Step 2
In Step 1, we learned what a “Staff” is, what “Notes” are, and what a “Clef” does. From Step 1, we now know that we write “Notes” on a “Staff” and know how high or low the “Notes” on a “Staff” are by the “Clef” at the beginning of the “Staff“.
In addition to location of the “Note” in how high or low it is, we must also write how much time the “Notes” take.
First, we have a fraction called a “Time Signature“. In this fraction, the top number tells us how many beats are in a “Measure“. A “Measure” is the space on the “Staff” to the next wall. A vertical wall is called a “Bar“. In between one “Bar” and the next closest “Bar” is one measure. A “Beat” is a moment of time. How long is that moment of time? We don’t know yet.
Below are two examples of a “Staff” with a “Treble Clef“, a “Time Signature“, five “Bars“, five “Measures“, and 15 “Notes“.
Bar sample
Measures example
The top number of this “Time Signature” tells us how many beats are in a measure. The bottom number of this “Time Signature” tells us how many beats a note is worth.
Before we can delve further, we need to look at the notes. In the below illustration we have from the left, a “Whole Note“, a “Half Note“, a “Quarter Note“, an “Eighth Note“, a “16th note“, and a “32nd note“.
Notes - whole note to 32nd note
The notes are counts. A “Whole Note” has 4 counts, a “Half Note” has 2 counts, a “1/4 Note” has 1 count, an “8th Note” has half a count, a “16th Note” has a quarter of a count, and a “32nd Note” has an 1/8th of a count.
If the bottom number of the “Time Signature” is 4 then a “Whole Note” has 4 beats, a “Half Note” has 2 beats, a “1/4 Note” gets 1 beat, an “8th Note” has half a beat, a “16th Note” has a quarter of a beat, and a “32nd Note” gets an 1/8th of a beat.
If the bottom number of the “Time Signature” is 2, then all the “Notes” have half the number of beats. For example, a “Whole Note” would then have 2 beats instead of four.
Notice the bottom of the Time Signature fraction is a 2.
If the bottom number of the “Time Signature” is 8, then all the “Notes” have twice the number of beats. For example, a “Whole Note” would then have 8 beats instead of four.
Notice the bottom of the Time Signature fraction is an 8.
Now that we know how many beats a note receives based on the “Time Signature” fraction, we could know how to play the notes if we knew how long our beats are. “Tempo” is the number of beats per minutes, shown as bpm. There are 60 seconds in 1 minute. Therefore, if our “Tempo” is 60 bpm, there is one beat per second. When the “Tempo” is 60 bpm and the bottom number of the “Time Signature” fraction is a 4, then one quarter note lasts one second.
An example of 60 beats per minute Tempo in 4/4 time.
If our “Tempo” is 120 bpm, there is two beats per second. If our “Tempo” is 120 bpm and the bottom number of the “Time Signature” fraction is a 4, then one quarter note is half a second.
An example of a Tempo of 120 beats per minute(bpm)