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    Basic Music Theory Part 1

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    Sean Anthony Aguilar
    The document provides an overview of basic music theory concepts. It defines a note as a pitch that can be named with a letter A through G. It explains that a scale is a series of notes in a specific order, and that an interval is the distance between any two notes which is counted on fingers. It also defines a half step as the distance between two adjacent notes on a scale, and a whole step as two half steps. Finally, it briefly introduces sharps and flats as the black keys on a piano.

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    Basic Music Theory Part 1

    Uploaded by

    Sean Anthony Aguilar
    125 views2 pages
    The document provides an overview of basic music theory concepts. It defines a note as a pitch that can be named with a letter A through G. It explains that a scale is a series of notes in a specific order, and that an interval is the distance between any two notes which is counted on fingers. It also defines a half step as the distance between two adjacent notes on a scale, and a whole step as two half steps. Finally, it briefly introduces sharps and flats as the black keys on a piano.

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    BASIC MUSIC THEORY PART 1

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    The document provides an overview of basic music theory concepts. It defines a note as a pitch that can be named with a letter A through G. It explains that a scale is a series of notes in a specific order, and that an interval is the distance between any two notes which is counted on fingers. It also defines a half step as the distance between two adjacent notes on a scale, and a whole step as two half steps. Finally, it briefly introduces sharps and flats as the black keys on a piano.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    125 views2 pages

    Basic Music Theory Part 1

    Uploaded by

    Sean Anthony Aguilar
    The document provides an overview of basic music theory concepts. It defines a note as a pitch that can be named with a letter A through G. It explains that a scale is a series of notes in a specific order, and that an interval is the distance between any two notes which is counted on fingers. It also defines a half step as the distance between two adjacent notes on a scale, and a whole step as two half steps. Finally, it briefly introduces sharps and flats as the black keys on a piano.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    BASIC MUSIC THEORY (from musicologize) 

    PART 1 

    What’s a note? 

    A ​note​ is a frequency or pitch. If you’re by yourself, sing and hold the pitch steady. For our 

    purposes, that’s a ​note.​ And no matter what random pitch you just sang, we can call that 
    note​ by a letter name A, B, C, D, E, F, or G. The letter names cycle, meaning the ​note​ that 

    follows “G” is “A.” There is no “H.” ​Notes​ also have duration. And ​notes ​are perhaps 
    distinguishable from “pitch” and “tone” by whether they’re heard, performed, or written 

    down (notes and notations are written things), but we’re not concerned about any of that in 
    this lesson. Next… 

    What’s a scale? 

    A ​scale​ is a series of ​notes​ in order of pitch. For example, “C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C” is a 


    scale;​ seven ​notes​ and then it cycles again to C. But “C, E, D, G, F, B, A, C,” is not a 

    scale​ because it’s hopping all around; it’s not directional. ​Scales​ don’t need to contain 
    exactly seven ​notes​. They just often do. Next… 

    What is an interval? 

    An ​interval​ is the distance between any two letter-named ​notes​. We can count it on our 
    fingers. For example, let’s take A and E. The ​notes​ A and E have an interval of five. We 

    count the first ​note​ of an interval as “one.” There is no zero. It’s an inclusive counting 

    thing. So, on our fingers, A is one, B is two, and E will be five. So the A to E interval is five. 
    If we play two ​notes​ together, we get ​“harmony”​ (the sound of more than one ​note​ at a 
    time) and we would call this particular harmony a “fifth.” A to E is a “fifth.” Note however 
    that A to E is not the same interval as E to A. Direction matters! On your fingers, if E were 

    “one,” then F is two, G is three, and A will be four. So the interval A to E is five or “a fifth,” 
    but the inverse, E to A, is four; “a fourth.” 

    What are ‘whole steps’ and ‘half steps?’ 

    A ​“half step”​ is the distance between two adjacent notes, and a ​“whole step”​ is two ​half 
    steps. ​It’s a bit like half-teaspoons and teaspoons. A “step,” whether it’s ‘half’ or ‘whole,’ 

    is the distance from one note in a scale to the next or to the former. But ​“half step”​ is the 
    far more useful term because it lets us describe the precise distance between two ​notes​, 
    as in, ​“exactly how many piano keys away from “C” is “F?​“ 

    Answer: It’s five half-steps away. 

    What are ‘sharps’ and ‘flats?’ ​Sounds important, but I might’ve skipped this altogether if 
    we didn’t have five whole minutes left to kill. 

    Picturing that piano? The ​sharps and flats​ are the black keys, and you probably knew 
    that. This being a theory lesson though, let’s be at least minimally theoretical about it… 

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