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LINES CLEFS Clef s define the pitch range, or Tessitura , of the staff on which it is placed. A clef is usually the ''leftmost'' symbol on a staff. Additional clefs may appear in the middle of a staff to indicate a change in register for instruments with a wide range. In early music, clefs could be placed on any of several lines on a staff. Tablature For guitars and other plucked instruments it is possible to notate Tablature in place of ordinary notes. In this case, a TAB-sign is often written instead of a clef. The number of lines of the staff is not necessarily five: one line is used for each string of the instrument (so, for standard 6-stringed guitars, six lines would be used). Numbers on the lines show on which fret the string should be played. This Tab-sign, like the Percussion clef, is not a clef in the true sense, but rather a symbol employed instead of a clef. NOTES AND RESTS Note and Rest values are not absolutely defined, but are proportional in duration to all other note and rest values. For the purpose of definition, the duration of the quarter note is represented by R, for "reference length." Durations shorter than the 128th are not unknown. 256th notes occur in works of Vivaldi and even Beethoven. An extreme case is the Toccata Grande Cromatica by early-19th-century American composer Anthony Phillip Heinrich, which uses note values as short as 2,048ths; however, the context shows clearly that these notes have one beam more than intended, so they should really be 1,024th notes. The duration and name of these notes can be easily found with two simple formulae. The name is: a th note. The number of beats it receives is of a beat. These two formulae can also be applied to the branches or pawls on eighth- and smaller rests. PAUSES ACCIDENTALS AND KEY SIGNATURES Accidental s modify the pitch of the notes that follow them on the same staff position within a measure, unless cancelled by an additional accidental. Key Signature s define the prevailing Key of the music that follows, thus avoiding the use of accidentals for many notes. If no key signature appears, the key is assumed to be C major/A minor, but can also signify a neutral key, employing individual accidentals as required for each note. The key signature examples shown here are described as they would appear on a ''treble'' staff. TIME SIGNATURES Time Signature s define the meter of the music. Music is "marked off" in uniform sections called measures, and time signatures establish the number of beats in each. This is not necessarily intended to indicate which beats are emphasized, however. The same music marked off in measures of a different duration will sound precisely the same if properly played, but since music could be marked off in infinitely many ways, it makes sense to mark it off in a way that conveys information about the way the piece actually sounds, and those time signatures tend to suggest, but only ''suggest'', prevailing groupings of beats or pulses. NOTE RELATIONSHIPS DYNAMICS Dynamics are indicators of the relative intensity or volume of a musical line. ARTICULATION MARKS Articulations (or Accents ) specify how individual notes are to be performed within a phrase or passage. They can be fine-tuned by combining more than one such symbol over or under a note. They may also appear in conjunction with phrasing marks listed above. ORNAMENTS Ornaments modify the pitch pattern of individual notes. OCTAVES PEDAL MARKS These pedal marks appear in music for the Piano . REPETITION AND CODAS SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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