Music Theory Notes

Home: Basic Music Theory Elements: Music Theory Notes

"Music Theory Notes"
Basic Notes in Music Theory
the Musicians Alphabet

Let's explore the element of music theory notes. Music notes are the symbol used to convey several pieces of information to the musician. Without music notes you would not be able to get every one on the same page when you wanted to play music with someone else.

This section touches on some overall basic information for notes.
The Notes: Note Set

The note symbol is used to convey the following information.

Music Theory Note Name:

There are 7 base note names, A - B - C - D - E - F - G.

Each of these can also be called a sharp (#) or a flat (b). Learn more at sharps and flats page.

These names are used over and over again and change tone in a mathematical relationship.

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Here's a sample of one octave of notes on a keyboard.

Pitch:

The pitch of a music note is a frequency of that note a tone generated in cycles per second or hertz - "Hz". Different frequencies are defined for every note.

When notes sound the same but have higher or lower tone that is known as a pitch class. Therefore, you use the same name to define the note but you have a different frequency.

This is not an easy concept to explain in just a sentence or two, so for a complete definition of pitch go to wikipedia.com Pitch.

Symbols and Time Value:

Notes will have a time value associated with them. A quarter note, shown here.

is the value assigned or the beat count is dependent upon the time signature. If that time is a quarter note = 1 beat, then it is easy to see that it gets a time value of 1 beat. The time values and names are more fully explored in our definitions section.

So there is just a quick introduction to basic music theory notes. To explore in detail the music notes values and names visit these pages in the rhythm section:

Music Note Symbols

Music Note Time Value

Sharps and Flats

Notes on the Staff:

This section of our lessons focus only on names, we have to put these names on a staff so you can read notes when you play. That is done with the master staff lessons.

Peferred Partner Resource

If you would like a few additional resources to practice your note naming skills after starting the Master Staff Series, then head over to MakingMusicFun.net. This music education website features free printable note name worksheets and a note name arcade game.

Intervals

It is important to point out intervals for music notes. That is the relationship between two notes. Commonly these might be referred to as a third, a fifth, or eleventh. You can can more insight to intervals and relationships on the interval page.

There are other rules we will explore in detail in other lessons associated with music theory notes.

Check back soon or join the community for updates.

Continue on to Sharps and Flats