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In our last article, we presented a way to look at the rhythmic aspects of music through the use of harmonics.

Harmonic is just another term to say "multiple of". "2" is a multiple of "1". The quantity of "1" is doubled and you get the quantity of "2". So we say that "2" is the second harmonic of "1". Similarly, we say that "3" is the third harmonic of "1", etc.

When we say "quantity", what do we mean?

Well, we can apply "quantity" to practically anything we can observe in the universe. Length, weight, duration, size,... Nature is built on quantities. In music, we can apply this principle to the duration of notes and the time intervals between notes.

Music is a sequence of events happening on a time stream

Obviously, music is organized through time. Without time, there would be no music. Time is the main ingredient on which to build music.

We will not go into speculations about what time really is or is not. The explanation of what time is, is the subject of many interesting speculations by physicists as well as philosophers. Most of us seem to perceive time as something continuous in which things can "happen" and for our purposes (analyzing and composing music), this is a practical definition that we can use.

So, on a rhythmic point of view, we can place notes in a dimension called "time" and organize them. The result of this is a piece of music.

If we throw many notes randomly in a specific time interval, there is almost no chance to make some music that will be appreciated by anyone. So we need to put some orderly sequence of notes if we want to compose music.

Music is the art of dividing time

Considering time as a continuous medium, we can introduce order by dividing it into equal or similar intervals. Music becomes the art of dividing time intervals and making these intervals sufficiently related to each other so that they seem to make a whole that makes sense and conveys an idea, an emotion, an action to the person who listens to it.

In music, the most obvious time division is the beat. It gives you the relative speed at which you can predict other notes to appear. It establishes a time frame around which all the notes of the music will be organized. We talk about a tempo of 60 quarter notes (crotchet) per minute. This tells you that in one minute, you should play 60 notes. This tempo value may change and vary, but during the music it stays the general reference around which all the musical events will take place.

The tempo (general speed) of a piece of music will sure have an influence on the emotion or action it can convey. This has a direct relationship to what happens in life regarding time. As a general rule, for highly positive emotions and actions, the tempo will be faster than for lower negative emotions. The tempo of a funeral march will obviously be something slow. A happy dance will be faster. A music that accompanies car stunts in a film will have an adequately fast tempo.

So the use of tempo is very important in relationship to the emotion or action you want to convey. You can vary the tempo to change the general mood of your music, for instance going from a low level emotion (sorrow) to a higher level (enthusiasm), you can progressively increase the tempo. Many effects can be created with a change of tempo in a music composition. This is used to the fullest extent in film music, as the music must then convey the action or emotion of the scenes.

Listen to the following examples and examine them based on the tempo and what kind of emotion and action they convey to you (on YouTube):

• Funeral March (Chopin) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFyAqLtHq8
• Car stunt music - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wy-wUPOE_M
• Orchestral music - Gusty Garden Galaxy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlJmUg5uZU
• Examples of different tempi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY2QR2D4RzI
• Different moods and tempi - James Bond film music event - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u4FqjZDcC8

Music notation and time

Since the early beginning of music notation, the need existed to represent time in a written form, so that a composer would be able to write his music for others to play.

As time is not something you can 'touch' or 'draw on paper', it was arbitrarily associated to a space dimension and represented as something that 'happens' from left to right on a piece of paper. Please note that this is only a practical way to represent time in a written form, as time itself has no similarity with space, on a physical point of view.

So we write the music notes from left to right on the paper and at the end of the line, we go to the next line and again from left to right. A note placed to the right of another note is going to be played after that note. Very easy.

Now, the beat is the main time division of the music. We must then have a graphic symbol to represent that main time division on paper. We often use the quarter note (crotchet) as the symbol for the beat :

The vertical line (either up or down), with the note filled in black, represents the quarter note. The tempo is often written explicitly at the beginning of the score, specifying how much quarter notes there are in one minute. So if we write the following:

Listen to this example...

it means 8 notes played at the same speed of 80 notes a minute.

Music written using only the beat will sound monotonous or will need imagination from the composer on other musical aspects to make it interesting (instruments, melody, chords,...).

The measure - Another way to organize time

The next natural way to organize time in music is by the use of measures. A measure is a group of beats that form a unit. It is not arbitrary, as it is related to a slower beat in relationship to the main beat (here, the quarter note).

For instance, the '4/4' measure contains 4 quarter notes. These 4 quarter notes form a musical unit that can be distinguished by the auditor. On a music score, the measures are separated by vertical lines and a time signature symbol at the beginning of the score shows how much beats are present in the measures. The following score:

means that two measures of 4 quarter notes must be played. To learn more about the time signature symbol, see the lesson on the time signature at www.arpegemusic.com/manual36/EN340.htm

If all notes were played exactly the same, there would be no sense grouping the beats into measures, except maybe as an intellectual exercise. You could as well group them in 4 beats, 9 beats or 157 beats and nobody would hear the difference.

