Musical Terms 6 th Grade Keyboard Unit Essential

Musical Terms 6 th Grade Keyboard Unit Essential Music Terms

Music Literacy n Literacy means “to Learn to Read” n Music Literacy means “To Learn to Read Music” n Music is a language of symbols. n We will be learning and improving our Music Literacy Skills this trimester through music reading practice and playing the keyboards.

Staff The staff is a set of five lines and four spaces. n Music notes are written ON the lines or IN the spaces to indicate pitch and duration. n

The Staff lines & spaces

Treble Clef n n n Used for higher pitched notes, instruments and voices Placed at the left end of the staff Also called the G Clef because the final curl is around the second line or G pitched line.

Bass Clef n n n Used for lower notes, instruments and voices Placed at the beginning (left side) of the staff Also called the F clef because the two dots are on either side of the F line

Pitch – the highness or lowness of a tone (note) n Pitches are indicated on the staff using the first seven letters of the alphabet: ABCDEFG n The lines and spaces in the treble and bass clef have letter names. n When a note is place ON a line or IN a space it tells the musician what key to play on their instrument or how high or low to n

Treble Clef Pitch Names To remember the lines think of this saying: Every Good Boy Does Fine For the spaces remember the word FACE

Bass Clef Pitch Names To help you remember the lines of when the bass clef symbol is present: Glad Bags Don’t Fall Apart To help you remember the Space in the bass clef: All Cows Eat Grass

Duration means length of time n Notes have duration names and special shapes that tell musicians how long or short to play that notes. n 4 Beats Eighth Note ½ Beat 1 Beat

Rests §Rests are silence in music. §To create rhythms a musician uses both pitches (sounds) and rests (silence) §A whole note and a whole rest receive the same duration – 4 beats of sound or 4 beats of silence

More Rest Examples

The Grand Staff • The Grand Staff consists of both the Treble and the Bass • Clef Symbols and pitches. The two staves are connected with • Bar line and a bracket. • Both Hands are in the ready to play position!

Notes Between the staves in the Grand Staff Notes with stems pointing down are ALWAYS PLAYED WITH THE LEFT HAND Notes with the stems pointing up are ALWAYS PLAYED WITH THE RIGHT HAND

The Piano Keyboard Left Hand Right Hand

How to use your hands? Beginner sheet music often has numbers below each note. These numbers refer to fingers on your hands. n BOTH HANDS: 1 – thumb 2 – index finger 3 – middle finger 4– ring finger 5 – little finger n

Melody is an organized group of tones. n If it is a memorable tune, with lots of repetition you’ll remember it… like “Row, Row Your Boat”! n

Harmony is a combination of tones sounded together. n The basic unit of harmony is a chord, where two or more tones are played at the same time. n

Rhythm n Rhythm divides time in musical pieces using a combination of sound and silence

Tempo n n Tempo is how fast or slow music is played. Italian is the language used for these terms: n n Largo = Very Slow Andante = At a Walking Speed Moderato = A medium speed (faster than Andante) Vivace = Very Fast

Dynamics n n Dynamics are how loudly or softly the music is played. Italian terms used to indicate dynamics: n n n Piano = Soft Mezzo piano – medium soft Forte = Loud Mezzo forte = medium loud Crescendo = gradually get louder Decrescendo = gradually get softer

Famous Piano Players Lady Ga Ga Beethoven Billy Joel Elton John Alicia Keys Jerry Lee Lewis Ray Charles George Gershwin