Minds On
Today’s vocabulary
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Let’s get started
A symbol is a representation of an idea, an instruction, or even a sound.
Symbols contain information and communicate a message.
Explore the following symbols and reflect on the information it holds and the message it communicates.
Select three symbols you would like to interpret and respond to. You could also record three symbols of your own and describe the meaning of each.
Record your ideas using the method of your choice.
Here is another set of symbols.
- What do you notice about these symbols?
- Have you encountered them before?
- What information do you think they are trying to communicate?
A musical staff, 5 lines and four spaces with a treble staff at the far left, and a series notes going up the lines and spaces.
Action
Get ready, get set…
The 5-line staff
In music, we use symbols to represent sounds. There are different organizational tools that use a combination of these symbols to create melodies and musical compositions. They are like maps and help musicians to communicate the melody.
Let’s investigate one way that musicians can map a melody.
Melody
Press ‘Melody’ to reveal what this word means.
A melody is a series of different pitches in a piece of music. The notes are played or sung after one another to make up a song.
Staff
This organizational tool is called a staff.
Organizing music on a staff is one way that can allow a musician who is reading the music to know what notes to play.
The staff is a series of 5 lines and four spaces that communicates information to musicians what pitch a note should be played at.
Pitch
Press ‘Pitch’ to reveal what this word means.
Pitch is the element of music that relates to the highness or lowness of a note.
When you put a note symbol on one of the lines or spaces of the staff, different pitches are represented.
Space
Press ‘Space’ to reveal what this word means.
The space is the area between the lines.
The higher the note on the staff, the higher the pitch. The lower the note on the staff, the lower the pitch.
How would a musician know what these notes are called?
Treble clef
The symbol called the treble clef, placed at the beginning of the staff, tells a musician the name of the notes on the staff.
Did you know?
Did you know?
A treble clef is often used by musicians who play the flute, piano or violin.
A staff made up of five lines and 4 spaces is placed with an arrow point to a symbol at the beginning of the staff. The symbol is known as a “treble clef”.
Notes
A treble clef staff has a letter name given to each line and space.
A note can be written onto any line or space. The note’s name will now be the name of the line or space where it appears.
This is an image of the 5 line staff. The staff begins with a treble clef which is labeled with an arrow. A note rise one after the other on each line and space. The first is E, followed by F then, G, then, A, then B, then C, then D, then E, then F.
The bottom line is an E and it follows a pattern going up (ascending means going up) the staff. Like this:
E F G A B C D E (and then starts over again).
Check your understanding!
What is the name of the following notes on each staff?
Select the correct answer, then press ‘Check Answer’ to see how you did.
Let’s explore!
Explore the following clip to discover how the scale is played.
The following image demonstrates how a scale is played.
Explore the following major scale. The scale is represented on Chrome Music Lab in the form or rectangles boxes within a column. Each box represents a different pitch. As boxes rise up the column, the pitch gets higher. In Chrome Music Lab you can recreate the C major, bright happy sounding scale as the notes rise one box at a time up the scale like stair steps.
A note rhyme can be used to help identify the names of the lines.
A word can also be used to identify the spaces. The spaces spell out the word F A C E.
The image shows note on a treble staff. The first note “F” is located in the first space. The second note “A” is located in the second space. The 3 note “C” is located in the third space. The fourth note “E” is located in the fourth space.
Use the note rhyme to give each of the pitches in the images it’s proper name.
In the image there is a treble clef on a musical staff of 5 lines and four spaces. The top 5th line has an “F” note drawn. The staff has an arrow pointing at the top line labeled “line”.
Press ‘Let’s Check’ to reveal the notes name.
The note is on the top line of the staff.
Since it is located on a line, use the note rhyme for lined notes – every good boat does float. The note is resting on the same line as F, so the note name is “F”.
Let’s try another example of finding a note name, but this time we will use a note that is located in a space.
In the image there is a treble clef on a musical staff of 5 lines and four spaces. The second space has a note drawn symbolizing an “A’”. The staff has an arrow pointing at the second space called:
Press ‘Let’s Check’ to reveal the note’s name.
Use the F A C E rhyme. Start with the F for the first space, the second space is called “A” so this note is called A.
Learning check!
Name the notes in the following images.
Select the correct answer, then press ‘Check Answer’ to see how you did.
Go!
Exploring melodies
So far, we have explored images that only have one note on the staff.
In order to create a melody or a song, several notes need to be placed together on the staff. The pitches in the melody move up and down.
The pattern that is made by the up and down movement of those notes in a melody or song is called melodic contour.
Contour is also known as the outline of a shape.
Explore the following clip of a simple melody.
A melody in the treble clef. A treble clef followed by a 4/4 time signature. There are four bars of music. Bar one and two contains Quarter no D5, Quarter note B4, Bar three contains E5, D,5,C5,B4 followed by a bar line. The last bar has a quarter note A4, quarter note B4, Quarter note C5, joined eighths B4, C5
Use your note rhyme strategy (Every Good Boat Does Float and FACE) to name the notes.
You may wish to scan the melody for notes that are repeated.
Press ‘Let’s Check’ to reveal note names.
