21. Note Values 2: Ties

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

For convenience I will assume that a crotchet equals 1 beat. This is the case in time signatures of X/4, such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 etc. In these time signatures we have note values for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 3 and 4 beats. Including double-dotted notes we can add 1 3/4 and 3 1/2 beats.

But what if we want to have a note longer than a bar? Or a note that’s 2 1/2 beats long? Or a note that’s starts before a barline but continues after it?

Ties

A tie is a curved line joining two consecutive notes of the same pitch, resulting in a continuous note of their combined length.

For instance, 2 minims joined by a tie sound like a semibreve.

If you want to join more than 2 notes together, such as when a note is several bars long, use a tie between each pair.

Here are a few examples:

For longer notes, the same length note may need to be broken up differently depending on the time signature. Here is a 9-beat long note in 4/4 and 3/4:

Ties are written opposite the stem.

  • If the stems go above the notehead, ties are written underneath the note.
  • If the stems go below the notehead, ties are written above the note.

NOTE: Tied notes must be of the same pitch!

Slurs Are Not Ties

You may have seen curved lines joining notes of different pitch, or encompassing several notes. These are not ties! They are called slurs and are used as an expression mark meaning legato, to play smoothly, without break or emphasis.

*Some common expression markings can be found in Beginner’s Tips (coming soon).

A tie can occur inside a slur.

Try These…

Write the following note lengths, using multiple note values and ties as necessary:

  • 3 and a half beats
  • 2 and a quarter beats
  • 7 beats in 4/4
  • 6 and a half beats in 4/4
  • 6 and a half beats in 3/4
  • 10 and three quarter beats in 4/4

Answers at the end of this post.

Beaming and the Time Signature Hierarchy 

Short notes are beamed in groups of 1 beat (in X/4, quavers can also be beamed in groups of 1 strong beat). A beam always runs from the start of a beat to the end of that beat.

Beams never run across a beat. The idea is that, in a passage of short notes, you can see at a glance where the beats fall because of the way the notes are beamed.

If a note starts partway through one beat and carries over to the 2nd beat, it should be written as two shorter notes, one at the end of one beat and one at the start of the next beat, and joined with a tie.

This enables the reader to see where the beats fall, including when that’s part-way through a note. Wrongly beamed notes make the music very difficult to read!

Note:

Rhythms with notes that cross the beat, such as the previous example and those following, are not very easy to play compared to the rhythms we’ve already learnt.

When notes are split up correctly and joined with ties, we can see when a beat falls part-way through a note. This makes it possible to learn such new rhythms by zooming in and counting quavers. (If it’s still hard to play, we can zoom in twice and count each semiquaver as a beat, as explained in the previous lesson).

Playing notes that cross the beat is a form of syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation, including some basic exercises, in Part 2 of this course.

Longer Notes and Time Signatures

If a longer note starts before or after a beat, it, too, must be split up to show where the beats fall.

If we want a minim to start on, say, the 2nd semiquaver, we have to split it up into 3 parts to show where the beats fall. It may seem like a hassle but, as I mentioned earlier, indicating where the beats fall makes it so much easier to read and play.

Note: Due to common usage, a crotchet or dotted crotchet can start on any quaver but if it starts on the 2nd or 4th semiquaver (after a semiquaver or dotted quaver) you have to split it as above.

Try These…

Rewrite the following rhythms with correct beaming, splitting notes which fall across a beat and using ties where necessary:

Answers at the end of this post.

What’s Next?

This is the final lesson in Part 1 of my 2-part course in basic music theory.

Part 2 will commence later this year. In the meantime, here are a couple of suggestions for revision and follow-up.

Follow-up

  • Keep practising the musicianship exercises in this course (and similar exercises) until they are second nature. The abilities to sing or hum scales and intervals and to tap, clap or play rhythms are general skills useful for most instruments and genres.

These skills also help to connect notation and music theory to musical experience.

*Relevant lessons can be quickly found under the post category of Musicianship.

  • Visit the category Beginner’s Tips for extra posts on navigation signs, dynamics, tempo and expression markings.
  • Practise reading simple, well-known melodies in various keys in your preferred genre and clef.

Revision

Music Theory

  • Revisit the major musical concepts of modes, scales, and keys.
  • Become familiar with key signatures. Either learn them via a mnemonic or become quick at using key relationships to work them out.
  • Become familiar with key relationships: the cycle of 5ths (or at least how it works), relative major/minor and parallel major/minor.
  • Revisit major/minor/perfect interval names and how to name an interval.

