page
and learn more the math in music. (Fractions).
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