The Staff
Ever wonder how musicians know what to play? Every wonder how a group of musicans are able to play together? The following lessons will introduce you to the most important ideas of reading and understanding musical notation.
Objectives
- The learner will be able to describe and identify the function of the music staff.
- The learner will be able to describe pitch.
THE STAFF
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The MUSIC STAFF (or "stave)" is comprised of five lines, and four spaces. It is used to notate pitch.
Every line or space represents a white key on the piano as illustrated below.
WHAT IS PITCH
Pitch (as defined by Oxford) is "the quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone". In simple terms, pitch is how high or how low something sounds. The flute has a higher pitch then a tuba. A birds tweet is higher then that of a fog horn.
HOW TO DRAW MUSIC NOTES
CHECK YOUR SKILLS
Files are in .pdf form. Please visit http://get.adobe.com/reader/ to obtain Adobe Reader.
TASKS
Worksheet 1 File:Work1.pdf
Objective: Practice drawing, numbering and labeling the staff.
Worksheet 2 File:Work2.pdf
Objective: Focusing on Pitch.
ANSWER KEY
Answers for Worksheet 1 File:Answerwork1.pdf
Answers for Worksheet 2: File:Answerwork2.pdf
Next Lesson: Treble Clef