Notation

  • Become familiar with the time signature hierarchy of 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
  • Practice reading and writing 1-beat rhythms (down to semiquavers).
  • Write key signatures in their correct sequence.

Coming Soon… Part 2 of this 2-part course in basic music theory.

This will include harmonic and melodic minor, augmented/diminished intervals, major/minor/modal chords, 7th chords, syncopation, compound time and more.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

Congratulations!

You have completed Part 1 of Music Theory De-mystified basic music theory course. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Part 2 includes augmented/diminished intervals, compound time signatures, plenty of basic rhythm exercises, melodic and harmonic minors, major and minor chords and more.

PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

NEXT LESSON: B1. Syncopation Basics: Playing Off The Beat

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers to Try These…

Basic Music Theory Part 1: Course Outline

Description

This course is part 1 of a two-part course in basic music theory and includes elements of notation and musicianship.

Part 1 is made up of 21 lessons of about 30 minutes duration (less for the first two). This amounts to one semester at one lesson per week or a 6-week course at one lesson every two days.

The lessons are grouped into modules of a few lessons each, providing some intermediate goals. Each module looks at a particular aspect of music theory and only takes 2-3 hours to complete.

Most lessons include a few quick exercises as well as suggestions for further exploration.

Although each lesson is self-contained, the lessons and modules are designed to run in numerical order.

Lessons include links to related lessons and tips as well as to deeper explanations of some of the principles discussed in the course.

Requirements

This course assumes no prior music theory or notation knowledge. However it is strongly recommended that the student has at least beginner level of playing ability on an instrument or a basic singing ability within a vocal range of 1 octave, so that they can explore what’s taught in each lesson.

Outcomes

An Understanding Of The Following Musical Concepts

  • Beats
  • Counting beats
  • Tempo
  • Timing
  • Note length
  • Bars
  • Time signature 
  • Strong and weak notes
  • Simple Time
  • Note names
  • Clef
  • Sharpen and flatten
  • Interval
  • Octave
  • Semitone
  • Root note
  • Mode
  • Scale
  • Key
  • Key signature 
  • Accidental
  • Key relationships 
  • The cycle/circle of 5ths
  • Relative major/minor
  • Parallel major/minor
  • Major intervals
  • Minor intervals
  • Perfect intervals
  • Rhythm

Musicianship Skills

  • Count in time
  • Divide a beat into halves
  • Count bars and beats in simple time
  • Recognise whether a piece has 3 or 4-beat bars
  • Sing a major scale
  • Sing major, minor and perfect intervals above a note
  • Recognise and name major, minor and perfect intervals
  • Tap or play basic rhythms in simple time down to semiquavers

Notation

  • Stave, great stave
  • Treble and bass clefs
  • Note names and ledger lines
  • Note values including dotted notes
  • Ties
  • Time signatures (simple time)
  • Beaming in simple time
  • Key signatures 
  • Major/minor scales in various key signatures
  • Major/minor/perfect intervals above a note
  • Notate short rhythms
  • Follow-up links to navigation markings, repeat bars and tempo ranges

Practice Technique

How to zoom in: slow down the tempo and count twice as often.

Recommended Additional Resources 

This is primarily a music theory course. The notation exercises included are far from comprehensive and may be supplemented by music reading, beginner music theory workbooks and transcription exercises.

Musicianship, too, is a subject in its own right. There are many excellent musicianship workbooks and courses available to develop these skills. Ensemble work is also a great way to develop musicianship. Play with other musicians at every opportunity!

Start Here

Part 1 Contents

Feature: How To Practise A Piece Efficiently

A detailed expose on practice technique. Click here to visit.

Coming in Part 2 of this course…

  • Triplets
  • Compound time
  • Syncopation
  • Augmented and diminished intervals
  • Harmonic and melodic minor
  • Major, minor and modal chords
  • Diminished and augmented triads
  • Seventh chords
  • Relative chord names
  • Chord relationships 
  • and more…

Start Here

See a list of all posts here

20. How To Read Rhythms 1

Simple Rhythms In Simple Time

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

If you can’t wait to get to the exercises, click here. Otherwise, first some background.

Simple Time

Simple time refers to time signatures where the upper number = the number of beats in a bar and the lower number represents the note value for 1 beat. For example:

  • 3/2 = 3 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/2 note (minim)
  • 5/4 = 5 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/4 note (crotchet)
  • 4/8 = 4 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/8 note (quaver)
  • 3/16 = 3 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/16 note (semiquaver)

Why can so many note values represent 1 beat?