But in most cases, the division of time into measures that contain a given number of beats, corresponds to a time interval that is perceived as itself by the listener. It is a periodic time interval that can be recognized as a whole and that adds some personality to the music.

As the measures contain the same number of beats, there is a high level of order because the beats are perceived as a sub-division of the measures. Or you could say that the measures are perceived as groups of beats that form a unit. Both propositions are valid. They establish a relationship between two different time units : the beat and the measure.

How does one recognize or establish the perception of the measure then? The simplest way to establish the measure is to set the first beat into prominence, for instance with an accent on it, or by using a second instrument that will only play the first beat of the measures :

Listen to the example...

But there are many ways to achieve this. The melody will often assert its main notes on the first beat. Harmony can change on the first beat. New instruments or effects can enter on the first beat, ... You can also create a pattern of different instruments that will make the measure unit very plain and obvious.

The selection of the measure to use while composing a piece of music is quite important, as the mood of the piece will be much influenced by it.

Determining the time signature of a piece of music

When you hear some music that you want to transcribe in music notation, how do you determine the measure and the beat?

There can be more than one solution to this problem, but according to the above, you must first locate and perceive the main beat. This main beat is probably best defined in practice by the way you tap your foot on the ground to follow the music.

To find the tempo, count how many of these beats you hear in exactly one minute. Take a clock and start counting when the minutes change, then stop counting at the next change. If the number is between 50 and 140, you can probably decide it is a quarter note. If faster, it can be an eighth note for instance.

To find the measure, try to perceive a small group of beats that seem to form a single periodic unit and count how many beats there are in that unit. Standard numbers are between 2 and 4, but other numbers can be used also.

This is partly arbitrary. The basic principle to follow is to make music notation easy to read. In theory, you could almost write any music with any beat and any measure, but there are often only one or two solutions to make the music notation as clear and logical as possible for the person who reads the score.

Listen to the following examples of the use of various measures and notice the mood that is conveyed by each one. Notice also the various ways the composers divide the time and group beats together into measures.

• 2/4 - Tchaikovsky Nutcracker Dance Of The Mirlitons Micha Haran - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbeUQbvH4jE
• 3/4 - Emperor Waltz by Strauss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Mwa23WCIA&feature=related
• 5/4 - Gustav Holst - The Planets - Mars, the Bringer of War http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I
• EWQL Symphonic Orchestra - Dynasty Demo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IE3Qg0wnVY

Time division - the next steps...

There are still three other ways to organize, divide and group time in a music composition. We will examine them in our next newsletter. I suggest you to listen to many different music and hear them with the above explanation in mind, so that the measures, beats and time division and organization become part of your musical points of view.

Dominique Vandenneucker
Designer of Pizzicato

See also the frequently asked questions on page http://www.arpegemusic.com/clients4.php

Using the lyrics tool, Pizzicato automatically aligns the hyphens between two syllables to separate them between the two notes. It is thus impossible to place a hyphen to separate two syllables which would be under the same note. To suppress a hyphen, you just need to place the mouse on the left syllable and type the hyphen sign ("-") again. The hyphen disappears. Notice that you cannot use the habitual erase key for that sign.

To add a page number, simply create a text block and enter "$1" as the page number. Select the "For all pages from page 1" option. If you write for example "Page $1", you will see "Page 1" on page 1, "Page 2" on page 2,... If you want to number the pages from another page than page 1, you must place a specific text area on each page. You can also use the "$2" text to mean the total number of pages. "Page $1 / $2" would then display "Page 1 / 2" if your score has 2 pages.

On an organ or piano score, it is frequent to display the fingering. They are marked as little numbers (one for each finger). The purpose is to help the beginner to manage his/her fingers better. The thumb is 1 and the little finger 5. Pizzicato has a tool palette to add the fingering. In the "Tools" menu, open the "Fingering/rehearsal" palette. It includes the 5 numbers. Select one of them on the palette and click on one note head of your score. The number appears above or under the note. By clicking and moving this number on the score, you can move it vertically to adjust its position.

Pizzicato provides several ways to control the tempo of a score. Except as specified in the score, when Pizzicato starts to play the score, the tempo used is the one specified in the recorder window (windows menu) for version 2, or the one specified in the dialog that appears when you press the "..." button, for version 3.

When you add a tempo symbol (quarter note= 60,... in the tempo palette), Pizzicato Professional 2 and all versions 3 execute this symbol as a tempo change and thus influence the score. These symbols modify the tempo when they are executed by Pizzicato.

Another way (available with Pizzicato Beginner and Pro) is the data modification tool (in the Edit menu when one or several measures are selected). With it you can insert orders to execute in the measures. These orders are graphically invisible but influence the playing of the score. To change the tempo from a specific measure, select this measure and call this dialog box. In the left corner, select the "Tempo" box. To the right, check the "Fix the value to" box and write the desired value in the text area.

