I'll tell you how to easily and simply choose beautiful melodies for your tracks. How are harmonious leads, sequences, riffs created? There are some secrets and tricks that greatly facilitate the process of selecting melodies for new compositions. They always work, and that's what I talk about in the video.

Watch the video version of this lesson

What types of ringtones are there? Most often, in electronic music there are several types of melodic transmission and they have their own names. Let's look at some of them today.

Sequences. Sequence.

Sequences are small melody that repeats. A looped melodic segment that repeats under different chords. Most often, sequences can be played on different steps, but they can also repeat the melody by playing each repeat cycle from one step.

Leads. Lead.

Leads - category of timbres. Lead is a solo melodic element, derived from the word “leader”. Usually monophonic, plays the main theme of the work. Most often, this is the brightest and most memorable part of the melody. You can imagine the lead as the leading part of the whole harmony. Leads lead against the background of other melodic elements of the track and composition. It can also be presented as a business card of the entire composition or track. Tracks and famous compositions can be easily guessed from it.

Riff. Riff.

A very incendiary part of the track, composition. Most often, riffs are used in electric guitars. Riffs differ from leads in a brighter, richer sound. The riffs are a very intense part of the melody that is hard to miss in the track. Riffs are often even brighter in sound compared to leads.

Pad. Pad.

Another name for it is “lining” for music. This is the background melodic accompaniment of a track, composition, song. As such, the pad is not a direct melody, but it is directly involved in creating harmony for the track, and therefore its sound greatly influences the effect of leads, sequences and riffs. This is a harmonic element, polyphonic. Adds volume to the composition. More often, a chord sequence is prescribed in the pads, which sets the main harmony.

As you understand, all these elements that set the harmony for your tracks should build with each other as accurately as possible, “not mess up,” and even cause a pleasant perception from the given harmony. So what should you do if, say, you have no musical education, but you want to combine these elements of music as effectively as possible? You can use proven algorithms and schemes that greatly facilitate the process of selecting melodies for your tracks, without creating a lot of unnecessary falsehood and disharmony in them.

Now, check out the cheat sheet below for creating harmonious melodies. By the way, you can download it by clicking on the picture. Below I provide an explanation of how to use it.

Click on the picture and the download of the cheat sheet in JPG format will begin.

If you take 7 steps - 7 notes of which your music consists (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si) - then they will always have more stable and less stable steps. Sustained notes are notes that you always want to listen to in a melody; using them in a melody always sounds pleasant and harmonious. And unstable ones give us not very pleasant sensations, and they are the last thing we want to hear. In a word, the ratio of stable notes to unstable ones is different. If we create a melody only from unstable steps, then it will be such a mess that you won’t think it’s enough! But if you create a melody only from stable steps, then it will be a very harmonious sound that is easy to listen to, but perhaps this melody will not have enough “pepper”. That is why it makes sense to use all the notes-steps, but in different proportions, some more, some less.

So, let's figure out which notes and degrees are stable and which are not. If you look at the cheat sheet picture above, you will find the three most stable steps - these are 1, 3, 5 (they are indicated in green). If you are making a melody in the key of C major (C maj), then these will be the notes “do”, “mi”, “sol”. However, in other keys these will be different notes. For example, in the key of G major (G-maj) these will be the notes G, B, D, since for this key the first step will be the note G. And in the key of “F# minor” (F#min), the first step will be the note “F#”, and accordingly, the stable notes here will be “F#”, “A”, “C#”. And according to this principle with all other keys. I hope this has been sorted out.

Go ahead. We discovered the 3 most stable steps-notes, which should be the most in the melody. These are the ones that most often need to be written into your leads, riffs, and sequences. However, you won’t get far with three notes; the melody will sound a bit boring. Therefore, for these three notes we will call on two more less stable note steps - these are 2 and 6. In the key of C major, these will be the notes “D” and “A” (indicated in green on the cheat sheet). We have 5 notes in our arsenal. By the way, with these 5 notes you will already go very far. Even if you write a melody using only these steps, your melody will already sound beautiful, harmonious and built with chords by default.

We still have 2 more note-steps left that are unstable - these are 4 (“F”) and 7 (“B”) (indicated in red). They can also be used in the melody, but so little so as not to spoil our melody.

