Need help reading music? This is the place to go for extra help understanding music theory.
When someone talks about space notes, they are referring to the notes in between the lines on the music staff. There should not be any line going through the note. If there is, then these are called line notes.
Have you ever noticed two small flat signs next to each other in your music? What in the world does that mean? Well, those two flats written next to each other are called double flats. Their job is to lower the pitch of the note two half steps.
What are these X’s in my music? They look a little strange don’t they? Most likely what you are seeing is double sharps. Those little signs tell you to raise the pitch of a note two half steps or one whole step.
So, what is a key signature? If you’ve been asking this question, you have come to the right place. Key signatures are important to recognize and tell us exactly what kind of notes to play. It’s important not to ignore this step so let’s go a little deeper in our understanding of what a key signature tells us to do.
Enharmonics is nothing more than a fancy word that means two names for one pitch. While learning about whole steps and half steps, and flats and sharps, you may have noticed that there are two names for the black keys on the piano. This is important to remember if you want to be able to play anything you encounter successfully.
Usually, there are not too many problems learning flats, sharps and natural signs. However, the accidentals can sometimes make people a little confused as to what they are supposed to do. It’s not too hard to learn as long as you don’t make it any more complicated than it really needs to be.
Music symbols that can sometimes cause confusion are natural signs. Should we rename these little guys as “confusion signs”? No, we don’t need to go that far. These little signs do nothing more than cancel a sharp or flat. It’s pretty simple to understand, but many people find it a little tricky to get use to at first.
At some point, you may have scanned through a piece of music and ran across a few symbols that look foreign to you. These symbols may have included flats and sharps. So, what do these symbols look like and what do they mean? Let’s go find out.
In music, whole steps and half steps are two foundational building blocks that are definitely worth knowing. Once you understand what these two things are, all other future musical knowledge will fall right into place. Like with many other things, sometimes we have to understand one thing before we can build upon it to understand something else.