The tempo value at a any moment is determined by the last tempo instruction executed. When starting the score, it is the recorder window value (or "..." dialog box value), but after that the tempo evolves as symbols or data modifications are executed.

When you import a MIDI file, Pizzicato reads the tempo instructions and takes the first one to initialize the score. But the file may contain many other tempo changes, which will not appear graphically. If you want to remove these tempo values, you can select the measures and call the data modification dialog box. Then select the tempo to the left and, on the right, the "Remove the data" box.

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Pizzicato in the US and Canada

You can always contact Blair Ashby, at Broadlands Media, Inc. for any information you need on Pizzicato and the way to use it. Located in Denver, Colorado, Blair is the official representative of Pizzicato for the United States and English speaking Canada. You can visit the site and buy Pizzicato directly at www.writing-music.com email: info@writing-music.com

Read the full Pizzicato music course on page http://www.arpegemusic.com/manual36/EN090.htm

We have seen that half notes, quarter notes and all shorter rhythmic values have a stem. This vertical line starts from the right side of the note head and moves upwards, at least in the examples seen so far. Its length does not influence the note and is purely a question of convention, readability and aesthetics of the graphical layout. According to the note head position on the staff, the stem can be oriented downwards. In this case, it starts from the left side of the note:

Generally, one acts so that the stem exceeds the staff the least possible while having on average the length given in this example. When the note is placed on the third line or lower, the stem is directed upwards. When the note is placed higher than the third line, the stem is directed downwards:

This is not a mandatory rule, because it does not at all influence the performance of the note. The same principle is valid for the eighth notes. When you draw rhythmic values with hooks, they also change orientation, but they stay on the right side of the stem. The hooks always point in the direction of the note. Here is an illustration:

...To read the full lesson, see the lesson on music notation aspects (1) on our site...

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• Discover intuitive music composition

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• Music course to help you compose your music

• Only about $49 !

With EarMaster Pro 6, improve your music abilities:

• Interval singing
• Interval identification
• Chords identification
• Rhythmic dictation
• Reading and playing rhythms
• Rhythmic imitation and rhythmic precision
• Melodic dictation

1. Pizzicato Light is an introductory version to learn music, make exercises, write small scores (1 or 2 pages) and use basic MIDI and audio recording features. You can start practicing the music keyboard and make your first steps into music composition. [20 euros as a package, 15 euros as a download]

Note: The reference prices are in euros. To see the price in other
currencies ($US, $CA,...) go to the following page and select the
currency in the basket page: http://www.arpegemusic.com/products.php

2. Pizzicato Beginner is a general purpose score editor, that contains most of the tools you need to write, print and listen to music scores for the choir, solo instrument or small orchestras up to 16 instruments playing together. [99 euros as a package, 67 euros as a download]

3. Pizzicato Notation is a full score editor that offers you all the notation features found in any other Pizzicato versions. It contains all the tools you need to write, print and listen to music scores, from the soloist to the full orchestra. [199 euros as a package, 129 euros as a download]

4. Pizzicato Guitar contains all the tools you need to write sheet music for the guitar or other fretted instruments like the banjo, the bass, etc. You can use a tablature or TAB, or a standard staff. A guitar fret board window helps you entering the notes and you can create chord diagrams. [39 euros as a package, 29 euros as a download]

5. Pizzicato Choir helps you write and print nice sheet music for the choir. Learn to sing your voice while Pizzicato plays the other voices. Increase your knowledge of music theory with the full music course included. [39 euros as a package, 29 euros as a download]

6. Pizzicato Soloist contains all the tools you need to write music for a solo instrument. You can print nice solo sheet music, whether for the brass, woodwind, string instruments or any solo instrument written on one staff. [39 euros as a package, 29 euros as a download]

7. Pizzicato Drums and Percussion is specifically designed for music notation of drums and percussion instruments. You can use up to 8 staves, each one with 1 up to 16 lines to which you can assign a percussion or drum instrument. [39 euros as a package, 29 euros as a download]

8. Pizzicato Keyboard contains all the tools you need to write music for keyboard instruments like the piano, the organ or the synthesizer, with up to 4 staves. [39 euros as a package, 29 euros as a download]

9. Pizzicato Composition Light introduces the concept of intuitive music composition for a small budget. This is where you can start exploring music composition like never before, up to 8 instruments. [49 euros as a package, 39 euros as a download]

10. Pizzicato Composition Pro offers you the most advanced tools for intuitive music composition, with no limits to the number of instruments. [149 euros as a package, 99 euros as a download]

Finally, Pizzicato Professional contains every function available in the 10 versions already described. You can use all the features for music notation as well as all the tools for intuitive music composition and combine them in the same software. [299 euros as a package, 195 euros as a download]

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Godelieve Cuylits, clarinetist (Belgium) - "I transpose, reduce scores and help our conductor to write his own arrangements on paper"
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