Ideally, the ratio of all note-steps in the melody you are writing should be as follows: more than 50% of all notes in the melody must be sustained steps, and according to the residual principle, all other notes are steps. Only then will your melody be constructed beautifully, not go wrong, and evoke pleasant emotions.

Now I’ll tell you about a very easy way to create a harmonious and quite beautiful melody in 5-10 minutes. Try using the pentatonic scale. The fact is that the “pentatonic scale” consists precisely of those note-steps that are the most stable. The pentatonic scale itself literally means "five tones." This means that you need to play not 7 notes, as we are used to, but only five. And these notes will be steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 - the most stable and most harmonious steps.

The pentatonic scale is actively used in modern electronic music. Although it came to us from antiquity. The pentatonic scale can always be heard in Chinese, Japanese, and also Tatar, Bashkir and Chuvash music. Some folk songs and melodies of these peoples still use the pentatonic scale as the main scale for creating musical works.

Now try the following. Create a chord progression from this cheat sheet. After that, put a lead melody on it according to the following scheme: write (play) any white keys on your instrument in a random order (i.e., randomly), but do not use the 4th and 7th steps. Those. do not write the notes “F” and “B” in the melody. Scatter all other notes as you wish. If the chord progression consists of 4 chords, then repeat your melody in the last two chords. You should get the following: the melody you recorded plays on the first two chords, and on the last two chords it is repeated one-on-one. And listen to what happened. The melody will build with your chords, since it is written in pentatonic scale. In it, you can start a melody from any note of the scale (from any of the five steps), and end on any of the five notes.

At first glance, creating a music video may seem like a rather complicated and time-consuming task. But first, let's define ourselves and find out what a music video is. In fact, this is the same film, only very cut down, short.

The process of creating a music video is practically no different from the process of creating a film; similar methods and techniques are used. And some moments even exceed the complexity of creating a film; for example, editing a music video takes much longer. Just before moving on to the question of how to make a music video, let’s understand a little more about the purpose and objectives of the video.

Purpose, tasks, types

The purpose of the video is quite simple - an illustration of a song or musical composition for the purpose of being shown on music TV channels or on the Internet. In a word, something like advertising, for example, a new album or single. The video clip has many more tasks; three main ones can be distinguished:

• First and most important, the video should appeal to fans of the artist or group.
• The second task of the clip is to visually complement the text and music. In some moments, the video sequence reveals and enriches the creativity of the performers much more deeply.
• The third task of the video is to reveal the images of the performers from the best side.

All video clips are divided into two types - in the first, the basis is a video made at concerts, and in the second, a well-thought-out storyline. So, let's proceed directly to the stages of creating a music video.

Stage one: Selecting a composition

When choosing a song for a future video, you must be guided by certain criteria. Firstly, the duration of the composition should not exceed five minutes, and ideally its duration should range from three to four minutes. It is advisable that the song tell some kind of story, although coming up with an idea for a composition without words can also be quite interesting. You cannot take other people’s writings without permission – or use your own, or ask the author’s opinion.

Stage two: Flurry of ideas

Now you need to think about ideas to illustrate the chosen composition. It is not necessary to convey the lyrics of the song in the video; you can experiment with the mood, music or theme. Then there will be much more space for ideas for the video sequence. And the illustration of the composition will not become a banal, template video, but truly a real creation.

Stage Three: Storyboard

After the final selection of the idea, it should be storyboarded, that is, a list of frames that will be necessary to create the video should be compiled. Some shots that are an integral part and carry the main essence will need to be sketched. It is the high-quality preparation of this stage that will allow the process to go nastier and much faster.

Stage four: Stylistics

You need to decide on the style of the clip in advance; maybe the video will be black and white, or maybe it will contain some kind of animation. All this needs to be thought through and written down. Another important fact is the opinion of the performer; some want to appear in the video in the leading role, while others do not want to appear in the video at all.

Stage five: Filming

So, we have come to the main steps in the question of how to make a music video - this is filming. Basically, in video clips, the audio track is the work itself, on which the video sequence is filmed, so you don’t need to worry about the audio tracks. We take sketches of the storyboard prepared in advance and proceed directly to filming.