This is a subject for a future post but in essence, it allows the composer to influence the look of the written page. Just as we have different ways of explaining something, a composer can present musical information in a number of ways.

X/4

By far the most frequently used time signatures in simple time are X/4, where 1 beat is represented by a crotchet (quarter note), such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 etc.

In simple time it’s easy to divide a beat into halves and quarters using standard note values. If a crotchet = 1 beat, then a quaver = 1/2 beat and a semiquaver = 1/4 beat.

For a refresher on these time signatures, visit 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time.

Beaming

When there are several notes with tails in succession (quavers, semiquavers etc.) their tails are beamed (joined) together.

Notes are beamed in groups of one beat (quavers can also be beamed in groups of 2 beats), with the first note in the group being on the beat. This makes it easy to see where the beats are in a bunch of short notes.

(Sib Graphic of 2 bars of 4/4 mixed rhythms)

Resolution

Music is a human experience. Our ability to count steadily roughly matches the range of human heart rates, about 40 to 200 bpm.

At a tempo slower than about 40 bpm we can’t feel the continuity between beats and it becomes hard to keep the beats at an even tempo. 

For really slow tempi we can effectively double the resolution by doubling the counting speed; by counting the “and”s, the second half of each beat. The more frequent counts allow us to keep track of the timing. 

On the other hand, at a tempo faster than about 200 bpm it’s hard to feel each beat. We just can’t keep up… We’re tempted to just count the strong beats so we can count more slowly.

In both cases, when the tempo is outside a comfortable counting speed, we can adjust the resolution by changing what we count as 1 beat.

The Zoom Factor 

When practising a tricky piece of music, the first step is to slow the tempo right down so we have a chance to learn the notes.

However, some pieces don’t just have a fast tempo; the beats are divided into really short notes, 1/4 of a beat or even shorter. Even at a slow tempo, the actual notes can still be really fast…

The solution is to count the “and”s; to count a half beat as if it’s a beat. By counting twice as often, we can slow the tempo down to half without it feeling too slow to count. For more on this, please visit 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing.

I liken this to zooming in.

When zoomed in, fast rhythms are much easier to learn. Instead of having to divide a beat into quarters, you only need to divide into halves.

For example:

How To Learn A Fast Or Tricky Rhythm

  • Zoom in and count every half-beat as a beat at a slow tempo. 
  • Gradually speed it up until it’s fast enough to zoom out.
  • Without changing the playing speed, count half as often, so you’re counting the actual beats.
  • Gradually build up to the final tempo of the piece.

The Percussion Clef

The exercises that follow use a percussive sound (a snare drum). Drums and percussion have their own clef, where the lines and spaces represent different percussion instruments rather than note pitches. (Cymbals and some other percussion instruments also use differently shaped noteheads).

Common 1-Beat Rhythms In X/4

In X/4, a beat can be made up of a combination of quavers and semiquavers. In principle, we can go even further, into demisemiquavers (1/8 of a beat) or more, but that’s quite advanced.

There aren’t many ways to divide a beat into halves and quarters. These rhythms make a small enough list to learn as presets. In the example below I have written each beat as a bar of 1/4.

Even at 60 bpm, some of these rhythms sound quite tricky at first glance. They are much easier to learn if we zoom in.

Clap, Tap, Sing or Play

  • You can practise rhythms anywhere, by tapping on a tabletop, clapping or singing a simple syllable like “da”, “do”, “la” etc.
  • You can also play your instrument. Note that on keyboards and some melodic instruments it’s easier to play fast by alternating between 2 or 3 note pitches than to repeat a single note rapidly. Adapt the exercises accordingly…

Try These…

The following exercises have a metronome click to keep track of the beats. In the first group the rhythms are zoomed in so we count each quaver as a beat and each semiquaver as half a beat.

Each bar is played 4 times. The text “play 4 times” above the repeat signs has been left out to save space.

Note: For more on repeats and other navigation signs, please visit my beginner’s tip, How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

  • Make sure that you count at a steady tempo when practising. Tap or play each rhythm a number of times before trying at a faster tempo.
  • Emphasise the first note of every beat a little, especially if practising without a metronome. This helps you to feel the beats.

The first three rhythms are pretty straightforward at a moderately slow tempo when zoomed in…

NOTE: If you’re having trouble getting started…

  • Zoom in twice and count each semiquaver as a beat. A quaver is 2 beats long, a dotted quaver = 3 beats and a crotchet = 4 beats: no dividing required.
  • Gradually increase the tempo, then zoom out to quaver beats and continue with the following steps.

