Loudoun County Public Schools



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Paul E. Shoremount, Band Director Telephone: (540) 338-0800

38174 West Colonial Highway

Hamilton, VA 20158

Band Exam Review

A Staff is made up of five horizontal lines and four spaces.

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A staff is divided into small sections called Measures by vertical lines called Bar Lines.

Pitches are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet (A B C D E F G).

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A Clef is a musical symbol placed at the beginning of the staff that determines the letter names of the lines and spaces. The two main clefs are the treble and the bass:

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A grand staff is a combination of both the treble and bass clefs connected by a vertical line on the left side of the staves (plural staffs).

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Ledger Lines are an extension of the staff. They are additional lines both above and below which are parallel to the staff. Each ledger line contains one note.

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Note Values

Each note has a specific duration.

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Meter

Meter is the regular recurring pattern of strong and weak beats of equal duration; also known as time. The meter or time signature in a musical composition is indicated by a fraction, and located at the beginning of a piece of music. The lower number of the fraction tells what kind of note receives one beat. The upper number tells how many beats are in a measure.

Accelerando - tempo gradually gets faster

Accidental - symbols such as sharps or flats and naturals that raise or lower a pitch.

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Adagio - slow speed (not too slow)

Allegro - fast tempo / speed

Allegretto – moderately fast

Andante - play the music at a moderately slow speed.

Bar Line - a vertical line on the staff to separate measures in a composition.

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Bass Clef - The sign at the beginning of the staff, indicating which notes are represented by which lines and spaces. Lines in the Bass Clef - The lines are G-B-D-F-A. Count the lines (1-5) from the bottom of the staff to the top.

Spaces in the Bass Clef - The spaces are A-C-E-G. Count the spaces (1-4) from the bottom of the staff to the top.

Beam - a straight line connecting two or more notes such as eighth and sixteenth notes.

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Beat - a musical pulse or unit of time / the steady pulse of music.

Chord - a combination of three or more notes sounding at the same time / multiple notes sounding simultaneously (Ex. A C Major chord may consist of the notes C-E-G.)

Clef - a symbol placed at the beginning of the staff to indicate names of lines and spaces.

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Conductor - the director of a group of musicians.

Crescendo - gradually get louder

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Da Capo ( D.C.) – from the beginning

Dal Segno ( D.S.) – from the sign

Decrescendo or Diminuendo - gradually get softer

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Dot - a small symbol placed to the right of a note that increases the duration of the note by one half.

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Dynamics - symbols that indicate a change in volume of a song. (The students played the music louder and softer, as indicated by the dynamics written on the music.)

Enharmonic - Two notes that sound the same but are spelled differently.

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Fermata - a pause in the music, indicated by this sign.

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Flat - a symbol written to the left of a note that lowers the pitch by a half step.

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Forte - loud. (The percussion section saw the forte mark on their music and played the music with a booming sound.)

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Half Step - the distance between one key and the next adjacent white or black key on a keyboard. The smallest distance between two notes.

Instrument Positions – rest, attention & playing.

Interval - The distance from one note to the very next note, either above or below the original note, is one half step. A whole step is the distance of two half steps aprt from the original note. All scales are made up of a series of half and whole steps. The formula for any major scale is w-w-h-w-w-w-h.

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Largo - slow and stately

Ledger Line - a small line written above or below the staff to extend the range of notation.

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Legato - playing notes in a smooth, connected manner.

Major Scales for melodic instruments and Rudiments for percussion instruments are fundamental to build flexibility and technique. There are 12 basic major scales.

March - A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. Most all marches are performed in 2/2 2/4 or cut time.

Measure - the space between one bar line and the next.

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Mezzo – half or moderately

Moderato - medium tempo / speed

Mutes - A mute is a device fitted to a musical instrument to alter the sound produced: by affecting the timbre, reducing the volume, or most commonly both.

Musical Phrase – is similar to a sentence in speech, a complete musical thought. It is important to breath in the proper place, to make the phrase sound connected.

Piano - soft

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Octave - the interval between two adjacent notes of the same name.

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Piano - softly

Piu Mosso – quicker

Presto - very fast tempo or speed

Rallentando – gradually slower

Repeat Sign - a sign that indicates a section of music to be played again.

Rest - a symbol used to indicate silence in music.

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Rudiments - a rudiment is one of the basic patterns used in rudimental drumming. These patterns of drum strokes can be combined in many ways to create music. There are 26 basic rudiments.

Scale - The intervals between the notes of a major scale are as follows: Whole step, Whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step or (WWhWWWh)

C Major Scale- no sharps or flats

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The distance from the first note to the last note is an octave. There are 8 notes from C to C

Sforzando – strongly accented with cresendo

Sharp - a symbol written to the left of a note that raises the pitch by a half step.

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Slur - a curved line connecting two or more different notes, indicating to play the music smoothly.

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Sostenuto – sustained and prolonged

Staccato - a dot over or under notes that indicate playing the music short and detached.