We film the main moments of the conceived idea, not forgetting to do several takes for each scene. If scenes with a singing performer are planned in a video clip, then during filming it is necessary to put a song in the background so that the movement of the lips is similar to the recording. Then, according to the storyboard, they follow everything to the end, also not forgetting to do all the scenes in several takes, because the more footage you have, the easier it will be to edit, and the video will look better.

Stage Six: Editing

Now you should start editing the footage. There are a sufficient number of such programs; the choice will depend on the budget. There are video editing programs that cost thousands of dollars, and others that are completely free. For beginners in this complex, but wonderful and creative process, inexpensive versions of similar programs, for example, Final Cut Express or iMovie, are suitable.

So, the finished material is loaded into the video editor; you must include the composition on which the video clip was shot and begin editing.

The main thing to remember in this matter is that a good, high-quality video clip should be an illustrated version of the composition, for example, a slow guitar solo sounds - the video frames should match the tempo and rhythm of the music. After all, it would be strange and unnatural to watch a series of fast frames during a slow intro melody. So, when editing the footage, you should be guided by the mood of the composition itself.

Stage seven: Effects

In some video clips, effects are simply necessary for the plot of the composition, while in others you can do without them. But still, if you decide to add effects, you need to remember that they should be like finishing touches, and not the basis of the video sequence. You can, for example, make some frames, or better yet scenes, blurry, in some, on the contrary, you can adjust the color scheme, you can add slow motion. In general, you can experiment, the main thing is not to forget and clearly see the end result.

By following exactly all the above stages of preparing, shooting and editing video, you can shoot wonderful material for the composition. In this matter, the main thing is not to overdo it; in some moments, a “golden mean” is needed, thanks to which both the process itself and its final result will bring only positive moods to all participants in this labor-intensive and complex matter.

Over time, after the second or third video clip shot, the question of how to make a music video will no longer seem so complicated and overwhelming, the process will bring only good emotions, and the result will get better and better.

At the end of the article, watch a video on how to make a simplified version of a video from photos and music:

If you feel the urge to create music, but do not feel the desire or ability to acquire a bunch of musical instruments, you can do all this in one of the specialized programs, which are collectively called DAW - digital audio workstation. A striking representative of this software segment in every sense is FL Studio, and it is with its example that today we will tell and show how to create music on a computer.

FL Studio is one of best programs for creating music and arrangements, mixing and mastering them. It is used by many composers and musicians in professional recording studios, and we will also use it to show how to create your own musical composition from scratch in any genre.

Note: The instructions presented below in no way claim to be universal either in terms of the order of steps or in terms of the actions performed on each of them. This is just one of many possible representations of how music can be created, necessary to show the general algorithm and aimed at beginners who have already begun to master the program.

Before you begin to implement the recommendations below, we suggest that you read the article provided at the link below - this will help you “get comfortable” and understand in more detail the functions and capabilities of FL Studio.

Step 1: Writing the Drum Part

Each composer has his own approach to writing music. Some people start with the main melody, others with drums and percussion, first creating a rhythmic pattern, which will then be overgrown and filled with musical instruments. We'll start with the drums.

The creation of musical compositions in FL Studio occurs in stages, and the main workflow takes place on patterns - fragments, which are then compiled into a full-fledged track, located in a playlist.

The one-shot samples needed to create a drum part are contained in the FL Studio library, and you can select the appropriate ones through the program’s convenient browser.

Each instrument must be placed on a separate pattern track, but there can be an unlimited number of tracks themselves. The length of the pattern is also unlimited, but 8 or 16 bars will be more than enough, since any fragment can be duplicated in the playlist.

Here's an example of what a drum part might look like in FL Studio, placed from a pattern on a Piano Roll:

Step 2: Create a Melody

This workstation comes with a large number of musical instruments. Most of them are different synthesizers, each of which has a large library of sounds and samples. These tools can also be accessed from the program's browser. Having chosen the appropriate plugin, you need to add it to the pattern.

The melody itself must be recorded in the Piano Roll, which can be opened by right-clicking on the instrument track.

