UNIT 5: MUSICAL NOTATION

EXERCISES HANDOUT

1. Stave notation
2. Musical notation terms: Some definitions
3. Philip Glass: Reading & Transcription

INGLS TCNICO CONSERVATORIO SUPERIOR DE MSICA DE MURCIA

Curso 2015-2016. Profesora: Mara del Valle

UNIT 6 : MUSICAL NOTATION - EXERCISES HANDOUT

1.Name the boxes in the two following pages using the terms below:
accidentals

dynamic

key signature

slur / legato

backbeat / afterbeat

dotted crotchet (Br.)

dotted quarter (Am)

ledger line

space

bar (Br.)
measure (Am.)

(augmentation) dot

line

stem

bar line

F-clef / bass clef

score / music sheet

tempo

beamed quavers (Br.)

beamed eights (Am.)
(bold) double bar line
(fam. also: "music end")
crescendo
(fam. also: "hairpin")

fermata
(fam. also: "cyclops eye")

natural

tie

flat

octave

G-clef / treble clef

off-beats

time signature
(also: meter signature)
four four time

chord

grand staff (Am.)

great stave (Br.)

crotchet rest (Br.)

quarter rest (Am.)

head

quaver rest (Br.)

eighth rest (Am.)

downbeat

hook / flag

sharp

brace

on-beats

upbeat / anacrusis
(also: pickup (note)/
pickup measure)
stave (Br.)
staff (Am.)

Gg

2. MUSICAL NOTATION TERMS:SOME DEFINITIONS

Fill in the gaps of the sentences below using the following terms:
Common time (or "Imperfect time")

Articulations

Dynamics

Ties

Cut (common) time ( or "Alla Breve")

Naturals

Sharps

Slurs

Great stave (Br) or Grand Staff (Am) Ledger Lines

Hairpins

Flats

Bars (Br) or Measures (Am)

Key signature

Rests

Dot

Time signature (or Meter signature)

Stave (Br.) or Staff (Am.)

Accidentals

Unison

(PLEASE NOTE THE PLURAL & SINGULAR FORMS IN NOUNS & VERBS!!)

1. The ....... (Br.) or................ (Am.) is the basis of written music. It is what the notes are
presented on. It consists of 5 lines with four spaces between them.
2. When the bass and treble clef are combined and connected by a brace, they form the socalled ................. (Br.) or .......................... (Am.) This greatly increases the range of
pitches that can be noted, and is often used in piano music, due to the piano's wide range.
3. The vertical lines on the staff mark the .... (Br.) or ............... (Am.). They are used
to divide and organize music. They are sometimes marked with numbers to make navigating a
piece easier.
4. The ... , also called ....., tells the musician how many beats
per measure there are, and what kind of note gets the beat.
5. . extend above and below the staff, allowing to display notes that are too
low or too high to appear on the staff itself.
6. A . beside a note increases its duration by half its original value.
7. ..... are places where the musician does not play. They have equivalent values to
corresponding notes of duration. Thus, there is a whole . ,a half .. , a quarter ...,
etc., just like normal notes.

8. modify the pitch of a note by increasing or decreasing it by one half step. They
stay in effect for all notes of the same pitch for the rest of the measure. There are three types:
flats, sharps and naturals.
9. Accidentals in the very beginning of the music are called ...
10. Accidentals lowering the pitch of the note by one half step are called ...
11. Accidentals raising the pitch of the note by one half step are called ....
12. .. cancel out any previous sharps or flats. The pitch returns to normal.
13. . connect notes of the same pitch, forming essentially one longer note.
14. Staccato, Accent, Marcato, Tenuto, Sforzando and Fermata are ............
15. Pianissimo, Piano, Mezzo piano, Mezzo forte, Forte and Fortissimo are .............
16. Crescendos and Decrescendos are familiarly called
17. .. smoothly connect notes of different pitch. This means to play the notes without
breaks.
18. . is a 4/4 time signature thats been rhythmically cut to manipulate rhythm
and/or tempo. Cut time can be written as 2/2, or as a c-shaped symbol with a vertical slash.
19. . refers to the 4/4 time signature, which signifies four quarter-note beats per measure.
It may be written as a fraction, or with a c-shaped semicircle.
20. In orchestral music .... can mean the simultaneous playing of a note by different
instruments, either at the same pitch; or in a different octave, for example, cello and double
bass . Typically a section string player plays ..with the rest of the section.

3. PHILIP GLASS: READING & TRANSCRIPTION

About Philip Glass.
Philip Morris Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer.
He is one of the most influential music makers of the late 20th century.
His music is also often controversially described as minimal music, along
with the work of the other "major minimalists" La Monte Young, Terry
Riley and Steve Reich.
Glass has distanced himself from the "minimalist" label, describing himself
instead as a composer of "music with repetitive structures." Though his
early mature music shares much with what is normally called "minimalist",
he has since evolved stylistically.Currently, he describes himself as a
"Classicist", pointing out that he is trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied such composers as Franz
Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Nadia Boulanger.
Glass is a prolific composer: he has written works for the musical group which he founded, the Philip Glass Ensemble
(with which he still performs on keyboards), as well as operas, musical theatre works, ten symphonies, eleven
concertos, solo works, chamber music including string quartets and instrumental sonatas, and film scores. Three of his
film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.
Match the transcriptions to the definition and write the corresponding term:
/sk:/

/snt/

/s.l/

/smfni/

/kwtet/

/tem.bmju.zk/

/pr/

/knt.t/

EX.: /sk:/ SCORE A copy of a composition showing all the vocal and instrumental parts arranged one below the other.

1. /

/ __________ A dramatic work in one or more acts, set to music for singers and instrumentalists.

2. /

/ __________ A composition for one or more solo instruments, one of which is usually a keyboard
instrument, usually consisting of 3 or 4 independent movements varying in key, mood, and tempo.

3. /
4.

/ _________ An elaborate composition, usually for full orchestra, and in several movements with one
or more in sonata form (especially the first).

5. /

/ _______ A composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra.

6. /

/ ________ A vocal or instrumental piece or passage, performed by one person with or without

7.

accompaniment.

8. /

/ ________________ Music for a small group of instruments.

9. /

/ __________ A composition for four voices or instruments.