Practise each of these rhythms until you can feel them effortlessly. Start at a slow tempo and gradually work up to at least 120 bpm.

Once they’re at 120 bpm, count half as often without changing how fast you play the notes. Now we’re counting crotchet beats at 60 bpm!

This should sound the same as the previous step…

From here, we can gradually increase the tempo depending on the piece. I recommend practising until at least 100 bpm. Try to absorb the character of each rhythm as you practise.

As you become more familiar with each rhythm, leave out the “and”s.

Now let’s look at the other rhythms, one at a time. Follow the same steps as for the first three rhythms.

Bar 4

Bar 4 is probably easier after playing bar 2 first. Again, we’ll start by counting quavers as beats, at a moderate tempo. Feel the quavers, then add in the 2nd semiquaver.

  • Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.
  • Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).
  • Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 5

Bar 5 is probably easier after playing bar 3 first. Feel all the semiquavers, then leave out the last one.

Note: It’s easy to get bars 4 and 5 mixed up. The difference is more obvious if you emphasise the first note of the bar.

  • Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.
  • Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).
  • Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 6

Bar 6 is one of the harder rhythms because there is no note on the 2nd beat. Listen for the 2nd beat before playing the last note.

  • Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.
  • Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).
  • Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 7

To play bar 7, hold the first note until after you’ve heard the 2nd beat. Listen for the 2nd beat before playing the last note.

  • Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.
  • Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).
  • Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 8

To play bar 8, play the first 2 notes quickly then hold the 2nd note all the way to the end of the bar.

  • Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.
  • Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).
  • Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Rhythmic Presets

Practise tapping or playing each one-beat rhythm until you can recognise it at a glance. When you see a bar with a seemingly complex rhythm you can break it down beat by beat into familiar presets.

Can you recognise the one-beat rhythms in the following short melody? Tap or clap along if you can…

Notating Rhythms

Once you can recognise the character of each rhythm, you will become familiar with how it looks on a stave.

Bear in mind that tails and beams depend on the direction of the note stems. In a pitched part, some groups may appear upside down as in the above melody.

Try These…

The following audio files are each made up of a 1-beat rhythm played 8 times.

  • Tap or count the beats so you can feel the tempo as you listen to each audio file.
  • Once you feel the tempo, listen to the rhythm and clap, tap, sing or play the rhythm.
  • Identify which rhythm you’re hearing/playing.
  • Notate each rhythm as a series of correctly beamed note values (since the pitch doesn’t matter, you can use blank paper instead of manuscript if you like).

Answers at the end of this post.

Reading Rhythms

Long notes are relatively easy to read – we can just count a number of beats while holding the note. Short notes are a bit harder because we have to divide a beat into smaller values such as 1/2 or 1/4 of a beat.

This is where rhythmic presets come in. Rather than having to learn a longer rhythm from scratch, look for one-beat presets within the music so you can recall the rhythms you’ve already learnt.

Rhythm Practice 

A great way to practise rhythms is to combine it with your scales practice.

  • Choose a one-beat rhythm and repeat it on each scale note.
  • Over time, build up the tempo.
  • Each day, play a different scale with a different rhythm.

Another good exercise is to write out a bar of 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 made up of a combination of 1-beat rhythms, then learn to tap or play the whole bar as a larger rhythm. For example:

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 21. Note Values 2: Ties

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers To Try These…

The Interval-Singing Project

The Interval-Singing Project is a database of popular song and theme titles, collected as an aid to teaching intervals.

The songs are well-known within their category and genre and feature a specific musical interval as the first interval in the melody.

Instead of a student having to learn the sound of each interval from scratch, they will be able to tap into their own knowledge by simply remembering the start of a well-known song within their lived experience and musical interests.

I have set up a survey to collect suggestions. Please share the link below with your music teacher or fellow musicians so we can build a rich resource.

The resulting database will be available free of charge to anyone by subscribing to my blog and will be updated regularly. A selection of results will be publicly posted here.

Being able to recognise and name intervals is one of the cornerstones of both music theory and musicianship and I hope that the resulting database will become a handy, free resource for anyone who learns or teaches music.

Erik Kowarski 

Click Here To Go To The Survey

Survey Results (coming soon…)

A selection of results will be publicly posted in this category.

Subscribers will receive a link to the full database, including the ability to sort by interval, title, genre, nationality and more.