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Staff - horizontal lines on which notes are written. The musical staff has five lines and four spaces.

Tacet – silent

Tempo – rate of speed

Time Signatures – include 4/4 or common time for the vast majority of works, ¾ for waltz’s, 2/4 of cut time for marches, 6/8 for a triplet in two feel, and numerous multiple odd meters.

Treble Clef - The sign at the beginning of the staff, indicating which notes are represented by which lines and spaces. Lines in the Treble Clef - The lines are E-G-B-D-F. Count the lines (1-5) from the bottom of the staff to the top. Spaces in the Treble Clef - The spaces are F-A-C-E. Count the spaces (1-4) from the bottom of the staff to the top.

Tutti – all instruments or all instruments within a section

Vivace – fast and spirited

The Four Families

The Strings

All of the string instruments are concert pitch, or non transposing instruments. They do however use a wide variety of clefs

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|Violin | |

|Most common orchestral instrument. | |

|The smallest out of all the strings | |

|Highest pitched. | |

|Plays in treble clef | |

| |Viola |

| |Slightly larger than the violin |

| |Deeper pitch in comparison to violin |

| |"Middle register" of the string family. |

| |Plays in “C” clef |

|Cello | |

|Still bigger than the violin and viola. | |

|Beautiful, mellow sound. | |

|The cello rests on the floor | |

|Plays in Bass clef, C clef, and Treble clef | |

| |Bass |

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| |Biggest instrument in the string section. |

| |Plays the wide assortment of music (Classical to Broadway to Jazz) |

| |Plays in Bass clef |

The Woodwinds

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air 1. against a sharp edge, or 2. through a reed, causing the air within its resonator (usually a column of air) to vibrate. Most of these instruments are made of wood, but can be made of other materials, such as metals or plastics.

| |Flute |

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| |Made of metal |

| |Bright tones |

| |Plays concert pitch (C) |

|Piccolo | |

|Smaller relative of the flute. | |

|Same notes and fingerings | |

|Much smaller than flute and has a higher pitch. | |

|[pic] |Clarinet |

| |Single reed instrument. |

| |Plays a wide range of music (classical to jazz) |

| |It also has a very large range of notes |

| |Transposing instrument (can be Bb Eb, A) |

|Oboe | |

|Double reed instrument | |

|Widely used in classical compositions. | |

|Non transposing | |

|[pic] |Saxophone |

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| |Single reed instrument. |

| |Sounds mellow or strong. |

| |Although it is made of brass, it is not part of the Brass Family. |

| |Plays a wide variety of music (pop-classical) |

| |Transposing (Eb, Bb) |

|Bassoon | |

|Double reed instrument. | |

|Plays very low notes | |

|Backbone of the orchestra. | |

The Brass Family

All brass instruments have one characteristic in common, being the cupped mouthpiece.

|French Horn |[pic] |

|Played with the right hand inside the bell. | |

|Transposing instrument (F). | |

|[pic] |Trumpet |

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| |High brassy notes. |

| |Mutes can make the trumpet sound completely different.|

| |Great jazz instrument |

| |Transposing (Bb) |

|Tuba |[pic] |

|Lowest instrument in the whole brass section. | |

|Used in marches and other compositions | |

|Keeps good strong beat. | |

|Non transposing. | |

|[pic] |Trombone |

| |Slide. No valves to alter pitch |

| |Non transposing |

The Percussion

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. Rudiments are the basics of drumming and are as essential for a player to know as a scale.

|[pic] |Cymbals |

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| |Produce a crashing sound. |

|Snare Drum |[pic] |

|Used for rolls | |

|Adds accents to music. | |

|[pic] |Timpani |

| |Commonly used in rolls. |

| |Can be tuned to a certain note. |

| |Deep sound. Has only one head. |

|Bass Drum |[pic] |

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|Used to keep a pulse in music. | |

|Extensively used in marches. | |

|Whole Note |[pic] |Four beats equal one whole note. |

|Half Note |[pic] |Two half notes make a whole. |

|Quarter Note |[pic] |Two quarter notes make a half note |

| | |Four quarter notes make a whole note |

|Eighth Note |[pic][pic] |Two eighth notes = 1 quarter note |

|Sixteenth Note |[pic] |Two sixteenth notes make one eighth. |

|Whole Rest |[pic] |Worth 4 beats, like the Whole Note |

|Half Rest |[pic] |Worth 2 beats, like the half note |

|Quarter Rest |[pic] |Worth one beat, like the quarter note |

|Eighth Rest |[pic] |Worth half a beat, like 1 eighth note |

|Sixteenth Rest |[pic] |Worth a half an eighth rest. |

Counting note values in common time.

The quarter notes would be "1, 2, 3, 4".

The eighth notes would be "ands": "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and".

The sixteenth notes are in between: "1-e-and-a 2-e-and-a 3-e-and-a 4-e-and-a." (1-ee-and-uh 2-ee-and-uh)

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