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The Staff

Music is written on 5 lines known as the staff, or stave. At the beginning of the staff is a sign called a clef. Saxophone music is usually written on the treble clef.



Rhythm

The next thing we need to understand before we get down to some playing is how to read the rhythm.

The length of a note is measured by counting.

A quarter-note (or crotchet in the UK) lasts for 1 count and looks like this:


so four quarter-notes in a row will look like this :



A half-note (or minim in the UK) lasts for 2 counts and looks like this:



so four half-notes will look like this :



Click on the play button to hear the half-notes played on Saxophone, together with a background tick for the counts (there are 4 counts introduction before the Saxophone starts).

Finally, a whole note (or semibreve) lasts for 4 counts and looks like this:





so four whole notes in a row will look like this :



(Again, there are 4 counts introduction before the Saxophone starts).

Bars

Music is grouped into groups of counts known as bars. The first type of bar we will see is 4/4, written :

which means there are 4 quarter-note counts in each bar. Below is an example of two bars written in 4/4 time. The first bar contains 4 quarter-notes, each lasting for one count. The second bar contains a whole note which lasts for 4 counts, and so, occupies the entire bar.

The groups of 4 counts are separated by vertical lines known as bar-lines. A double bar-line signifies the end of a piece.