19. Listen & Sing: Learn Minor Intervals By Singing

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

The minor intervals are minor 2nd, minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. There are a few ways we can learn to sing these intervals.

Phrygian mode

The minor intervals are based on the phrygian mode. The phrygian mode is not easy to sing!

Most people aren’t used to starting a scale with a minor 2nd (1 semitone). However, if you listen to early music or traditional folk genres, you may be able to sing it.

Give it a try if you like. Don’t worry if you find it hard because there are easier options below.

If you can sing this scale, you can teach yourself the minor intervals by counting scale notes in the phrygian mode, just as we did for major intervals in the previous lesson. If not, read on…

Natural Minor

The next option is to sing the natural minor scale. That works for all except the minor 2nd, 1 semitone. See below for how to learn to sing a minor 2nd.

Most people find this much easier to sing than the phrygian mode. Again, the best way to find out is to try it.

Try It…

If you can comfortably sing the natural minor scale without following the video, you can use it to find the minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. Learn to sing the minor 2nd separately (see later in this post).

Example: minor 7th by singing the minor scale

Major Scale

The final method, outlined below, is to start to sing a major scale. To sing a minor 2nd, 3rd, 6th or 7th, drop down by 1 semitone from the major to find the equivalent minor interval, much like the interval ruler in 16. Interval names 1: major, minor and perfect intervals.

This method is great when you want to name an interval that you hear, because at first you won’t know whether it’s major or minor.

Rather than having to try both major and minor scales, just sing the major scale. If the major scale overshoots the upper note of the interval it’s probably a minor interval. (There is one exception to this but we’ll leave that until Part 2 of this course).

This requires one trick; the ability to sing 1 semitone below a note. This may seem hard, but I’m sure you can already do it without even realising it…

How To Sing 1 Semitone Up Or Down

Try This…

  • Sing the first 4 (or the last 4) notes of a major scale.
  • Now go back and forth between the last two notes you sang – that’s 1 semitone.
  • Feel how close together these last two notes are, almost squeezed together… Remember that feeling when you want to sing two notes 1 semitone apart.
  • Does it remind you of something? Start slowly and speed it up… The theme of the all-time classic movie, Jaws…
  • Now you’ve sung 1 semitone up and down a few times, reverse it. Sing down before going up (start on the higher note if you like). Below we have 1 semitone as a minor 2nd on C, first upwards, then downwards. Focus on keeping the two notes squeezed tightly together.
  • After a little while, you‘ll be able to sing a semitone up or down down by itself.

How To Sing Minor Intervals By Singing The Major Scale

  • For a minor 2nd, learn to sing 1 semitone up as outlined above.
  • For other intervals, sing the major scale indicated by the degree of the interval name (3rd, 6th or 7th).
  • Sing down 1 semitone.
  • Repeat this a few times.
  • Now just sing the first and last note as an interval.
  • Repeat a few times. Build up to being able to sing it by yourself, without the video.
  • Once you’ve sung a few intervals, try to sing the in-between scale notes more quickly and quietly, until they’re just a thought.

Try These…

Minor 2nd by singing the major scale

Sing the first bar again while you listen to the 2nd bar.

This is just a semitone up rather than down, as we learnt earlier.

Minor 3rd by singing the major scale

NOTE: For this and the following intervals, repeat the 3rd bar while listening to the 4th bar.

Minor 6th by singing the major scale

Minor 7th by singing the major scale

How To Name An Interval That You Hear

  • Identify the lower and higher note of the interval and sing them.
  • While listening to the interval, start to sing the major scale of the lower note, counting degrees (note numbers).
  • If it’s a major or perfect interval, you’ll find the upper note and have the answer.
  • If it’s a minor interval, at some point you’ll be too high. As soon as you notice this, sing 1 semitone below your last note. If you’re still too high, you went too far up the major scale and you should start again.
  • You may need to repeat this a few times until you feel sure that your upper note matches the upper note of the interval.

Try These…

Name the following intervals:

Answers at the end of this post.

NOTE: There is one interval we haven’t covered in the last two lessons, an interval of 6 semitones, often called a tritone (we’ll learn its proper interval name in Part 2 of this course). It’s a bit harder to sing than the other intervals and isn’t all that common so we’ll leave that one out for now.

Coming Soon! The Interval-Singing Project

The interval-singing project is survey of well-known songs in many genres, each of which starts with a specific interval. For each genre I hope to collect song titles to cover each interval.

