| # | Welcome to your first lesson. This lesson covers the staff and the letter names of the notes that are represented by the lines and spaces on the staff. | n | | | | | | | | first
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| 1 | The picture shown above has several components. A staff is a group of five lines (and the four spaces they create). There are two staffs above, tied together at the left end (often by a curly brace). | n | | | | | | | | showstaff |
| 2 | Two staffs tied together like this are known as the Grand Staff. The Grand Staff is frequently encountered in piano music. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | A clef is a sign placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate which pitches the spaces and lines represent. The music tutor focuses on two clefs...The Treble Clef (sometimes called the G clef) and the Bass Clef (sometimes called the F clef). | n | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | The Treble Clef is sometimes called the G clef because it's spiral identifies the 2nd line from the bottom of the staff - which represents the note G. In the example above, the Treble Clef is on the upper staff...Do you see the G? | n | | | | | | | | showg |
| 5 | What note is represented by the 2nd line from the bottom on the staff with a treble clef? | y | 4 | A | B | F | G | C | 3 | hideg |
| 6 | The Bass Clef is sometimes known as the F clef because it locates the note F on the 2nd line from the top of the staff by placing a dot on each side. In the example above, the Bass Clef is on the lower staff. Do you see the letter F? | n | | | | | | | | showf |
| 7 | Which clef locates the pitch F by placing dots on both sides of the second line from the top of the staff? | y | 1 | Treble | Bass | | | | 1 | hidef |
| 8 | Instruments like the Viola use the alto clef and the cello sometimes uses the tenor clef. At least 10 clefs are available, but are seldom used in today's music. The music tutor will focus on the two most widely used clefs - the Treble and the Bass clefs. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | Now that you understand the difference between the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef...tell me...which clef identifies the note G on the second line from the bottom of the staff? | y | 1 | Treble | Bass | | | | 0 | |
| 10 | You are doing great!! Let's move on to learning the note names and their proper placement on the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff. | n | 0 | | | | | | | |
| 11 | One very important concept for you to remember as we learn the note names in Lesson One, is that lines and spaces of the staff will eventually be populated by notes not letters. The letters we use now are simply the names of the pitches represented by the lines and spaces. | n | 0 | | | | | | | |
| 12 | It is very important to understand that when we refer to a note in music, that note has two characteristics - PITCH and TIME. Musical pitch is sound on a scale of high to low. Time is simply how long the note lasts. Some notes last a short time and others a long time. | n | 0 | | | | | | | |
| 13 | Musical notes have two fundamental qualities, Pitch and Time. Pitch is a function how high or low a note sounds . What does time represent? | y | 3 | 1:00 p.m. | An old note | A young note | Duration | | 3 | |
| 14 | All of the pitches used in music are derived from just the first seven letters of the alphabet - A,B,C,D,E,F,G. By using these seven letter names (with the help of sharps and flats) all the notes on the piano keyboard are accounted for! | n | | | | | | | | |
| 15 | In order to cover all of the notes on a piano keyboard, the sequence of pitches is repeated. A,B,C,D,E,F,G and A,B,C,D,E,F,G again... | n | | | | | | | | |
| 16 | The lowest note on a piano keyboard is an A and highest pitch is a C. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 17 | As you know, each staff has five lines which surround four spaces, but there is also a note between the staffs - this note is a C. This C is a special C, known as middle C. Why is it called middle C? Because it is closest to the middle of the piano keyboard. | n | | | | | | | | showmidc |
| 18 | Because it is between the two staffs, it is placed on a special line known as a ledger line. Ledger lines are used for notes that do not fall on the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff. | n | | | | | | | | clearnotes |
| 19 | The lines and spaces of the Grand Staff represent pitches. As the repeating series of pitches moves up the staff, each pitch falls on either a line or a space. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 20 | A series of consecutive notes like A,B C are represented by notes that fall of consecutive lines and spaces. For example, the A,B,C in this case could be a space and the line above it and then the space above that. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 21 | Rather than learning all of the lines and spaces at the same time, let's begin by looking at the pitches that are represented by the lines. | n | | | | | | | | showlines |
| 22 | Just take a few moments and review them. If you want, start just with one clef and after you feel comfortable with that clef move to the other. You might want to move on for a while then come back. That's OK too! | n | | | | | | | | |
| 23 | There is a famous saying to help remember the lines used with the treble clef. Starting at the bottom line going up you get 'Every Good Boy Does Fine'. The first letter of each word is the pitch for that line. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 24 | The Music Tutor will leave the poetry to you, but I bet you could make up your own rhymes that will help you remember which notes belong on which lines and spaces. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 25 | You may also notice that if you fill in the alphabet, each space is a jump of one letter as you move up and down the staff. For example, if you take Middle C and the next line above it, E there is one letter of the alphabet between them. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 26 | That letter is D of course. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 27 | I have taken the letter names away for a second so I can ask you a question. | n | | | | | | | | clearnotes |
