ESL Podcast 915 - Learning to Read Music

choir - a group of people who sing together, especially for performances

In high school, Martin sang in the choir, but his sister played trumpet in the band.

to read music - to be able to understand written music and then sing the songs or play them on an instrument even without hearing them first

When children learn to read music, they memorize the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine" to learn that the printed symbols on the lines from bottom to top represent the notes E-G-B-D-F.

piece - one song or one work of art

This piece has very low and very high notes and is very difficult to sing.

clef - a written symbol that indicates the meaning of other symbols on a page of written music, normally the treble clef ( or G clef) or bass clef ( or F-clef)

When playing piano, the right hand normally follows the treble clef and the left hand follows the bass clef.

note - a musical sound, named with the letters A through G

Sometimes it seems impossible to get everyone to sing on the same note.

staff - a group of five horizontal, parallel lines that are used to write music

A musical staff has five lines and four spaces.

time signature - the two numbers, one on top of the other, on a musical staff that are used to show how many beats are in each group (the top number) and which note gets the beat (the bottom number)

If the time signature is 4 over 4, there are four beats per measure and the quarter note gets the beat, but if it is 3 over 4, there are only three beats per measure.

beat - one of many evenly spaced rhythmic sounds in music

Our downstairs neighbor plays his music so loudly that we can feel the beat in the floorboards.

measure - one of many groups of the same number of beats, separated by a vertical line crossing the lines of the staff

Xavier's piano teacher suggested that he focus on measures 22-28 while practicing this week.

tempo - the speed of a song; a measure of the number of beats per minute in a piece of music

Once we slowed down the tempo, the song became much more emotional.

stacked - with many items in a vertical position, each resting on top of another

Taysser has so many books stacked on his desk, there isn't even room for a few pencils.

chord - a group of two or more notes that are played at the same time

This song starts with a D-major chord.

musical notation - written music; the standard ways in which music is written down

Are there any computer programs that can generate musical notation from recorded music?

duet - a song played by two people on two different instruments, or sung by two different people, at the same time

Piotr composed a beautiful duet for a violin and a cello.

harmony - two or more notes that are sung or played at the same time and that sound good together

Briana is a soprano and she makes beautiful harmony with Keisha, an alto.

to accompany - to play an instrument while another person sings or plays the more important melody on another instrument

Would you mind accompanying me on the piano while I play the flute?

to overestimate - to think that something is bigger, better, or greater than it actually is

We overestimated the number of guests, and now we have a lot of leftover food.

on pitch - in tune; singing a note as it should be sung, not too high (sharp) or low (flat)

Vincent sings on pitch, but he needs to learn to follow the conductor's tempo.