Instead of having to learn intervals from scratch, students will be able to draw on their own knowledge, needing only to remember which song represents which interval.

Anyone who subscribes to my blog will have access to the database at no cost.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 20. How To Read Rhythms 1

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answers To Try These…

  • minor 3rd
  • minor 6th
  • minor 2nd
  • minor 7th

18. Listen & Sing: Learn Major And Perfect Intervals By Singing 

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

Learning To Sing Intervals

Interval names are based on scale notes. 

If we can sing, hum or imagine the sound of a scale, we can teach ourselves the character and name of various intervals by ear. We can count how many scale notes there are from the lower note of the interval to the higher note.

The easiest scale to sing, at least in Western culture, is the major scale. If you can’t sing a major scale straight away, please have a look at 17. Listen And Sing: How To Sing The Major Scale before reading on.

Major scale intervals

In 16. Intervals 1: Major, Minor And Perfect Intervals we saw that intervals are always counted from the lower note to the higher note, regardless of the order in which they’re played. The lower note of the interval becomes the root note of a major scale. We count scale notes to find the higher note and name the interval.

Counting up from the root note, the major scale contains the major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th, and, of course, the octave.

  • Treat the root note of the scale as the lower note of an interval.
  • Now sing from the root note to the 2nd note. This is a major 2nd.
  • To sing a major 3rd, sing the first 3 scale notes in a row but sing the 2nd note quieter or shorter than the first and third notes (see below). After a few times, leave the second note out altogether.
  • Repeat this exercise from the root note to each of the other notes in the scale.

Tip: the most useful intervals to become really good at are the major 3rd, perfect 5th and the octave. They are the notes of a major triad, a sound which will feel familiar to the ear and provide a shortcut for larger intervals (more on triads in Part 2 of my course).

Try These…

Below are the intervals of C major. Most voices can find a comfortable way to sing a C in the lower part of their range. The note number/scale degree is indicated below the notes.

  • In the first line, sing along to the first bar, then sing the same notes again in the second bar while you hear the interval played together. Feel your voice hit the lower and higher notes of the interval at the start and end of the bar.
  • In the second line the in-between scale notes are left out. Again, keep singing the first bar while you hear the interval played together in the second bar.
  • Practice each interval long enough until you don’t need to listen to the example while you sing.

Major 2nd

Major 3rd

Perfect 4th

Perfect 5th

Major 6th

Major 7th

Octave (perfect 8th)

Once you build a little confidence, choose a slightly lower or higher note for your intervals.

The more you do exercises like these, the easier it will be to recognise the interval between two notes, whether you hear them as a melodic interval (consecutive notes) or as a harmonic interval (both notes sounding together).

How To Sing An Interval Above A Note

This is just like how we learnt the intervals starting on C

  • Choose a major or perfect interval by name, such as a perfect 4th.
  • Play a note towards the bottom of your range.
  • Sing that note, then sing a note that’s the chosen interval above it 
  • If you need to, you can quietly sing the in-between scale notes like in the first exercise.

How To Name An Interval You’re Hearing

You can use the same method to name an interval that you hear.

  • First, identify both notes of the interval by singing them. They are a little harder to pick when played together.
  • Sing the lower note, then sing the notes of the major scale until you hear your note match the higher note, counting notes as you sing (the starting note counts as the first note). 
  • 2 notes is a 2nd, 3 notes is a 3rd, etc. The 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th are major intervals, the 4th and 5th are perfect. (Technically the octave is also perfect, we just don’t need to say so. An octave is just called an octave.)

Try These…

Below are audio files of a few harmonic intervals. Remember to sing both notes of each interval before singing (or thinking) scale notes. To make it a little easier, the two notes are quickly played as a melodic interval before hearing the two notes together.

Name each interval using the steps outlined above:

Answers at the bottom of this post.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

NEXT LESSON: 19. Listen & Sing: Learn Minor Intervals By Singing

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answers to Try These…

  • major 2nd
  • major 3rd
  • major 6th
  • perfect 4th
  • major 7th
  • perfect 5th
  • octave

17. Listen & Sing: How To Sing The Major Scale

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

…If you can already sing a major scale you can skip this lesson…

If you’re panicking at the thought of doing this lesson, relax… When I say “sing”, I don’t mean “sound like a real singer”! Don’t worry about tone, voice quality, breathing etc. You don’t even have to hold a note for very long. All we’re trying to do is pitch a few moderate-length notes in a comfortable part of the voice range.