It is highly advisable to register the part of each musical instrument, be it, for example, a guitar, piano, kick drum or percussion, on a separate pattern. This will significantly simplify the process of mixing a composition and processing instruments with effects.

Here is an example of what a melody written in FL Studio might look like:

How many musical instruments to use to create your composition is up to you and, of course, the genre you choose. At a minimum, there should be drums, a bass line, a main melody and some other additional element or sound for variety.

Step 3: Working with the playlist

The musical fragments you created, distributed among individual FL Studio patterns, must be placed in a playlist. Proceed according to the same principle as with patterns, that is, one instrument - one track. Thus, by constantly adding new fragments or removing some parts, you will put the composition together, making it varied rather than monotonous.

Here is an example of what a composition assembled from patterns might look like in a playlist:

Step 4: Processing the Sound with Effects

Each sound or melody must be sent to a separate channel of the FL Studio mixer, where it can be processed with various effects, including an equalizer, compressor, filter, reverb limiter and much more.

This way you will give individual fragments a high-quality, studio sound. In addition to processing each instrument separately with effects, it is also necessary to ensure that each of them sounds in its own frequency range, does not stand out from the overall picture, but does not drown out/cut down the other instrument. If you have hearing (and you certainly do, since you decided to create music), there should be no problems. In any case, there are plenty of detailed text manuals, as well as training video tutorials on working with FL Studio on the Internet.

In addition, it is possible to add a general effect or effects that improve the sound quality of the composition as a whole to the master channel. The effect of these effects will extend to the entire composition as a whole. Here you need to be extremely careful and attentive so as not to negatively affect what you have previously done with each sound/channel individually.

Step 5: Automation

In addition to processing sounds and melodies with effects, the main task of which is to improve sound quality and reduce the overall musical picture into a single masterpiece, these same effects can be automated. What does it mean? Imagine that at some point in the composition you want one of the instruments to start playing a little quieter, “go” to another channel (left or right) or play with some effect, and then start playing again in its “clean” state. form. So, instead of once again registering this instrument in a pattern, sending it to another channel, processing it with other effects, you can simply automate the regulator that is responsible for this effect and make the musical fragment on a specific section of the track behave like this: as necessary.

To add an automation clip, you need to right-click on the desired controller and select from the menu that appears "Create Automation Clip".

The automation clip also appears in the playlist and stretches the entire length of the selected instrument relative to the track. By controlling the line, you will set the necessary parameters for the control knob, which will change its position while the track is playing.

Here's an example of what automating the "fading" of a piano part might look like in FL Studio:

In the same way, you can set automation for the entire track as a whole. This can be done in the master channel of the mixer.

An example of automating the smooth fading of an entire composition:

Step 6: Mixing and Mastering

Step 7: Export Music Song

After creating your musical creation, do not forget to save the project. To obtain a music track for further use or listening outside of FL Studio, it must be exported to the desired format. You can do this through the menu "File" programs.

Select the desired format, specify the quality and click on the button "Start".

In addition to exporting the entire musical composition, FL Studio also allows you to export each track separately (you must first distribute all the instruments and sounds across the mixer channels). In this case, each musical instrument will be saved as a separate track (a separate audio file). This is necessary in cases where you want to transfer your composition to someone for further work (the same mixing and mastering, for example). This could be a producer or sound engineer who will polish or somehow change the track. In this case, this person will have access to all components of the composition. Using all these fragments, he will be able to create a song simply by adding a vocal part to the finished composition.

Many people are interested in how to create music on a computer. It's not as difficult as it might seem. To create your own track, at the first stage you need to make several samples, which will be included in its composition. What does this word mean? A sample is a piece of recording lasting several seconds. In order to create it, you need to write a sound part or music in a sequencer, while typing the necessary notes, which we will consider now.

Sequencers

A sequencer is needed primarily to create excerpts that form a track. The author only needs to spend a little effort on writing music. Two types of data are used: musical notation and digitized sound clips. Some people don't know how to create music on a computer, but they are aware of sequencers. Well, we should move on from theory to practice.

Set of musical instruments

All sequencers have a traditional list of musical instruments, which include piano, violin, synthesizer, guitar, xylophone, drums, etc. For a beginner, the above will be quite enough. But in general there are a lot of instruments - 128.

