Basic Music Theory - #2 - Clefs and Time Signatures


Welcome to Music Theory Post #2 on the Grand Staff, Clefs, and Time Signatures, 3 incredibly important components of every musical composition.  I’ve included illustrations, which will, hopefully aid your understanding and comprehension of these concepts.  Please check these out and let me know what you think.  Here they are:

•            CLEFS AND GRAND STAFF - When you SEE sheet music, the first thing you see are ten lines, grouped and separated into two groups of five with spaces in between.  On the left-hand side, are the Clefs.  These denote where the notes are to be played, which hand is to play which notes.  The “top” Clef is called the “Treble” of “G” Clef.  You will see it below.  Where you see the “Curl” on the Clef, there is a line that runs through it.  This is the “G” line, the “G” above Middle “C”.  The Clef on the bottom is the “Bass” or “F” Clef.  Modeled from a version of a Capital Cursive “F”, where the letter would be crossed, there is a line (the second line from the top of the staff) surrounded by a colon.  That line that passes between the dots is the “F” Note below Middle “C”.  The illustration of these are below:
•            TIME SIGNATURES - A time signature looks essentially like a fraction without the dividing line.  Its purpose is not to provide the Tempo of the song but it DOES define how the song is to be counted, as well as the count value for the notes included within the piece.  The Time Signature is located at the beginning of the first staff of a song, just AFTER the Clefs and the Key Signature (we will talk about what this is in a later post).  Here is an example of what it will look like:


The two numbers of a Time Signature stipulate two different, important pieces of information about rhythm in that song.
The top number tells you how many beats will be in each measure or bar.  One “Bar” is all the notes and rests (and possibly, lyrics) from the originating Clef, Key Signature, and Time Signature up to the vertical line or Bar Line, or all the information, Notes, and Rests BETWEEN two Bar Lines. This number will be between 2 and 12, but most commonly, 2, 3, 4, or 6.  The bottom number tells you the type of Note that gets 1 count in each measure.  Notes are designated as “1” for Whole Note, though this will NEVER be on the bottom of a Time Signature; “2”, where a Half Note gets 1 count; “4”, where a Quarter Note gets 1 count; “8”, where an Eighth Note gets 1 count; or “16”, where a sixteenth Note gets 1 count.  It is possible to see a “32” or a “64” but these only occur in extremely advanced Classical music, so it is highly unlikely you would ever encounter these.  The most common bottom numbers are 4, 8, and 16.
TIME SIGNATURE ABBREVIATIONS - BECAUSE these two Time Signatures are SO prevalent, composers have actually shortened the fraction even more.  A Capital “C” for Common Time, and the same “C” with a vertical line through it for Cut Time.  The “C” is actually NOT for Common; it is a nod to an old form of Music Theory Notation called Mensural Notation, and it is an uncompleted circle.  It is CALLED Common Time though, because it is used for 4/4 time, which is, in fact, the most common Time Signature.  Cut Time is just that.  When Common Time is “cut” in half, it becomes 2/2 time, and is, therefore written as a Capital “C” with a Vertical line through it.
         I’ve packed a LOT of information into this post!  It’s probably way too much to take in and comprehend all in one sitting, but PLEASE take your time; send me questions.  Let me repeat that, SEND ME QUESTIONS!!!  This IS a foreign language.  There are only SEVEN letters in the Musical Alphabet but like any other language, there are plenty of rules, and nuances that you have to understand to interpret the language correctly.  We’ll build on this information from here but, obviously, you have to understand all of this before you can add anything to it.  Again, SEND ME ANY QUESTIONS, comments, or other suggestions; I’m here for you, and no question is “dumb”.  Thanks for reading!  If you have any questions about me or my lessons, check out my website at www.SingitForward.net.  Thanks again!  Sing it forward!





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