Rhythm
Pulse and tempo
Under almost all music there is a steady pulse. The tempo tells you how fast it ticks, in beats per minute (BPM), from slow Largo to fast Presto.
Topics
All topics
Choose a topic. Every topic starts with a question, lets you see and hear something to play with, explains how it works and lets you practise.
16 topics
Rhythm
Pulse and tempo, note values and rests, bars and time signatures, rhythm patterns in the rhythm box.
- Rhythm
Note values and rests
A note tells you not only which pitch but also how long. A semibreve equals two minims, four crotchets or eight quavers, and every note has a rest of the same length.
- Rhythm
Bars and time signatures
Bar lines divide music into bars. The time signature at the start, such as 3/4 or 4/4, tells you how many beats fit in each bar, and every bar must be exactly full.
- Rhythm
Rhythm patterns and the rhythm box
A rhythm pattern is a small group of hits that keeps coming back. In a rhythm box you program it yourself: bass drum, snare drum and hi-hat on and between the beats.
Melody and reading music
The stave, the treble and bass clefs, the keyboard with sharps and flats, scales and intervals.
- Melody and reading music
The stave and the treble clef
Five lines, four spaces and a clef at the start: that is how you read how high a note sounds. You call the notes C, D, E or do, re, mi.
- Melody and reading music
The F clef or bass clef
Low instruments and the piano's left hand read in the bass clef. F sits on the fourth line, and middle C lies exactly between the two clefs.
- Melody and reading music
The keyboard: sharps and flats
White and black keys in a fixed pattern of twos and threes. A sharp makes a note a semitone higher, a flat a semitone lower.
- Melody and reading music
Scales: major and minor
A scale puts eight notes in a fixed pattern of tones and semitones. Major sounds bright, minor darker. The pattern decides which sharps or flats you need.
- Melody and reading music
Intervals: the distance between two notes
An interval is the distance between two notes, from a second to an octave. You count the letters, and the semitones tell you whether it is major, minor or perfect.
Harmony and sound
Chords and accompaniment, sound as vibration, the instruments of the orchestra, voices and choir.
- Harmony and sound
Chords and accompaniment
A triad stacks two thirds: root, third and fifth. Major sounds bright, minor darker. With just three chords, I, IV and V, you can accompany lots of songs.
- Harmony and sound
Sound is vibration: pitch and volume
Every sound is something vibrating. The faster it vibrates, the higher the pitch, measured in hertz. The bigger the vibration, the louder. An octave higher is twice as fast.
- Harmony and sound
Instruments of the orchestra
A symphony orchestra has four families: strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. How an instrument makes its sound decides which family it belongs to.
- Harmony and sound
Voices and choir
A choir divides into soprano, alto, tenor and bass, from high to low. Together they sing in four parts: each voice its own line, together one chord.
Listening to music
Dynamics and articulation, musical form, and following a piece with a listening map.
- Listening to music
Dynamics and articulation
Dynamics are how loudly or softly you play, from pp to ff, with crescendo and decrescendo in between. Articulation is how you play a note: smooth, short or accented.
- Listening to music
Musical form: ABA, rondo and chorus
Music is built from sections that return or change. You write the form with letters: ABA, rondo ABACA, or verse and chorus as in a pop song.
- Listening to music
Listening to a piece with a listening map
A listening map draws a piece of music over time: the sections, who is playing, how loud it is. That way you listen with purpose and can say what you hear.