Quarter Note
1 beat
Half note
2 beats
Bar Line
divides the staff into measures
Double Bar Line
Indicates the end of a piece of music
Treble clef (G Clef)
...
Whole Note
4 beats
Bass clef
Lower clef
Time Signature
Tells you how many beats in a measure
Grand Staff
Treble and Bass clef read together
Whole Rest
4 beats of silence
Piano
Soft
Mezzo Forte
Medium loud
Melodic Intervals
Notes played consecutively to make a melody
Harmonic Intervals
Intervals played at the same time
Forte
Loud
Major Chord
...
Tied Notes
connected by a curved line, note values are added together to make one long sound
Largo
very slow
Chord Symbols
G7, D7, C etc
Dotted Half note
3 beats
Dynamics
Degrees of loudness or softness in music
Slur
A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation, i.e. with legato articulation. A slur is denoted with a curved line generally placed over the notes if the stems point downward, and
Legato
Smooth and connected
Incomplete Measure
...
Sharp Sign
Musical symbol (#) that indicates raising a pitch by a half step
Block Chords
A block chord is a chord or voicing built directly below the melody either on the strong beats or to create a four-part harmonized melody line in "locked-hands" rhythmic unison with the melody, as opposed to broken chords.
Broken Chords
Where the notes of a chord are played one after another
Damper Pedal
the right pedal, which sustains the sound, played with the right foot
Crescendo
Gradually louder
Diminuendo
gradually softer
Fermata
To hold
Eighth Notes
1/2 of a beat
Dotted Half note
3 beats
Dotted quarter note
1 1/2 beats
staccato
Detached or disconnected in sound or style
Octave
8 line stanza
Flat sign
The symbol that indicates lowering a pitch one half step
Half step
The distance from any key on the keyboard to the very next key above or below, whether black or white.
Whole step
two half steps
Tetrachord
Series of four notes having a pattern of whole step, whole step, half step
Major Scale
Ascending pattern of steps as follows: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half
Triad
a social group with three members
group of three
Natural
Cancels A # or b
Eighth Rest
1/2 beat of silence
Accent Sign
Stress and play louder
Arpeggiated Chord
broken chords (pitches in a chord that can be sounded in close succession)
Relative minor key
Key signature that is the same as that of the relative major key
syncopated
abbreviated; music stressing the weak beat
Accidental
An accidental, in music theory, is a musical notation that is used to raise or lower the pitch of a note. There are a handful of accidentals - sharps, flats, naturals, double sharps, and double flats.
Minor scale
ascending pattern of steps as follows: whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole
Pianissimo
Very soft
Triplet
3 line stanza