AnnoTune

Music notation guide

Every symbol you meet on a page of music, explained in a sentence or two and drawn on a real staff.

Basics

The staff

Five horizontal lines on which notes are written: the higher a note sits, the higher it sounds.

  • Notes sit on the lines or in the spaces between them.
  • Short ledger lines extend the staff for notes above or below it.
  • Vertical bar lines divide the staff into measures (bars).

Clefs

The clef at the start of the staff fixes which line is which pitch.

  • Treble clef (G clef) circles the second line from the bottom: that line is G above middle C.
  • Bass clef (F clef) places its two dots around the fourth line: that line is F below middle C.
  • Alto clef (C clef) points at the middle line: that line is middle C. The example shows middle C in all three.

Notes and note values

A note's shape shows how long it lasts; its position shows how high it is.

  • Whole note = 4 beats, half note = 2, quarter note = 1, eighth note = ½ in common time.
  • Each smaller value is half the one before: two halves make a whole, two eighths make a quarter.
  • A dot after a note adds half its value again: a dotted half lasts three beats.

Rests

Rests are measured silences, with one rest for every note value.

  • A whole rest hangs below the fourth line; a half rest sits on the middle line.
  • A whole rest also means 'silent for the whole bar', whatever the time signature.
  • Rests can be dotted exactly like notes.

Pitch

Accidentals

Symbols that raise or lower a note by a semitone for the rest of the bar.

  • Sharp (♯) raises a note a semitone; flat (♭) lowers it a semitone.
  • Natural (♮) cancels an earlier sharp or flat, or one from the key signature.
  • An accidental lasts until the next bar line and applies only to that line or space.

Key signatures

Sharps or flats at the start of every line that apply to the whole piece.

  • Sharps always appear in the order F C G D A E B; flats in the order B E A D G C F.
  • The key signature names a major key and its relative minor: one sharp is G major or E minor.
  • The example changes from D major (two sharps) to E♭ major (three flats).
Explore every key on the Circle of Fifths →

Rhythm and time

Time signatures

Two stacked numbers: the top counts beats per bar, the bottom names the beat's note value.

  • 4/4 (common time) has four quarter-note beats; 3/4 has three, the waltz metre.
  • In 6/8 six eighth notes are grouped in two beats of three.
  • A new time signature can appear at any bar line.

Ties and slurs

Two kinds of curved line: a tie joins durations, a slur shapes phrasing.

  • A tie connects two notes of the same pitch into one longer sound, often across a bar line.
  • A slur spans different pitches and means play them smoothly connected (legato).
  • If the pitches differ, the curve is a slur.

Tempo markings

Words and metronome marks above the staff say how fast to play.

  • Italian terms are traditional: Largo (very slow), Andante (walking), Allegro (fast), Presto (very fast).
  • A metronome mark such as ♩ = 120 gives exact beats per minute.
  • rit. (ritardando) means gradually slower; accel. (accelerando) gradually faster.

Expression

Dynamics

How loud or soft to play, written below the staff.

  • From soft to loud: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff (piano, mezzo, forte).
  • A hairpin opening to the right (crescendo) means get louder; closing (diminuendo) means softer.
  • A dynamic holds until the next one.

Articulations

Small marks at a notehead that say how to attack and release the note.

  • Staccato (dot): short and detached. Accent (>): emphasised.
  • Tenuto (line): held for its full value, slightly weighted.
  • Fermata (eye): hold the note longer than written, at the performer's discretion.

Structure

Repeat signs

Double bar lines with two dots mark a passage to be played twice.

  • The dots face the music to be repeated: play to the end-repeat, then go back to the start-repeat.
  • Without a start-repeat, go back to the beginning of the piece.
  • D.C. (da capo) and D.S. (dal segno) send you back to the start or to the sign 𝄋.