HarmonyUniversityMusicTheoryI,Day1:Basics

Musicalsymbolrecognition,Notenames,Clefs

Musicisnotatedusingasystemoflinesandspacesreferredtoasa
staff
(below).

Notesnamesareidentifiedusingthefirstsevenlettersofthealphabet:A,B,C,D,E,F,and
G.

Differentsymbols,called
clefs
,areplacedonthestaff.Barbershopharmonyusesthetreble
andbassclefs.Thetenorandleadusethetrebleclefwhilethebassandbaritoneusethe
bassclef.
*
Notethatthetrebleclefhasasmalleightattheverybottomoftheclefwellgettothatlater
.

Boththetrebleandbassclefs
havedifferentnamesassigned
totheirlinesandspaces.
Lookingsolelyatthelinesin
the
treble
clef:

Andthespaces:

Mnemonics

Asthiscanbealottohavetorememberrightatonce,amnemoniccanbeveryhelpfulin
identifyingandrememberingthenotenamesofthelinesandspacesofthetrebleclef.

Thoughasimplesentencelike
E
very
G
ood
B
oy
D
oes
F
inewillwork,amoreridiculous
phrase,ismorelikelytostick.Tryout
E
ven
G
eorge
B
ush
D
rives
F
ast,or
E
lviss
G
uitar
B
roke
D
own
F
riday,ormakeoneofyourown.

Theeasywaytorememberthespacesofthetrebleclefisthesimpleworditspells:Face.
Again,aridiculousphraselike
F
at
A
lbert
C
an
E
atcanevenbehelpfulhere.Devisinga
personalwaytorememberthenotenamesisessentialtobuildingamusicalknowledgebase.

Thelinesinthebassclefare:

Againusingthesameconceptsof
mnemonics,tryout
G
reat,
B
ig
D
ogs
F
ight
A
nimalsor
G
rizzly
B
ears
D
ont
F
ly
A
irplanes

Forthespacesinthebassclef:

Amnemonicforthiscouldbe
A
ll
C
ows
E
at
G
rassor
A
ll
C
ars
E
at
G
as.

Doaworksheet

TheGrandStaff

Barbershopsheetmusicisdisplayedusingthe
grandstaff
(seeright),whichisessentiallythetrebleandbassclefs
stackedatoponeanotherandattachedatthelefthand
marginwithabracket.Thebracketistoreduceconfusion
whenmultiplegreatstaves,called
systems
,areshownonthesamepage.

LedgerLines

Somesongswillgobothhigherandlowerthanthetreble/bassclefallow.Notescanbe

writtenoffthestaff,writtenusing
ledgerlines
.Thesenotes,lesscommon,areaddedtothe
staffbylinesandarenamed,logically,byusingthenextletterinthemusicalalphabet.Here
arefourexamplesofledgerlinesonboththeupperandlowerendoftheclefs.

Ledgerlinescangofaraboveandbelowtheselisted.Thenoteswouldsimplyfollowthe
patternofthemusicalalphabet.Thetrebleclefsupperledgerlines,forexample,would
continuefromCandreadD,E,F,G,A,B,CalthoughtheCtwoledgerlinesabovetheclefis
certainlyhighenoughforbarbershoptenortosing!

Trebleclef8detail

Itisveryimportanttonotethetrebleclefbarbershop
singersusehasaneightbelowit.Thisistonotatethat
everythingtheleadandtenorsingisactuallyoneoctave
belowthewrittennotes.TheTrebleclef,alsocalledtheG
clef,isaclefgenerallyreservedforsopranoandaltos
singers(andforviolins,oboes,andotherhighervoiced
instruments).Thus,anotesungatthebottomoftheleadsrange(ortheCinthetrebleclef)
willactuallysoundliketheConthesecondspaceinthebassclef(seeexample).

SeeMore

*
SweetAdelineInternational
(SAI)isthefemalecounterparttothe

BarbershopHarmonySociety.SweetAdelinemusicnotationusestheoctave8aswell,butit
isplacedabovethebasscleftoindicateallnotessoundoneoctave
higher
.Thesetwo
octaveclefsareusedtomakereadingthemusiceasier.Withoutthemmanyledgerlines
wouldbeneededtonotatethemusic.

Goto
worksheet1.1
Continuewith
Day2:RhythmBasics