Entering notes into a special window

The MIDI standard is used on synthesizers to create the musical foundation. Such a file is created a certain amount tracks that correspond to specific musical instruments. They also include musical notation information. On a simple hardware synthesizer, music for each instrument is created separately using keys. What's next? Then these instruments are turned on in the required sequence, and a track is obtained. This is how mixing or mixing occurs. In much the same way, having certain instruments in a software sequencer, notes are entered into a special area, indicating the duration of the sound.

It's quite simple. Now you already have a rough idea of ​​how to create music. Sequencer software helps a lot with this. She is simply irreplaceable.

Putting passages in the correct sequence

Using the sequencer goes beyond specifying instruments, playback volumes, and notes. As a rule, these programs also have a second area where the created excerpts (clips) are placed in the required sequence. When the mixing is finished, you will have a finished track.

The sequencer accesses directly the list of musical instruments available in the audio card processor, which determines the quality of the MIDI signal.

Pay attention to a program such as Fl Studio. Many computer users know how to create music in it.

Recording and subsequent mixing

This process is completely simple: you need to take a microphone, insert it into the appropriate hole on the audio card, set the recording mode in the editor, and then play the desired passage (it doesn’t matter whether it’s singing or a guitar part). If you notice slight interference while listening, you should try to eliminate it by adjusting the microphone. If you have Windows XP, click on “Start”, go to “Control Panel”, click on “Sounds and Audio Devices”, and then select the “Speech Test” tab. Now you can set the microphone volume to keep hiss to a minimum. After all, how do you create music without eliminating noise? It would be stupid and unwise.

Removing Interference

But no matter how hard you try to eliminate the interference, you still won’t be able to completely get rid of it. Therefore, it is necessary to use in which, after recording the signal, you can use all kinds of filters to neutralize noise. This way you will get a melody with a minimum of hiss. The next stage is selecting the necessary pieces from the created passage, in other words, editing. Everyone can handle this. If you want to understand how to create music, you first need to become familiar with the editing process. It is very important.

Adding Effects

The editor not only creates samples, it can also be used to transfer soundtracks from some media to a PC. For such records, it is recommended to use the so-called

So, we have the required number of samples. How to combine them into one full track? To do this, you need to resort to the help of a sampler program. with their help, more and more people learn every day.

Samplers

After recording the singing and in the sound editor, we have full samples. What's next? Now you need to arrange them in the program in the required sequence and adjust them so that the parts are harmonious. Mixing samples is just as important as using sequencers. Need to understand allows you to create arrangements for the planned track. The preference for one option or another can affect the future fate of the composition, both for good and for bad. Therefore, sampling should be taken very seriously. Now do you understand how to create music?

The first musical instruments - bone flutes - appeared about 35 thousand years ago, but humanity could have been making music long before them. Over time, the understanding of music became more and more profound. Although it is not necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the theory of scales, rhythm, melody, and harmony in order to create music, nevertheless, some knowledge in this area will help you create better music.

Steps

Part 1

1. Understand the difference between “pitch” and “note.” These terms are used to describe the qualities of musical sounds. They are related, but have some differences.

   • Pitch refers to how low or high a sound is, depending on its frequency. The higher the frequency, the higher the sound. The frequency difference between sounds of different pitches is called interval.
   • A note denotes a sound of a certain frequency. The standard frequency for the first octave note A (A) is considered to be 440 Hz, although some orchestras use a different standard, such as 443 Hz, to achieve a brighter sound.
   • Most people can tell if a note is correct when another note, or a series of notes from a composition they know, is played along with it. This is called "relative hearing". A small number of people have developed “absolute pitch,” which allows them to determine the pitch of a sound without hearing another sound.

2. Understand the difference between "timbre" and "tone". These terms are usually used in relation to musical instruments.

   • Timbre refers to the combination of the standard pitch of a sound and the overtones that appear when a note is played on a musical instrument. If you pluck the low E string on an acoustic guitar, you will actually hear not only the low E note, but also additional sounds that are higher than the standard pitch. It is the combination of these sounds, also called harmonics, that makes each instrument sound unique.
   • Tone is a more abstract term. It refers to the effect that a combination of standard pitches and overtones have on human hearing. Adding higher harmonics to a timbre will produce a brighter, crisper tone, while lower harmonics will produce a softer tone.
   • A tone is also the name given to the interval between two sounds of different pitches (a whole tone). Half of this interval is called a semitone.