Note names: D, B, D, D, B, D, E, D, C, B, A, B, C, B, C
Exploring melodic contours
Explore these images to find the contour of a different shapes that have been outlined. A contour is the outline of a shape.
Once again, explore the image of the melody written on the treble staff. As you explore it, find the melodic contour, or outline, of the line of music.
You may choose to follow the contour line with your finger, draw it into a notebook or perhaps try to sing the melodic contour line.
A melody in the treble clef. and above, an outline of the melody contour that it creates. The line starts high moves in a wave pattern 2 times, ascends to a high peak, gradually lowers, rises again followed by a slight decline and rises back up to the starting pitch.
A melodic contour line can be used as a demonstration of how the notes flow together as they rise and fall across the staff.
Explore this melody in the following video as you think about the melodic contour that you have created.
A chrome music lab grid is set up ten rows high. Different boxes are filled to show the melodic contour of the piece. The lowest number on the grid can be called 1, the highest pitch will be called 10. The filled boxes follow this sequence. 9,7,9 leave a column as a space, 9,7,9, leave a column as a space, 10,9,8,7,6,7,8,7,8.
Task: Creating a melody map
A musical idea can be written as symbols to communicate how the melody should be played.
This gives a solid, concrete way to represent the sounds and pitches of a melody that you would like to share with others.
It is your turn to share musical melody ideas and create them as symbols.
You may choose to create your musical idea using a method of your choice or in the Melody Maker in the Chrome Music Lab App.
Press "Melody Maker" to access this Chrome Music Lab App. Melody Maker(Opens in a new window)
To begin, create a melodic contour line. It will give you an initial idea of how your melody will rise and fall and what is will sound like.
For inspiration, consider the idea of the mountain range or waves used earlier.
Explore this image to find the contour of a mountain or waves which have been outlined.
Explore this image to find the contour of waves that has been outlined.
Press the following tabs to follow the steps on how to create a melody map.
Create a contour line you would like to base your melody on. You can draw it on paper, digitally or create an audio description.
Select 8-10 pitches and decide where you would like to place them into your melodic contour.
Notes higher up will be high pitches and notes lower down will have low pitches.
Select a symbol such as a star, circle, or heart that can be used to represent the notes on your melodic contour line.
In this image there are nine stars are placed in a row at varying heights – low, medium, high, very high.
They are placed in this pattern:
Low, medium, low, medium, high, medium, low, medium, very high.
Record your melody map in a method of your choice.
Here is an example of a melody represented by symbols, with a melodic contour on a treble clef staff.
In this image there are nine stars are placed in a row at varying heights – low, medium, high, very high.
They are placed in this pattern:
Low, medium, low, medium, high, medium, low, medium, very high.
Consolidation
Putting it all together
Use the information in this learning activity to complete the following sentences.
For each sentence, select the missing word from the drop-down menu.
Pause and Reflect
Reflection
It’s time to reflect on creating a melody map. Answer these reflection questions in a method of your choice.
- Did you use anything for the inspiration of the contour of your song? If so, what was it?
- What are the advantages to using a melody map to create a piece of music?
- Would you like to recreate your melody using notes on a staff? Why or why not?
- What was your favourite part of creating your melody? Why?
Reflection
As you read through these descriptions, which sentence best describes how you are feeling about your understanding of this learning activity? Press the button that is beside this sentence.
I feel…
Now, record your ideas using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.
Press ‘Discover More’ to extend your skills.
Discover MoreDiscover more
An exploration of how pitch and melodic contour is played is your next step to becoming a composer!
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Melody-Maker/(Opens in a new window)This program allows you to explore the pitches and sounds in an app and have the song played back to you. A staff and note names are not used in Melody Maker like we explored in the Action section of the lesson. Rather, it is up to the composer (that’s you!) to devise notation. The way you compose on the Melody Maker App is similar to a staff in that notes that are lower down in the column of boxes sound low and get higher as you rise up the columns.
Here are some ideas to explore:
- make a high pitch and a low pitch
- leaving a column in between each note, to create space or silence
- compose a song with a series of notes that creates a pattern
- make notes rise up (ascend) and come back down, creating what appears as a series of mountains
- leave spaces vertically going up the columns
- try one note in a column or many notes, stacked in a column
Recreate the following images into Melody Maker and play it back.
A contour line is draw showing 3 peaks. The contour line starts low and rises to a peak and comes back down to sits starting point. The line rises once again to a peak higher than the first and then moves down again to the lines original low place. The line moves once again upward to the highest peak and descends quickly to the same low pitch as the tune began.
In this image there are 8 circles represent different pitches in different spaces from left to right. The yare located at either low point, a medium point or high point.
The order of circles is as follows: low, medium, high, medium, high, medium, low, high
Questions to consider:
- How would you describe the melodies you created with the contour line? Did the pitches jump from high to low? Did the pitches move up and down gradually like stair steps?
- What occurred when you left a space between the notes horizontally?
- One more aspect of the program that you can experiment with is the tempo at the bottom centre of the app. What will happen is you modify the tempo of the song?
Press ‘Let’s Check’ to reveal a possible answer.
The tempo can become faster as the numbers on the tempo slide increase, and slower as the numbers on the tempo slide decrease.