Intro to notation
By now you have certainly understood how music is a language and how understanding specific terminology allows musicians to communicate specific concepts to one another. Like any other field of study, music has some terminology that applies specifically to music. Music however cannot simply be expressed in words as it would be too inefficient for musicians to read through texts, paragraphs, or chapters in an attempt to understand what a composer or songwriter would like them to play.
This is where Music Notation comes in as it is a collection of symbols and information that communicates various elements needed for a musician to interpret how something is to be played. In fact, it is literally a written or documented version of what is being heard just as a sound wave file is a recorded format of what you are hearing. Music Notation could easily be compared to hieroglyphics or emojis/emoticons as they are a visual representation of the music. If we research the history of music notation we will come across formats of notation that are completely different than the formats we know today however to simplify this course, we will focus on 4 main forms of music notation that are still widely used so that you too can understand them and use them to communicate ideas to your fellow musicians.
If you’ve looked ahead at the titles of the upcoming lessons, you’re probably asking yourself why the topic of Intervals, Scales, and Chords is suddenly interrupted by a lesson on Music Notation before getting into the details of Intervals. The reason is simply that I would like for you to be able to visualize how notes appear in their various notation formats so that we can then dive deeper into the details of Intervals, Scales, and Chords.
The Music Notation formats we will cover in the next few lessons include:
– Standard Notation (Musical Staves)
– Tablature (Guitar Neck Diagrams)
– Graphic Notations (Guitar Neck Chord Diagrams)
– Lead Sheets (Chord Progression Charts)