3. Learn the names of the notes. Notes can be named in several ways. In the West, two methods are most common.

   • Letter names: Notes with a certain frequency are assigned letter names. In countries with English and Danish, these are the letters A through G. In countries with German language, the letter B stands for the note B-flat, or B-flat (the black key on the piano between the notes A and B), and the letter H is used to represent the note B, or B (the white key on the piano with the note B).
   • Solfeggio: In this system, notes are given monosyllabic names according to their sequence in the scale. The system was developed in the 11th century by the monk Guido d'Arezzo, who used "ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si", taken from the first words of each line of the hymn to John the Baptist. Over time, "ut" was replaced by " do" and some have shortened "g" to "co" (in some parts of the world the solfege system is the primary system for notating notes).

4. Understand the notes in the scale. A scale is a sequence of intervals in which the highest sound in the scale has a frequency twice that of the lowest. This range is called an octave. Here are some common scales:

   • The chromatic scale has 12 half-tone intervals. Playing an octave on the piano, starting from the C note of the first octave to the C note of the second octave, that is, pressing all the white and black keys in succession, denotes the chromatic scale. Other scales are more stripped down compared to this one.
   • The major scale has seven intervals: the first and second are whole tones; the third is a semitone; the fourth, fifth, and sixth - whole tones; the seventh interval is a semitone. Playing an octave on the piano from the C note of the first octave to the C note of the second octave, using only the white keys, is an example of a major scale.
   • The minor scale also has seven intervals. The most common form is the natural minor scale. The first interval is a whole tone, the second is a semitone, the third and fourth are whole tones, the fifth is a semitone, the sixth and seventh are whole tones. Playing an octave on the piano from the A of the minor octave to the A of the first octave, using only the white keys, is an example of the natural minor scale.
   • The pentatonic scale has five intervals. The first interval is a whole tone, the second is three semitones, the third and fourth are a whole tone each, the fifth is three semitones. In the key of C (C), the notes of the pentatonic scale are C (C), D (D), F (F), G (G), A (A), and C (C) again. You can also play the pentatonic scale using only the black keys on the piano, between the first and third octaves. The pentatonic scale is used in African, East Asian and Native American music, and folk music.
   • The very first note in the scale is called the tonic. Typically, songs are written in such a way that the last note in the song is the tonic. A song written in the key of C almost always ends on C. It is often indicated next to the note whether the key is major or minor; if this is not indicated, the key is considered to be major.

5. Use sharps and flats to raise or lower notes. Sharps and flats raise or lower a note by one semitone. They are necessary in order to play in keys other than C major and A minor and maintain correct intervals. Sharps and flats are indicated next to the notes on the musical notation, and are called accidentals.

   • A sharp sign (similar to the hashtag sign - #) placed next to a note raises it by one semitone. In the keys of G-major and E-minor (G major and E minor), the note F is raised one semitone and is an F-sharp note.
   • A flat sign (similar to a capital English letter "b") placed next to a note lowers it by one semitone. In the keys of F major and D minor (F major and D minor), the note B is lowered by one semitone and is a B flat note.
   • For convenience, the notes that should be lowered or raised in a certain key are indicated at the beginning of each line of the musical notation. In this case, accidentals should only be used for notes outside the major or minor key in which the song is written. Such accidental marks will only be applied to individual notes within a measure.
   • A bekar sign (looks like a vertical parallelogram with lines going up and down from its two vertices) placed next to a note means that note should not be raised or lowered in that section of the song. The becar is never listed at the beginning of music notation along with other accidentals, but it can be used to cancel sharps and flats within a measure.

