52 Brookside, Billericay, Essex, CM11 1DT 07861 734192 tom@tomrodgers-music.

net

Music Theory : Grade 1 : Workbook

4
1. Length of Notes (Time Values)
There are two main elements of reading music. The first is RHYTHM and the second is
PITCH. Lets look at rhythm first the different pattern made by using notes of different
lengths.

The easiest way to understand rhythm is to understand the connection between the
different lengths of note, or time values. The rhythm pyramid (below) shows you this.

There are five different main time values in music. They are :

Note Symbol English Name American Name How long it lasts.

SEMIBREVE WHOLE NOTE
4 CROTCHET BEATS
2 MINIM BEATS
8 QUAVER BEATS
16 SEMIQUAVER BEATS

MINIM HALF NOTE
2 CROTCHET BEATS
4 QUAVER BEATS
8 SEMIQUAVER BEATS

CROTCHET QUARTER NOTE
2 QUAVER BEATS
4 SEMIQUAVER BEATS

QUAVER EIGHTH NOTE 2 SEMIQUAVER BEATS


















Here is the rhythm pyramid!

How many:
1. Crotchets are in 2 Minims?
2. Quavers are in 1 Crotchet?
3. Semiquavers in 1 Semibreve?

Now some harder ones:
1. Crotchets in 3 minims?
2. Quavers in 3 crotchets?
3. Semiquavers in 2 minims?

2

Some time value sums:
+ = _______ crotchets?
+ + = _________ quavers?
+ + + + + = _____________ minims?
TASK : Do Exercises 1 & 2 on page 1 of the MTIP Worksheet.
Extension : Do Exercises 1 3 on page 7 of MTIP Worksheet.

Time signatures
Time signatures are put at the beginning of the piece of music to tell the musician how
many beats are in each bar and which type of note length (crotchet, minim etc) to count in.

Here is an example:

The TOP number tells you HOW many BEATS are in each BAR
(that is, how many counts).

The BOTTOM number tells you WHICH time value you are
counting in (i.e. which layer of the rhythm pyramid)

1 SEMIBREVE
2 MINIMS
4 CROTCHETS
8 QUAVERS
16 SEMIQUAVERS


3

So:


means 4 beats in the bar and we are counting in crotchets
(because there are four of them the third row down AND they
are quarter notes think fractions!)


TASK: Work out these time signatures










TASK : Do Exercises 1 - 6 on page 2 of the MTIP Worksheet.
To complete some of these tasks you have to use some simple adding up remember in exercises 5 and 6 to
work out the time signature FIRST then find the right note-length (time value) to complete the maximum
amount of beats allowed in each bar. Email me if you are unsure!

Pitch the notes themselves
The notes on the stave (the five lines) are written down using a simple rule :

LINE-SPACE-LINE-SPACE-LINE-SPACE etc.




The Treble Clef (below left) tells you ALL the notes you see on the stave are ABOVE
middle-C. Mostly, for piano players, this means you play them using your right hand.






The Bass Clef (above right) tells you ALL the note you see on the stave are BELOW
middle-C. Mostly, for piano players, this means you play them using your left hand.







4


Here are the line notes in the TREBLE CLEF:


Every Good Boy Deserves Football




Inbetween the line notes are the space notes, which spell FACE (see below!)










Here are the space notes in the BASS CLEF:

All Cows Eat Grass





Inbetween the space notes of the bass clef are the line notes, which can be
remembered by thinking of the rhyme below the picture:









Good Boys Deserves Food Always

TASK : Read and complete pages 3&4 of the MTIP Worksheet.

5


TASK: Complete ALL exercises on pages 5 & 6 of the MTIP Worksheet.


Rests
Not every beat of every bar has to be filled
with music. Sometimes we rest, allowing
silence to occur for a certain amount of time.
The symbols to tell the musician to rest for a
certain amount of time are in the diagram on
the right. Use the rhythm pyramid to help you
remember how long you have to rest for when
you see each symbol.

It is always important to remember that we
must keep counting the beat when resting in
music!!


TASK : Complete Exercises 1& 2 on page 8 of MTIP workbook


Ties and Dots

Both these additions to the notes change the way the note is played. They both
make notes longer.