The ability to sing a scale is one of the fundamental skills of musicianship. It helps develop our sense of tonality, which in turn helps us to understand and remember melodies and riffs. We also use scales to recognise, count and name intervals.

The easiest scale to sing, at least in Western culture, is the major scale. You may even know the major scale already, in solfege, as a simple melody: do, re, mi etc. 

If you’re not used to singing, start on a fairly low note, so you can sing upwards from there. The exercise below starts on C, which most people can sing as a low-ish note.

A note about voices and octaves

The range of female voices and children’s voices can be represented on the treble clef. Middle C or C4 is a comfortably low note. The octave from C4 to C5 is typically a comfortable range to sing in, even for untrained voices.

In general terms, a male voice typically sounds an octave lower than a female voice. The male voice’s actual pitch range fits on the tenor (guitar) clef. 

Many songbooks don’t distinguish between male and female voices. Melodies are written in the treble clef by default. When a male voice reads middle C and sings a comfortably low note, we hear C3, not C4. 

This is such a natural phenomenon that we interpret this difference more as tone than as pitch. We expect male voices to sound lower than female voices. 

We all “reach up” to sing a high note and “reach down” to sing a low note. These ranges within the voice range are called registers. High notes are in a high register, low notes in a low register. As humans, we can hear the effort of reaching for high or low notes as a change in register. 

When female and male voices sing together, we listen more for which register they sing in (reaching up or reaching down) rather than which actual octave.

The examples and exercises in this post are in the treble clef, at the actual pitch of a typical female or children’s voice. Male voices should have no trouble singing along an octave lower as long as middle C is thought of as a low-ish note.

What Words Shall I Sing?

For beginners, start with a consonant such as “L”, “T” or “D” followed by an open mouth vowel sound such as “aah”, “oh”or “ooh”. These are the easiest sounds to control and produce a clear and stable pitch.

Examples: La la la la, Da da da da, Ta ta ta ta , Doo doo doo doo etc.

If you’re confident that you can hold a note on different syllables, you could sing the note numbers as you go, “one, two, three, four “ etc.

How To Sing A Major Scale

The following video is the scale of C major at a slow tempo, one note per bar. 

  • In each bar, you hear the scale note first.
  • During the rest that follows, answer by singing the same note (indicated on the stave by a slash).
  • Each bar is repeated so you can check that you’re singing the right note.

Here’s the same exercise without the repeats.

Now repeat the exercise at a faster tempo. 

  • Feel how far you need to move from one note to the next; close for 1 semitone, a little more for 2 semitones. Remember the pattern of 2- and 1-semitone intervals that make up the major scale.
  • As you get used to the notes, you can sing along with the video as well as singing the answers.

Here’s the whole scale without rests. 

  • Listen to the scale of C major, then sing along with it. Repeat several times.
  • When it feels comfortable, listen again, then sing the scale by yourself. 
  • You can monitor your progress by singing along to the video again.
  • Once you can sing it by yourself, try speeding up the tempo or singing in quavers rather than crotchets.

Here it is at a faster tempo…

Other modes

As a follow-up, you can teach yourself to sing the scale of any other modes that are used in genres that interest you, be it the natural minor, melodic and harmonic minor (coming in Part 2 of this course), other traditional modes, the blues scale etc. Look at the pattern of intervals that make up the mode as you play and sing along.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 18. Listen & Sing: Learn Major And Perfect Intervals By Singing 

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Notation Shortcut: Repeat Bars

Some parts, especially rhythmic parts but also short phrases in melodic parts such as riffs, have a bar which is repeated a number of times in succession. Rather than having to write the same notes out many times we can just write the notes for the first time, then use the musical equivalent of a ditto, the repeat bar. 

As rhythms are often 2 or 4 bars long there is also a 2-bar repeat and a 4-bar repeat.

The first time, the content (of 1, 2 or 4 bars) is written in full. The bar repeat symbol is written in the bars or groups of bars over which the content should be repeated.

The number of bars of the bar repeat is reflected in the number of bars the symbol covers and the number of slashes in the symbol. As a courtesy, the number 2 or 4 is written above the 2- and 4-bar repeat bar symbol. 

Optionally, every few repeats, a tally of the number of times the content is played so far (including the original written-out bar(s)) is indicated above the repeat bar. This helps keep track of which repeat bar we’re up to.

