A curved line ("), called a Tie or Bind, placed over or under two notes of the same pitch, indicates that they represent a single tone equal to their united lengths; the curved line drawn over two or more notes which differ in pitch, is called a Slur, and indicates that these notes are to be sung or played legato, that is, smoothly and fluently.
The Pause (":') or Hold is placed over or under a note and indicates a prolongation of the sound according to the judgment of the performer.
Three equal notes may have their length diminished or reduced by placing the figure 3 above or below them: so marked they are termed Triplets, and their length equals two of the same kind.
To facilitate interpretation and performance, musical compositions are divided into short sections of equal duration Measures and Parts — into measures by single bars and into parts by double bars. If a part is to be re peated, dots, called Repeating Dots, precede the double bar. (See characters at end of article).
The regular succession of these parts is called Meter, and this mathematical division of sounds by means of measures, metrical divisions and notes, is called Time. The time of each measure is the same as that of every other measure in the part and is determined by two figures, in the form of a fraction placed at the beginning of the piece, or at the beginning of a part. The Numerator of the fraction indicates the number of beat counts into which the meas ure is divided; the Denominator indicates the form of note which will represent the beat. Thus % shows that there are six beat counts in the measure and that an eighth-note will fill each heat.
According to the division of the Measure into parts, it is respectively called Double, Triple, Quadruple or Sextuple measure. Each kind of measure may have several varieties, according with the length of the notes expressed by the denominator of the fraction. For ex ample :— Accent — the life of Rhythm — is a stress to certain parts of the measure. In and Triple measures, the first part is accented; in Quadruple measure, the first and third parts; in Sextuple measure, the first and fourth parts. In measures containing two ac cents, the first is the principal and stronger.
Rhythm, defined in its broadest application, is the swing and sweep of a musical composi tion, emphasized by the accents ringing out in their proper places, and attaining a series of climaxes in the special stress given to each metrical division of the work.
A Syncopated Note is one that begins on an unaccented part of a measure and continues on an unaccented part, giving the not unpleasant hiatus or jump to the rhythm, characteristic of much of the popular modern American music.
The length of the beats in each measure is indicated by certain Italian words, the chief of which are adagio, allegretto, allegro, andante, andantino, largo, larghetto, lento, moderato, presto, prestissimo, the definitions of which will be found in the table of musical terms incor porated with this article.
In the elemental department of MELODICS, the staff is used to represent the relative posi tion and pitch of tones. The staff consists of five lines and four spaces, each line and space being called a degree. Added lines, called Ledger or Leger lines are used to represent tones which are too high or too low to be represented upon the staff. They may be placed above and below the staff to any extent de sired, as they are simply a continuation of the staff, the note immediately above or below the staff being in a space. The lines and spaces of the staff are named from the lowest upward, first line, first space, etc., the added lines and spacer above or below also being respectively enumerated first line above or first line below, etc.
Each degree or line and space is desig nated by one of the first seven letters of the alphabet, determined by the character of the Clef. The Clef is the character placed at the beginning of the staff to show how the letters are to be applied. The Clefs in common use are the G or treble clef marking the position of G on the second line of the staff, and the F or bass clef marking the position of F on the fourth line of the staff. In four-part songs, the soprano and alto are written in the treble, and the tenor and bass in the bass clef. The C on the first line below the treble staff, and the first C on the first line above the bass repre sent the same tone which is known as Middle C.