Basic Terminology and Note Values

THE STAFF, MEASURES AND TIME SIGNATURES

THE STAFF
     Music is written by placing motes on a staff of five lines and four spaces. The Symbol at
     the beginning of the staff, which looks like two vertical lines. is called a percussion clef.
     The percussion clef tells you that the music on the staff is for drums. Each line and
     space represents a different instrument in the drumset.

MEASURES

     Beats, the most basic units of musical time, are grouped into measures of equal length-

     that is, each measure contains the same number of beats. Measures are marked with

     vertical bar lines. Short sections and excerpts end with a double bar line

TIME SIGNATURES

     At he beginning of every musical piece there is a time signature. A time signature tells you

     how to count the music. The top number tells you how many beats are in each measure;

     the bottom number tells you which kind of note gets one beat. The most common time 

     signature