Theory of Music

Notes (etc.)

The five lines on which music is written		Stave
Semitones in an octave		12
The longest note in modern music: known in America as a 'double whole note' (see below); shares its name with a mark placed over a vowel in printing, to indicate pronunciation (typically that it is short); this mark is sometimes informally known as a 'cup'		Breve
Known in America (rather confusingly, given the name by which it's known in British English) as a 'whole note'; represented on scores as a hollow oval		Semibreve
Half of a 'whole note' (see above)		Minim
One quarter of a 'whole note'		Crotchet
One eighth of a 'whole note'		Quaver
One sixteenth of a 'whole note': known in France as a double–croche		Semi–quaver
A dot beside a note		Lengthens it by 50%
A note that's neither a sharp nor a flat		Natural

Notes with no flats		C, F
Notes with no sharps		B, E
Notes with both a sharp and a flat		A, D, G

Notes on the lines, in the treble stave		E, G, B, D, F
Notes between the lines, in the treble stave		F, A, C, E
Notes on the lines, in the bass stave		G, B, D, F, A
Notes between the lines, in the base stave		A, C, E, G

In the above table, each list of notes starts with the lowest note and ends with the highest. That is: it starts at the bottom of the stave and ends at the top.

There are well–known mnemonics for all of these:

Notes on the lines, in the treble stave		Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (or Fun)
Notes between the lines, in the treble stave		Spell the word FACE
Notes on the lines, in the bass stave		Good Boys Deserve Favour (or Fun) Always
Notes between the lines, in the bass stave		All Cows Eat Grass

If I'm interpreting Wikipedia correctly, there are three basic, historical forms of musical composition:

For voices with instrumental accompaniment: literally meaning 'sung' – the feminine singular past participle of the Italian verb meaning 'to sing'		Cantata
Originally a piece for one or more solo instruments, often with continuo; later came to mean a piece performed by a solo instrument, most often a keyboard instrument, or by a solo instrument accompanied by a keyboard instrument; from the Latin and Italian words meaning 'to sound'		Sonata
The alternative style to a sonata: built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning, repeated at different pitches, and recurs frequently		Fugue

Movements in a sonata or concerto (typically)		3
Movements in a string quartet or symphony (typically)		4

Key Signatures

I like to think I'm quite musical, but I never studied music theory to any great depth. Consequently I have always been floored by questions such as "How many sharps are there in the key of D major?"

(You may be relieved to hear that this is very much a University Challenge or "league" standard question – I've never heard such a question asked in a normal pub quiz.)

I believe there are two alternative approaches to such questions. You can either learn the 32 different answers, or you can learn how to work out the answer in each case. (OK, there is a third alternative: you can just not bother. But that is of course not an option that this website would consider.)

The table below is designed to help you with the first approach. I have a method for the second; click here if you'd like to have a look at it. I warn you, it's a bit complicated ...

Keys with sharps

Keys with flats

Major key

Minor key

Sharps

Major key

Minor key

Flats

(None)

The final thing to say on this topic is that there's just a chance you might get asked (for example) what are the two flat notes in the key of B♭ major.

In order to work out the answers to questions of this sort, I'm indebted to Wikipedia – which credits Schonbrun, Marc (2005): The Everything Music Theory Book, p.68. ISBN 1–59337–652–9 – for the following mnemonic:

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

You may notice, if you look at the table above, that this tells us the order in which the sharps appear; in other words, if a key has one sharp, that sharp is F♯; if it has two sharps, they're F♯ and C♯, and so on.

We make further use of this mnemonic on the more specialised Key Signatures page.

For the scales that start on a flat note (such as B♭ major, which is the one in our example above), we need to reverse the words in the acronym (and make one minor adjustment so that it makes sense):

Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father

This tells us that the first flat to be used (in F major or D minor) is B♭; in the keys that have two flats, B♭ is joined by E♭.

So the two flats in the key of B♭ major are B♭ and E♭.

Simples!

Voices

Female voices (in descending order):

Male voices (immature – descending order):

Male voices (mature – descending order):

Terminology

Term for singing (by a soloist or group) without instrumental accompaniment – Italian for "in the style of the church (or chapel)"		A capella
Notes of a chord, played one after the other, not simultaneously; means "as if played on a harp"		Arpeggio
Proportionate increase of the note values of a theme		Augmentation
Italian term, meaning "beautiful singing", used in opera for a style of singing characterised by beauty of tone rather than dramatic power		Bel canto
A passage that brings a movement or piece to a conclusion		Coda
4/4 time		Common time
International standard pitch – A above Middle C has 440 Hz		Concert pitch
Getting louder		Crescendo
Getting softer (opposite of a crescendo)		Diminuendo
Proportionate decrease of the note values of a theme		Diminution
Name given to the fifth note in a scale – 'soh' or 'sol' in the sol–fa notation – the most important note after the first		Dominant
Sliding up and down a scale		Glissando
Playing a stringed instrument by plucking rather than bowing		Pizzicato
Played with notes detached from one another		Staccato

Col legno is an instruction to the player of a stringed instrument, to play		With the back (wooden part) of the bow
Con sordino (plural con sordine) is an instruction to a musician, to play		With the mute(s)

Tempo Markings (etc.)

Some of these terms are easily confused: specfically, there are at least four terms that basically mean "slowly" and at least three that mean "fast". For this reason, I think they're best asked this way round:

Adagio		Slowly
Allegro		Fast, quickly and bright ("marching pace")
Andante		At walking pace
Con brio		With spirit or vigour
Dolce		Sweetly, softly
Forte (abbreviated to f), fortissimo (ff)		Loud, very loud
Largo		Slow, dignified ("broadly")
Legato		Smoothly ("tied together")
Lento		Slowly
Piano (p), pianissimo (pp)		Quiet, very quiet
Presto		Very fast
Rallentando		Slowing down
Scherzo (literal meaning, in Italian)		Joke
Tacet		Stop playing; be silent
Vivace		Fast, lively (between Allegro and Presto)