Ode to Joy - musical symbols - 2
TIES
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When a note is tied to another note which is on the same line or space on the stave
it tells you that the note continues uninterupted.
If the note wasn't tied, and - for example - you were singing it, you would separate
the notes as if saying two words. When it is tied, you keep the same note going.
SLURS
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bin - den
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wie - der
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Dei
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ne
Slurs are different to ties - they occur over 2 or more different notes to show phrasing.
In vocal music, slurs between 2 notes that are not on the same line or space, as above,
show that you sing the same syllable but move onto a different note.
So the "den" of binden is not just one note, it is sung over two notes, and the "Dei" of Deine
is also sung over two notes.
=1
BEATS
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Music is divided into bars and beats. There is a bar line at the end of each bar to give you a visual
prompt as to how the bar is divided up. This piece is in 4-4, so there are 4 crotchets in each bar.
In the first bar above there are 4 crotchets, each is worth 1 beat.
In the second bar above there is 1 crotchet, 2 quavers, 4 semi-quavers and 8 demi-semi-quavers.
There are 2 quavers in a crotchet
There are 4 semi-quavers in a crotchet
There are 8 demi-semi-quavers in a crochet
The stave above shows how the smaller notes are usually divided up with beams across their tops.
This gives you an easier way to read the beats, as each beamed group is divided up into crotchets.
The stave below shows how each note would look if it didn't have a beam to join it to its companions.
This would make the music very hard to read!
& 44 œ
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J J R R R R RÔ RÔ ÔR RÔ ÔR RÔ ÔR RÔ
Ode to Joy - musical symbols - 3
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In the first bar above there are 2 crotchets and 1 minim. In the second bar there is 1 semi-breve.
There are 2 crotchets in a minim.
There are 4 crotchets in a semi-breve.
DOTTED BEATS
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The soprano and bass parts have dotted notes in this piece.
A dot tells you to add half the note value onto the note. So the first note is a dotted crotchet, which
means it is worth 1.5 crotchets. The second note is a quaver (worth half a crotchet) and the third
note is a minim (worth 2 crotchets). So the whole bar adds up to 4.
The second bar above is exactly the same as the first, just written differently - here there is a tie to
show that the first note continues for 1 crotchet and 1 quaver.
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The same theory applies to all dotted notes.
The minim above (usually worth 2 crotchets) is dotted. This adds on half the note length (1 crotchet),
meaning that a dotted minim is worth 3 crotchets (2 + 1).
NOTE STEMS
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Don't worry about which way the note stems go - up or down. The stems are only there to show
you the note length (combined with the note head and any dots, as mentioned above).
Usually, if the note is above the middle line of the stave the stem goes down, if the note is below
the middle line of the stave the stem goes up. Notes on the middle line can go either way.