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TERM 3 GRADE 5

MUSIC LITERACY

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Contents The Stave .............................................................................................................................. 3

The Treble clef ...................................................................................................................... 3

Note Values and Rest Values ............................................................................................... 3

Tempo ................................................................................................................................... 3

Metre (Time Signature) ......................................................................................................... 4

Pitch ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Dynamics .............................................................................................................................. 4

Canon ................................................................................................................................... 4

Unison ................................................................................................................................... 4

Letter names of the Treble clef .............................................................................................. 4

The Piano Keyboard ............................................................................................................. 5

Music Genre .......................................................................................................................... 5

Different genres (or styles) of music ......................................................................................... 6

Blues ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Jazz ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Kwaito ................................................................................................................................... 7

Soukous ................................................................................................................................ 7

Rock ...................................................................................................................................... 7

Pop (Popular) ........................................................................................................................ 8

Classical: ............................................................................................................................... 8

Opera .................................................................................................................................... 8

Musicals ................................................................................................................................ 8

Theory of Music ........................................................................................................................ 9

Accent ................................................................................................................................... 9

Repetition .............................................................................................................................. 9

Echo ...................................................................................................................................... 9

C Major Scale ...................................................................................................................... 10

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The Stave The stave is the 5 lines and 4 spaces that music notes are written on.

The Treble clef • The purpose of the treble clef is to show the person playing or singing music, that

the pitch will be high. • The treble clef is mostly played with the right hand on a piano as the higher pitches

on the keyboard are found on the right hand side.

Note Values and Rest Values

Whole note

Half note

Quarter note

Eighth note

Whole rest

Half rest

Quarter rest

Eighth rest

Tempo The tempo of music is how fast or how slow the music is being played or sung.

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Metre (Time Signature) The metre is shown by using two numbers that make up a time signature. The top number of

the time signature indicates how many beats there are in each group of beats and the bottom

number indicates what value of note is given to each beat. The time signature appears at the

beginning of a piece of music. Here are a few examples:

Pitch Pitch is how high or how low a sound is.

Dynamics Dynamics, in music, is how loud or how soft a sound is.

Canon A canon is a piece of music in which two or more voices (or instrumental parts) sing or play the

same melody, but start at different times.

Unison To perform musical parts at the same pitch or in the range of an octave. This means to play or

sing a piece of music on the same note.

Letter names of the Treble clef

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Each line and space on the stave has a letter name.

The spaces can be remembered as “FACE” and the lines can be remembered by the rhyme

“Every Good Boy Drinks Fanta”.

The whole musical alphabet consists only of the first seven letters of the alphabet – A, B, C, D, E, F and G.

The Piano Keyboard A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent levers or keys on a musical instrument. Keyboards

typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a

combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the interval of

an octave. The letter names on a keyboard.

Music Genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to

a shared tradition or set of conventions or it can be seen as a category of artistic, musical, or

literary composition characterised by a particular style, form, or content. Music can be divided

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into different genres in many different ways. The artistic nature of music means that these

classifications are often subjective and controversial and some genres may overlap. Every

genre has multiple sub-genres and then every sub-genre has multiple sub-sub-genres to the

point that it gets rather ridiculous. We are going to keep it simple and say that music can be

placed in a genre with sub-categories. To give a few examples:

Different genres (or styles) of music

Blues Blues music (referring to melancholy and sadness) developed

from African music. It was brought to America by slaves in the

late 1800s. It is a mixture of American work songs, church

music, rhythmic dance tunes and call and response lines, in

which a singer would sing a line and a guitarist would answer. Examples: B.B. King, Eric Clapton.

Jazz Jazz (which was the slang word used to refer to it) originated at the

beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the

Southern United States, particularly New Orleans. It came from a

bringing together of traditions from Africa, Europe and American

popular music. A jazz ensemble (group) traditionally includes a

piano, guitar, drums, double bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone

and sometimes a vocalist. A key element of jazz music is improvisation - where the performer

will never play the same composition exactly the same way each time.

Examples: Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington.

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Kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged amongst the urban

black, young people in Johannesburg, South Africa, during

the early 1990s. It developed from a mixture of dance music,

hip-hop, Jamaican influences, house music and

R & B (Rhythm and Blues) combined with African sounds.

The lyrics are often shouted, droned or chanted.

Examples: Mandoza, Zola.

Soukous

Soukous (derived from the French word “secousse”

meaning “shake”) is modern Zairean dance music from

the 1970s. It is also known as “African Rumba”.

Soukous is characterised by clear guitar sounds.

Example: Papa Wemba

Rock Rock music started in the 1950s and has had many

different branches grow from it: folk rock, blues rock,

glam rock, hard rock, heavy rock, Indie rock, punk rock

and grunge. It has been said that ‘pure rock music’ has

three chords, a strong insistent back beat, and a catchy

melody. Rock groups mainly consist of an electric

guitarist, a lead singer, a bass guitarist, a drummer and

perhaps a keyboard player.

Examples: Led Zepplin, ACDC, Nickelback, Linkin Park.

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Pop (Popular) Popular music developed in the mid-1950s as a softer style

to rock ‘n roll, and later, to rock music. Pop music is the music

that most young people listen to. The songs are easy to listen

to, catchy and simple to sing, and commercially motivated

(they make money).

Examples: Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ed Sheeran, Drake.

Classical: Classical music is music that began in the late 1700s to the 1820s.

Classical music has a structured musical form which focuses on

instrumental music and the symphony. It appeals to a serious

musical taste. Mozart and Beethoven are well-known classical

composers.

Example: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. One of his most famous songs is: “TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR”

Opera Opera is a musical drama which is expressed through a classical

singing style. The singing is accompanied by an orchestra. It is most

often sung in Italian or German.

Examples: “Carmen”, “Figaro”, “La Boheme”

Musicals Musicals are dramatic stories and plays that have music and songs

presented at different parts throughout the storyline.

Examples: “Sound of Music”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “High School Musical”

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Theory of Music

Accent In music, an accent is an emphasis, stress, or stronger attack placed on a particular note or set

of notes, or chord, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by

an accent mark. Accents contribute to the articulation and prosody of a performance of

a musical phrase.

Accent

Accent

Repetition Repetition in music is when a section, phrase or part of a song, is sung or played again, exactly

the same as the first time. A literal repetition of a musical passage is often indicated by the use

of a repeat sign, or the instructions da capo or dal segno.

Repetition may be used as part and parcel of symmetry. This is a technique that may help to

unify a melody, theme or rhythm. If one finds a melodic or rhythmic figure that one likes, and

one repeats it throughout the course of the melody or song, one must be careful not to repeat

it too much, as it may bore the listener.

Echo A repetition or mimicking of a certain passage, usually with less force and volume than the

original statement. Reflected sound producing a distinct repetition of the original sound. Echo in

mountains is distinct by reason of distance of travel after original signal has ceased.

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C Major Scale A scale is a sequence of 8 consecutive notes (seven different letter names) which progress in

ascending order (going higher) or descending order (going lower). The word scale means

ladder.