Music Fundamentals for Beginners

The five lines are called a 'staff' or 'stave'. You can write pitch and rhythm directly onto the page (ie. hand-write using pencil and manuscript paper) or by using music software. I'll show you how to hand-write music in this course, because it removes the barrier of having to learn computer software first. More importantly, you'll find it easier to internalise the knowledge as you hand-write the music. In the lesson, you'll see the hand-written music of Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. Go ahead and download and print the manuscript paper. There's two types: the 'portrait' manuscript which you'll use throughout this course, and the 'Landscape' which you can print off, glue onto cardboard and cover with clear plastic. Then you can use whiteboard markers to practise your writing.

The components of musical notes are the 'note head' and the 'stem'. The stem signifies rhythm, whilst the note head signifies pitch. There are only two types of note heads. You'll learn to write both 'opened' and 'closed' note heads so that any musician can read them. Chords versus Melody. You don't have to be neat! I'll show you the draft of one of Beethoven's cello sonatas - incredibly messy but readable! You can be messy too!

If you are having trouble getting started, sit down with me and we'll practise writing note heads together!

We look at some different clefs. There's more than two! We'll focus on the two most common: the treble clef for high notes and the bass clef for low notes. Then I show you how to write them.

Sit down with your manuscript paper and pencil and we'll practise writing treble and bass clefs together.

This lecture is just to show you the names of the notes using the first seven letters of the alphabet. Don't worry about their placement on the stave at this stage, that will come in the next few lectures.

Whilst the normal alphabet begins with 'A', the musical alphabet begins with 'C'.  In this lecture, you'll learn where Middle C is placed on a line by itself, between the bass clef and the treble clef. The history as to why C is the starting note is complicate.

Here is a short session to help you memorise the note names on the staves. I recommend you do not use any memory aids (mnemonics), such as rhymes or words. These have gone out of fashion with instrumental teachers, because they create another barrier to your reading music fluently.

An octave is two notes that are eight notes apart. They have the same name but one note's vibration is twice as fast as the other.

We use the first seven letters of the alphabet, but there are actually 12 notes within an octave. We use sharps and flats to extend the 7 letters. Not only do you need 'sharps' and 'flats', you also need 'naturals', double-sharps and double-flats!

In this lecture, I show you how to write and place 'accidentals' (sharps and flats that are not in the key signature) on the stave. I also show you how to write naturals, double-sharps and double-flats on the stave.

This lecture introduces you to the concept of 'enharmonic' note names. Each note can be described in more than one way. For example, 'C' can also be called 'B-sharp' or 'D-double-flat'.  Sounds crazy, but this will be very useful information if you would like to learn more about music theory.

In this lecture, I give you the finer points of writing accidentals both on the stave and on ledger lines.

Unlike both the chromatic scale which moves in semitones, and the whole tone scale which moves in tones, the major scale moves in a pattern of semitones and tones. This lecture will teach you the pattern.

A 'chromatic scale' uses ALL the notes in an octave. In this lecture, I show you how what chromatic scales look like and how to write them.

You'll see and hear the step-wise motion of semitones in the chromatic scale. First on the guitar, where the frets are one semitone away from each other, then the flute.

The stave is only made up of 5 lines, which can't describe all of the available pitches. So we use little short lines above and below the stave called "Ledger Lines".

Did you know that the guitar is a 'transposing instrument'? In this lecture we look at the lowest note on the acoustic guitar, because it not only transposes, it uses ledger lines below the treble clef

You can download special manuscript I've prepared for you, that has lots of space for you to practise your ledger lines.

I'll show you just two notes on ledger lines: one above the treble clef and the other below the bass clef that will help you figure out other notes on ledger lines. Easy to memorise!

Instead of using an excessive number of ledger lines above the stave, you can write '8va' above the music so that the musician plays them an octave above what is written. If you want to cut down the number of ledger lines below the staff, write '8va basso' and the musician will play an octave below what is written. To cancel either 8va or 8va basso, write 'loco'.