   Part 2

   Beats and rhythm

   1. Understand the difference between beat, rhythm, and tempo. These terms are also related.

      • Beat (beat) is a term that characterizes the pulsation of music. A beat can be either a sounded note or a segment of silence called a pause. In addition, several notes can sound during one beat, and vice versa - one note or pause can last several beats.
      • Rhythm is a series of beats and pulsations. Rhythm is determined by the arrangement of notes and rests in a song.
      • Tempo is how fast or slow the song is played. The faster the tempo, the more beats sound per minute. “The Blue Danube Waltz” has a slow tempo, while “The Stars and Stripes Forever” has a fast tempo.

   2. A set of beats in bars. A beat is a set of beats. Each measure has an equal number of beats. The number of beats in each bar of a song is indicated at the beginning of the staff with a time signature that looks like a fraction without a line separating the numerator and denominator.

      • The top number indicates the number of beats per measure. This number is usually 2, 3, or 4, but can be 6 or higher.
      • The bottom number indicates which note is played in one whole beat. If the bottom number is 4, a quarter note is taken as one beat (looks like a filled oval with a vertical line). If the bottom number is 2, a half note is taken as one beat (looks like an open oval with a vertical line). If the bottom number is 8, the eighth note (looks like a quarter note with a flag) is taken as one beat.

   3. Find the downbeat. Rhythm is determined by which beats (beats) in a bar are strong (accented) and weak (unaccented).

      • In most songs, the first beat (beat) is the downbeat, or accented beat. The remaining beats (beats) are unaccented, although in a measure with four beats the third beat may also be accented, but its accent will be weaker than the first beat.
      • Sometimes music emphasizes weak beats instead of strong beats. This is called syncopation; in this case they say that the emphasis is on the weak beat.

   Part 3

   Melody, harmony, and chords

   1. Identify a song by its melody. A melody is a sequence of notes of different heights, sounding in a certain rhythm, which a person perceives as a complete composition.

      • The melody consists of phrases distributed over bars. These phrases may be repeated throughout the melody, such as in the Christmas song “Deck the Halls,” in which the first and second lines have the same sequence of notes in the bars.
      • The most common structure used in songs is that one melody accompanies the verse, and another associated melody accompanies the chorus.

   2. Add harmony to the melody. Harmony is the playing of notes outside the current melody in order to make the sound brighter and more contrasting. As stated above, many stringed instruments can produce different tones when plucked; Overtones that sound together with the fundamental tone are a form of harmony. Harmony can be achieved by playing various musical phrases and chords.

      • Harmony that enhances the sound of the melody is called consonantal. The overtones that sound along with the fundamental tone when the guitar is picked up are an example of consonantal harmony.
      • Harmony that contrasts with the melody is called dissonant. Dissonant harmony can be achieved by playing contrasting melodies, such as in the case of “Row Row Row Your Boat,” when different groups of people start singing the above phrase at different times.
      • Many songs use dissonance to express vague feelings and further move toward consonantal harmony. As with “Row Row Row Your Boat,” once each group finishes singing a verse, the song becomes calmer until the last group sings “Life is but a dream.”

   3. Group notes into chords. A chord consists of three or more notes that may or may not sound simultaneously.

      • The most commonly used chords are triads (three notes), in which each subsequent note is two notes away from the previous one. In a C major chord, the notes of the chord are C (root), E (major third), G (fifth). In a C minor chord, the E note will be replaced by the E flat note (minor third).
      • Another commonly used chord is the seventh chord, in which a fourth note, the seventh of the tonic, is added to the triad. In a C major seventh chord, the note B is added to the C-E-S triad, creating the sequence C-E-Sol-B. Seventh chords are more dissonant than triads.
      • You can use different chords for each note in a song; In this way, the so-called “hairdresser” harmony is created. However, most often chords play notes from a given chord, for example, playing a C major chord to play the note E.
      • Many songs consist of three chords, the tonics of which are the first, fourth and fifth notes of the scale. In this case, the Roman numerals I, IV, and V are used. In the key of C major, these chords would be C major, F major, and G major. Often, a major or minor V chord is replaced by a seventh chord; thus, in the key of C major, the V chord would be a G major seventh chord.
      • Chords I, IV and V are interconnected in keys. An F major chord is an IV chord in the key of C major, and a C major chord is in turn a V chord in the key of F major. Also, a G major chord is a V in the key of C major, and a C major chord is an IV chord in the key of G major. These relationships apply to other chords as well, and are depicted in a diagram called the circle of fifths.