1 and 2 bar repeat bars

For some more navigation markings such as repeat signs and da Capo, please visit How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour and How To Navigate Music 2: Animated Tour.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

How To Navigate Music 2: Animated Tour

Coda and To Coda

A coda is a final section, allowing further complexity in the format of a piece. After any number of other navigational signs, the music can finish on a more conclusive section than the other section endings. On repeating the piece after a D.C or D.S. the music can jump from a point labelled “To Coda” to the coda.

The stave is broken between the end of the main piece and the coda, indicating that it can only be reached from a To Coda.

Da Capo al Coda, D.C. al Coda 

(go back to the beginning and repeat until the words “To Coda”, then skip to the word “Coda”)

The piece is played again from the beginning up to the words To Coda the jumps to the Coda (final section).

Segno (sign)

The segno provides another point in the music to repeat from. In a popular music song, for example, the first section is often an introduction, only intended to play at the very start. Other sections such as verses and choruses may repeat several times but without going back to the introduction. The start of the various verse and chorus sections could be marked with the segno so that the introduction isn’t repeated.

Dal Segno or D.S.

(go back to the sign and repeat from there)

If we want to go back to a section after the beginning of the piece rather than all the way back to the beginning, we can use the segno (“sign”). On reaching the term dal segno, the piece is repeated from the sign.

The abbreviation D.S. is often used instead of the full wording.

Dal Segno al Fine, D.S. al Fine 

(go back to the sign and repeat from there till the word “Fine”, meaning ”end”)

Just like Da Capo al Fine but instead of repeating from the beginning of the piece till the word ”Fine”, we repeat from the sign till the word “Fine”. 

D.S. al Fine

Dal Segno al Coda, D.S. al Coda 

(go back to the Segno and repeat until the words “To Coda”, then skip to the Coda)

This is like Da Capo al Coda but instead of going back to the beginning of the piece, we repeat from the Segno until the words “To Coda” then jump to the coda.

D.S. al Coda, To Coda

For a handy way to notate a repetitive rhythm, please visit Notation Shortcut: Repeat Bars.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour

A great deal of music is made up of sections which are played more than once. Special barlines and other symbols can be used to indicate such sections, substantially reducing the number of pages required to notate a piece.

In a score, navigation text and signs are written above the stave for each part in Bold.

Navigation works a bit like a model railway, with signals directing the player through and around various sections of the music.

Although originally devised for music notation, navigation markings can equally be used on text-based notation such as chord charts or abc notation.

Navigation markings

Section End

A section end is a double barline of the usual thickness. As the name suggests, it indicates the end of a section of the music. When you see a section end, keep playing unless other symbols indicate a pause in the timing.

Final Bar/Double Bar

The final bar is a double barline with an extra-thick second line. It indicates the end of the whole piece unless other symbols indicate otherwise.

End Repeat Sign

An end repeat looks like a final bar but with two dots to the left.

  • If no begin repeat has been passed, go back to the beginning of the piece and play it again, else go back to the nearest begin repeat sign and play again.
  • Once you reach the end repeat a second time, continue onwards.

Begin Repeat Sign

A begin repeat sign is the reverse of an end repeat. When you encounter one, keep playing: it has no meaning until you reach an end repeat sign. Think of a begin and end repeat as a pair of brackets enclosing a section which is to be played twice.

Play X Times

The words “play x times” above an end repeat indicate that the repeated section is played the total number of times indicated here by “x”, such as “play 3 times”.

1st And 2nd Time Bars

In a repeated section, first and second time bars allow different endings for leading back to the start after the first time through and playing on after the repeat. First and second time bars can be made up of more than one bar, as indicated by the length of the line.

Da Capo or D.C.

As well as repeated sections, the whole piece may be repeated, including any internal repeats. A repeat sign at the end is confusing because someone reading the music would be looking for a matching start repeat that doesn’t exist. Such larger scale repeats are indicated with the Italian words “da Capo” (“from the head”), to play again from the beginning.

The abbreviation D.C. is often used instead of the full wording.

Note: In some genres, internal repeated sections are not repeated the second time.

The diagram below shows how the navigational symbols are interpreted. To keep the example tiny, each section is represented by only 2 bars (at a very fast tempo!)

Common navigation markings

All navigation markings must be written over a double bar. If there is no repeat sign or final double bar, a section end (thin double bar) must be used.

Da Capo al Fine, D.C. al Fine 

(go back to the beginning and repeat until the word “Fine”)

The piece is played again from the beginning, stopping the second time on the word “Fine” (“end”).

D.C. al fine

For some more navigation options, please visit How To Navigate Music 2: Animated Tour.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.