Notes
Notes
National 3
Step / Stepwise
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Step / Stepwise:
Moving up or down between notes which
are next to each other. Below is the
stepwise movement of a major scale of C.
Leap / Leaping
Leap / Leaping:
Moving between notes which are not next to
each other.
Crotchet and Minim
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A crotchet has a value of
1 beat:
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A minim has a value of
2 beats:
Dotted minim
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A dotted minim as a value of
3 beats:
Lines and Spaces
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Music is most commonly notated using the Staff
The staff consists of five horizontal lines on which
musical notes lie. The lines and the spaces
between the lines represent different pitches.
Lower pitches are lower on the staff and higher
pitches are higher on the staff.
Lines and Spaces
Lines
Spaces
Note Names
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When moving consecutively from line to
space the notes pattern is in alphabetical
order.
Chords
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Chords are notes played simultaneously.
The most commonly used chords are
constructed from stacked thirds.
Chord Symbols
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There are various Chord Symbols that can be combined to
indicate many different types of chords.
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Basic Chord Symbols:
Letter Name (e.g., C) = Major chord
m = minor chord
+ = Augmented chord
o = diminished chord
Seventh Chords:
7 = minor seventh
M7 = Major seventh
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Discord
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A discord is a chord in which certain notes
clash. Up to the end of the 19th century,
discord was used sparingly in music in
order to add tension, and it was almost
immediately followed by a concord. In the
20th century composers made greater use
of discords, merging them into further
discords rather than resolving them into
concords.
Sequence
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A melodic phrase which is immediately
repeated at a higher or lower pitch.
Legato and Staccato
Legato
The notes are played or sung smoothly.
Staccato
The notes are short and detached. A note which is to be
played staccato have a dot placed directly below or
above the note.
Octave
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The distance between a note and the nearest
note with the same name, e.g. C to C'.
Notes
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National 4
Quaver and Semiquaver
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A quaver has a value of
½ beat.
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A semiquaver has a value of
1/4 beat.
Grouped semiquavers
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Below is a group of semiquavers which are
joined together.
Dotted rhythm
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A dotted rhythm is a long note followed by a
shorter one or a short note followed by a
longer one as in a Scots snap often used in
a Strathspey
Scotch snap
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A scotch snap is a very short accented note
before a longer note. A feature of
Strathspeys.
Repeat sign
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Repeat Signs tell us to repeat a certain
section of music during performance. A
Repeat Sign looks like a double bar with
two dots by it.
Ornament
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An ornament decorates a melody by adding
extra notes. Ornaments are often short and add
melodic and rhythmic interest.
The first example shows first how a mordent is
written and then how it is played: the main note
is played, followed by the note above, then the
main note again.
Ornament
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The second example shows a lower mordent again, illustrating first how a lower mordent is
written in notation and then how it is played: the
main note is played, followed by the note below,
then the main note again.
Ornaments
Scale
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A pattern of notes moving by step in an ascending or
descending order.
 or
Scales are collections of notes arranged in patterns of
half-steps, whole-steps, or other intervals. Composers
and improvisers use scales as pitch resources in their
music. They choose specific scales and choose notes
from those scales to form melodies and harmonies in
their music.
Major /major scale
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An example of a scale is a Major Scale. A major scale
has the following arrangement of half-steps (H) and
whole-steps (W): Piece in major key
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
If we start this pattern on the note D we get a D Major
scale: D, E, F-sharp, G, A, B, C-sharp, D.
Minor / minor scale
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Music in a minor key, often described as having a sadder feel
than major. Song in a minor key
The Harmonic Minor scale has the following pattern of halfsteps, whole-steps and one augmented second (A2):
W-H-W-W-H-A2-H
Here is a Harmonic Minor scale starting on F:
Pentatonic
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Any five-note scale. In practice, the most
common one is that on which much folk
music is based, particularly Scottish and
Celtic. This song is based on the
pentatonic scale: The Skye Boat Song
Notes
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National 5
Dotted crotchet / Dotted quaver
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Dotted crotchet
A note that last for 1½ beats
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Dotted quaver
A note that last for ¾ beats
Accidental
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A symbol that modifies the pitch of a note,
turning it into a sharp, a flat, or a natural;
also refers to the modified notes
themselves.
A sharp, double-sharp,
flat, and natural
(respectively) on the staff.
Tone
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An interval of two semitones making a
major 2nd, eg G to A on a keyboard, two
frets on a guitar.
Wholetone
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A scale containing no semitones but built
entirely on whole tones. Debussy used the
whole-tone scale in some of his pieces
which were influenced by Impressionism.
See Impressionist
Semitone
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Half a tone, eg G to Ab on a keyboard.
From one fret to another on a guitar. See
Tone. Below is the chromatic scale in which
every interval is a semitone.
Chromatic
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A stepwise series of notes built up entirely
of semitones.
This is a chromatic scale beginning on C.
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Habanera: descending chromatic scale
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Grace notes
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A type of ornament played as a quick note
before the main note of a melody.
Sometimes there may be a group of grace
notes at the start of a phrase and this is
particularly evident in bagpipe playing.
Pibroch
Trill
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Trill - Rapid and repeated movement
between two adjacent notes.
Devil's Trill Sonata
Contrary motion
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Two parts which move in opposite
directions, eg as one part ascends the
other part descends.
Cadence
Cadence
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Aural Workshop: Cadences