| 28 | The top line on the treble staff represents what note? | y | 4 | E | F | C | A | D | 1 | |
| 29 | How about another one? The bottom line on the treble staff represents what note? | y | 4 | C | D | E | F | G | 2 | |
| 30 | Don't want to leave out the bass clef. The middle line on the bass staff represents what note? | y | 4 | A | G | F | E | D | 4 | |
| 31 | And one more...The bottom line on the bass staff represents what note? | y | 4 | C | D | E | F | G | 4 | |
| 32 | How are you doing? If you need to practice the lines on the staff a bit more, now would be a good time to go back and review. We are about to embark on the spaces in the next instruction. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 33 | If you are just starting with the lines and spaces, you may want to try the practice session for Lesson 1 and work on just the lines. You can go back later and do the spaces. You may also want to work with just the treble clef for a while. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 34 | Learning the spaces is just the same of course. Once again, it may be helpful to learn a little saying that helps you remember what pitches are represented by the spaces. | n | | | | | | | | showspaces |
| 35 | A famous memory trick for the spaces on the staff with the Treble Clef is the word FACE. It spells out the notes starting on the lowest space moving upward. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 36 | Take a few minutes and concentrate on the letter names of the pitches represented by all of the spaces. As you can see, I have included the space above and below the highest and lowest line on each staff. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 37 | I will take the pitches away for a second to try a few questions and see how your memory is doing. Don't be discouraged if it takes a while. Learning the lines and spaces is primarily repetition. | n | | | | | | | | clearnotes |
| 38 | Using the Treble Clef, what is the word that results from combining the letter names for the notes on the spaces from the lowest space upward? | y | 4 | FADE | FEED | CAGE | FACE | FLUFF | 3 | |
| 39 | What pitch is represented by the top space (not above the line) on the treble staff? | y | 4 | A | B | E | D | C | 2 | |
| 40 | How about the lowest space in the bass clef? | y | 4 | A | B | E | D | C | 0 | |
| 41 | If the highest space on the treble clef is an E, what is the space just below it? | y | 4 | A | B | E | D | C | 4 | |
| 42 | Sometimes, a composer wants to use a note that does not fall on a line or space. What is the name of the special lines the composer uses to indicate what these notes are? | y | 4 | Leisure | Linear | Laser | Ledger | Licorice | 3 | |
| 43 | What note falls on the top line of the staff using the Bass Clef? | y | 2 | C | A | G | | | 1 | |
| 44 | The notes on a staff using the Bass Clef use different letter names than those on the staff with a Treble Cleff. | y | 1 | True | False | | | | 1 | |
| 45 | What note falls on the next to the lowest space in a Bass Clef staff? | y | 4 | A | G | C | F | D | 2 | |
| 46 | I will toss the pitches up there one more time for you to review. When you are ready let's do just a couple more questions... | n | | | | | | | | shownotes |
| 47 | If the middle line using the Treble Clef is a B, what is the line just below it? | y | 4 | A | F | D | E | G | 4 | clearnotes |
| 48 | If the highest space on the Bass Clef staff is a G, what is the space below it? | y | 4 | F | E | C | D | B | 1 | |
| 49 | Every Good Boy Does ______? | y | 4 | Great | Fine | Dandy | Best | Amazing | 1 | |
| 50 | Here is a tough one...I mentioned a clef earlier that is used most often by the viola, do you remember its name? | y | 4 | Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Bass | Treble | 1 | |
| 51 | Ledger lines are used by composers to indicate notes that do no fall on the lines and spaces of the staff? | y | 2 | True | False | Maybe | | | 0 | |
| 52 | If the highest line on the Treble Clef staff is an F, what is the space below it? | y | 4 | F | E | C | D | B | 1 | |
| 53 | How are you doing? Learning the notes and the staff takes a little work, but just keep at it and soon it will become just like reading a book. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 54 | Associated with each of the lessons in the Music Tutor are practice sessions. These sessions are designed to help you retain what you have learned in the lessons by practicing. Just like with an instrument! | n | | | | | | | | |
| 55 | The practice session associated with Lesson One uses the drag and drop feature of windows. All you have to do is drag and drop the note names from the Toy Box over to the staff and drop them on the line or space you believe is correct. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 56 | The practice session selection on the menu will give you complete instructions when you are ready to give it a try! | n | | | | | | | | |
| 57 | Don't forget you can start the lesson over or use the previous instruction button to reveiw any part or all of Lesson One at any time. | n | | | | | | | | |
| 58 | This concludes Lesson One of the Music Tutor. If you are using the unregistered version and you are interested in registering your copy to receive all six lessons and practice sessions, please select Help Contents... on the Help menu for registration instructions. | n | | | | | | | |
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