Music is one of the most powerful tools in our society, something that has limitless applications. It can be used to express emotion, motivate people, influence others, and even bring about physical reactions. Music has been around for centuries, dating back to the ancient Greeks. Since then, music has flourished into a variety of styles and genres that appeal to different people. Many consider singing to be at the very core of what music is. When we were children, there was an instinctive ability to sing, which comes from learning how to make sounds and having natural rhythm. Some learn to sing later in life, through formal lessons or via YouTube videos. Regardless of when you picked up your voice, it’s important to know some basic things about musical notes. This article will go over some basics about notes and chords, as well as some tips and tricks for practicing and improving your vocal skills. The term ‘musical note’ may sound very formal, but you are not needing a degree to understand them! That is why it is important to learn some basic music notes. Musical notes can be identified by three features: their name, length and shape. The name of a note is its symbol or letter. A common way to find your own symbols for notes is by looking at the music that you know well. For example, the asymptote (\u2212) is an open treble clef so it corresponds to a high pitched tone. Some people also use flat or natural brackets \(\ ) or sharp brackets \(\) instead. These correspond to lower or higher tones respectively. Lengths of notes vary depending on what type of note it is. Short notes have short durations- they will quickly come and go. Long notes have longer durations- they exist for a little bit more than a second. Middle notes are half way between a short note and a long note- they have a duration of around 1/2 a second. The last feature of a note is its shape. Some notes have a thin line across the middle, while others have a circle shaped head or tail. There are even octave doubling notes where there is a dot in the middle and two lines coming off each side. What kind of note a string of characters makes depends on which key it is in.Examples of musical notes
The location of a musical note
A music theory term is when you use notes to create songs. These are called formal marks or signatures, which are usually made up of a tonal center (root), then an interval (second part) that gets stacked onto the root.
The second part can be a major third, minor third, perfect fourth, or imperfect fourth. Each one of these gives your song a different feel!
There’s no right way to do this, but it will help if you know what they mean. By knowing their names, you’ll know how to apply them in your songs.
We’re going to focus on the intervals in this article, as those are the most common ones found in music. But before we get into some examples, let's review the basics of music theory for more information.
Identifying a musical note
The next step in becoming a musician is to learn how to identify a music note! This is probably one of the most important things you will do as a musician, especially if you want to play songs or know what kind of music genre your favorite artists are listening to.
Music notes are the sounds that make up a song. They can be a simple tone (like A above middle C), a scale (such as the major scale made out of seven notes) or a sequence of chords (such as the chord structure for the opening of Beyoncé’s “Single Life”).
But before learning which notes make up a song, it is good to become familiar with some general rules about music notes. First, every song has at least one measure where the notes go down by half a beat per other note followed by another note going up a whole beat later. These are called acciutals and ritardants.
The first example of this happens at the two-and-a-half minute mark of Ariana Grande’s “Break Up With Your Boyfriend And Let Me Give You Some Tips.” Here, the bass line uses an E octave note and a D fifth note, making a B triad sound. Then, the treble part goes from F sharped third to A natural fourth, creating an A–F–E–D tritone shape.
How to play a musical note
The first way to learn how to play a music note is by using our familiar alphabet song method. Simply sing or say the letter of the note, then back up a half step (or whole step if it goes as a couplet).
For example, let’s look at A. To play an A tone, you would start with a voice that is one full step lower – B. Then back up a half step, which in this case is also an A.
Practice this with your index finger until it feels natural. Your thumb can be either on top or under the pen depending on what position you like more.
You can do this for all twelve notes! And you don’t have to use your hands; you can use a piano, guitar, drum, or any other instrument to practice these.
The great thing about practicing using the ear is that you will never sound fake because you are listening to yourself. You can even record yourself and listen back for quality improvement.
Musical notes and their relations
Now that you have some basic knowledge of musical notes, it is time to move onto more in-depth concepts!
You learned about major and minor scales in different positions, and how each position had its own unique note.
We also discussed triads, which are three adjacent notes that create an object or structure of the song. The most famous triad is the familiar first, second, and third tone (or chord) pattern we mentioned before: octave, fifth, and fourth. These chords all start with the same note, the root.
The other two notes in this tritone relation are the perfect fifth above the root and the dominant below the root. Both of these notes can be used as either the leading tone or the falling tone in the chord depending on the music.
There are eight possible tonal relationships between any pair of notes. These include ascending tones, descending tones, reciprocal tones, parallel thirds, parallel sixths, superimposition, submediant, and triton. You will find many of these configurations in popular songs and melodies.
Songs use these types of relations frequently to build their harmonic structures.
Compound musical notes
Another way to make your music sound more interesting is to add compound musical notes into your songs or pieces. A simple note can be thought of as one unit, but adding additional units makes it seem longer and more complicated. These are notes that contain another note inside of it!
A common example of this is the chord we discussed earlier called “Power” chord. The first part of the chord is the root, then comes the third, and finally the fifth. All three parts together create an extended tone that can be heard clearly.
Another type of compound note you will find in musicians is flamboyant. This is two or more full length notes connected with a semitone (a half step) between each one. For instance, if the first note was a tonic (root), the second would be an octave higher (do re mi etc). Then the next note would be a major third, and so on.
Identifying chords
Now that you know what a chord is, it’s time to learn how to use them! Taking your music listening seriously will have you looking at the notes in songs more carefully.
You’ll want to be able to identify which note is which within a scale (A major key = A natural second degree of the scale = A note), as well as determine if a given tone or pitch is part of a tritone substitution, augmented fourth, or diminished fifth.
These are all discussed later in this article, but for now just focus on identifying the main chords in a song!
There are three types of chords used in most popular music: Major, minor, and dominant. Let us look at some examples!
Example 1: Main Chord – Bridge Of The Song
This bridge begins with the tonic chord, which is also called the root chord. In this case, the tonic is B-flat.
The next chord is an ii - the second inversion of the tonic. This is the half step away from the tonic, making it a bII.
Next comes the prechorus, which is usually a short sequence of two chords. In this case, we have a V/G, where the first chord is a vi - the sixth inversion of the tonic.
Then comes the chorus, which is typically one long chord.
Identifying keys
The first thing you will want to do is identify the key of this piece! This is done by looking at the notes in the music and determining what color they are. A major key has mostly white or very bright notes, while a natural key has mostly green or slightly darker notes.
A minor key has most of its notes being blue or darkish-blue toned. When these colors clash with each other, it creates an uncomfortable feeling for the listener. That’s why minor songs can be really depressing!
Some examples of chords in a song in the key of B include:
Bb5–Ebm7–Gm6 – start off with the root note (the one that repeats the same every time), then the fifth degree (B) then the seventh (E). Then add the sixth(G)!
These three notes make up the chord called the bIIIm - short for second inversion. You can also look up how to name chords!
The rest of the notes go away from the root as others have mentioned, making them fall under the category of passing tones. These notes no longer remain after the main idea of the chord has been completed so some use them to help define the genre of the chord but not necessarily determine the key.