   Part 4

   Types of musical instruments

   1. Percussion instruments. This type of instrument is considered to be one of the oldest. Most are designed to create and maintain rhythm, although some can play melody or create harmony.

      • Percussion instruments that create sound by vibrating their structure are called idiphones. This includes instruments that create sound by striking themselves, such as cymbals and castanets, as well as those that create sound by striking other objects, such as steel drums, triangles, and xylophones.
      • Percussion instruments with a coating that vibrate when struck are called membranophones. These include drums such as timpani, tom-toms, and bongos, as well as instruments that have a string or stick attached to the membrane that vibrates on contact, such as the cuica.

   2. Woodwind instruments. Wind instruments create sound through the vibration that occurs when they are blown. Most of them have pitch-bending holes so they can play melodies and harmonies. Woodwind instruments come in two types: flutes, which create sound by vibrating the entire instrument, and reed pipes, which have a vibrating material inside them. In turn, they are divided into two subtypes.

      • Open flutes create sound by splitting the air flow against the edge of the instrument. Concert flutes and pipes belong to this type.
      • Closed flutes force air through a special channel inside the instrument to separate it and create vibration. Organ pipes belong to this type.
      • In instruments with a single reed, the reed is housed in the mouthpiece. When blown into it, the reed causes the air inside the instrument to vibrate and create sound. The clarinet and saxophone are examples of single reed instruments. (Although the body of the saxophone is made of copper, it is considered a woodwind instrument because it uses a reed to create the sound.)
      • Double reed instruments use two reed reeds tightly connected to each other at one end. In instruments such as the oboe and bassoon, this double reed must be between the lips of the player, while on bagpipes and crumhorns this double reed is under the cover.

   3. Brass instruments. Unlike woodwind instruments, which only direct air flow, brass instruments vibrate along with the movements of the musician's lips to create sound. Such instruments are called brass instruments because most of them are made of copper; but besides this, they are also divided into subspecies, depending on their ability to change the sound due to a change in the distance that the air must travel before exiting. This can be achieved using one of two methods.

      • Trombones use a rocker to change the distance the air must travel before exiting. When the slide is pulled out, the distance increases, lowering the tone, and when it is retracted, the distance decreases, raising the tone.
      • Other brass instruments, such as the trumpet and tuba, use a set of valves to expand or contract the airflow inside the instrument. These valves can be pressed individually or together to achieve the desired sound.
      • Woodwind instruments and brass instruments are often called simply wind instruments because they need to be blown to create music.

   4. Stringed instruments. Strings on stringed instruments can be sounded in three different ways: plucked (guitar), struck (dulcimer or hammers on a piano), or bowed (violin or cello). String instruments can be used for both rhythmic and melodic accompaniment and can be divided into three categories:

      • The lute is a stringed instrument with a resonant body, similar to the violin, guitar, and banjo. The strings are the same length (except for the bottom string on a five-string banjo) and vary in thickness. Thicker strings produce a low tone, while thinner strings produce a high tone. The strings are pressed into special places called frets, which shortens their length and allows them to reach different heights.
      • The harp is a stringed instrument whose strings are placed in a special frame. The strings of a harp are in a vertical position and have different lengths, and the lower end of each string is connected to the resonating body (soundboard) of the instrument.
      • The zither is a stringed instrument with a flat, irregularly shaped body. The strings on a zither can be plucked or picked up, and can be struck directly or indirectly, just like on a dulcimer or piano.
   • The natural major and minor scales are related in such a way that a minor key scale is two notes lower than a major scale with the same notes raised or lowered. Thus, the keys of C major and A minor, in which there are no sharps and flats, have the same set of notes.
   • Certain instruments, or groups of instruments, are associated with certain styles of music. For example, string quartets, consisting of two violins, a viola and a cello, typically play in a genre of classical music called chamber music. Jazz bands usually have a rhythm section consisting of drums, keyboards, sometimes double bass and tuba, and a brass section consisting of trumpets, trombones, clarinets, and saxophones. Sometimes it's interesting to play songs on instruments other than those for which the piece was written. An example of this is “Weird Al” Yankovic, who plays famous polka rock songs on the accordion.