A TIE joins two notes of the same (or different) lengths together - providing they are
the same pitch. e.g:

Here, the first semibreve (which is worth 4 beats)
is joined to the second semibreve (also worth 4
beats). So, the total number of beats that this
note is held for is 8. They are tied together
because both semibreves are the note D.


TASK : Complete Exercise 1 on page 9 of MTIP workbook


6

Dots
Sometimes you will see notes with a dot next to them (as below):



The dot next to the note makes the time value of that note longer by half again.
It is explained well in the diagram below, which shows the two most common dotted
notes you will come across.


In the first example we see a dotted crotchet. This is
the same value as crotchet + a quaver (because there
are two quavers in a crotchet).

In the second example we see a dotted minim. See if
you can work out how long you hold it down for.


The dotted rhythm can be seen as follows:

Here, you have the dotted crotchet
(worth 3 quavers) and a single quaver
is added afterward to make the first
full two beats of the bar.

If you look at the lower notes, you can see a dotted minim (worth 3 crotchets) and
the last crotchet is added to make up the full four beats of the bar.

The dotted rhythm, when played, is worth 2 beats.

TASK : Complete Exercises 2 & 3 on page 9 of MTIP workbook.
Remember to look at the time signature of each question before you answer it!



7

Key Signatures and Accidentals
The key signature can be found at the beginning of a piece of music. It looks like a
group of sharps (#) or flats (b). Generally speaking, the key signature tells you how
many black notes you need to play in the piece of music.

NB (this is for Grade 1 understanding):
To play a sharp, you play the black note to the RIGHT of the note written on the
stave.

To play a flat, you play the black note to the LEFT of the note written on the stave.

e.g.:
G#


A
b



Here, the first note is a G and has been raised to the black note to its right, which
makes it a G#. The second note is an A and has been lowered to the black note to
its right, making the new notes A
b
.

TASK : On your keyboard, find the folllowing sharps and flats:

(1) F# (2) D# (3) Eb (4) C# (5) Bb (6)Db

Which answers are the same notes? __________________________

Key Signatures are the way in which the composer tells us how many of the black
notes we are required to play in any piece. Here are the four MAJOR keys you must
know:





The basic rule for reading sharps and flats in key signatures is to remember the
names of the different lines and spaces.
For instance:

8

G-major has 1 sharp. The sharp you see is on the F line. This is F#. It means that all
the Fs that you see in the piece of music that follows are NOT Fs but F#s.

D-major has 2 sharps. One sharp is F#, as with G-major; the other is on the C space.
This makes it C#. In D-major all the Fs and Cs are always played as F#s and C#s.

Accidentals are used when the composer wants to add a sharp or a flat or a natural
(normal white note) into a piece of music that isnt normally expected. For instance:











If you want to cancel an accidental (i.e. bring the black note back to being a white
note, or a natural to a black note) then you must remember which way you first
changed the note and reverse it.

NOTE : Cancelling an accidental only needs to happen in the same bar as the
accidental. All accidentals are cancelled when entering a new bar!

e.g. (1) A normal C was changed to a C#. To cancel the accidental, simply write a
C-natural. (2) In G-major the normal F# was changed to an F-natural. To cancel the
accidental, simply write the F#. See below.






TASK : Complete Exercises 1 - 3 on page 11 of MTIP workbook.

TASK : Complete Exercises 1 & 2 on page 16 of MTIP workbook.



9

TASK : Complete Exercises 1 - 6 on pages 13-15 of MTIP workbook.
You will need to refer back the Bass and Treble Clef pages of the MTIP workbook to help you do
some of these exercises.


Semitones & Tones
The smallest gap between any two notes in music is called a SEMITONE.
TWO semitones make up a TONE.

Use the piano keyboard diagram at the bottom of these examples to help you see
the gaps!

Examples of semitone gaps :

F F#
C C#
Bb B
Eb E

Examples of tone gaps:

F G
C D
Bb C
Eb F








TASK : Complete Exercises 1 - 3 on pages 12 of MTIP workbook.

TASK : Learn Performance Directions (pgs 17/18) and Complete
practice exercise given on page 19 of MTIP workbook.