5: A Note by Any Other Name Would Sound as Sweet
What’s in a Name?
You’ll be happy to find you only need the first seven letters of the
alphabet for music.
The music alphabet uses A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. You’ll never find an
“H” in music, or a “Q”, or anything other than A through G. This is one
of those few rules that has no exceptions!
Remember when we talked about line and space notes coming one after
the other? If not, see “Ah, Togetherness” on page 32. The notes are
named alphabetically when the notes are written one after the other (line-
space-line-space, etc.).Round and Round
But wait a minute, you’re saying, I know there are more than seven notes
in music. There are at least 88 on piano keyboard. What are their names?
Good question. After G, the pattern begins again with A. Below is an
example showing this.
Don’t worry about the things you see that you don’t know yet, like the
funny-looking symbol at the beginning of the staff; you’ll learn it in the
next chapter. Focus on the letter names and how they work.Example 5.1 Note names in the treble clef. Notice the letter change from the 3rd note to the 4th note.
Remember Leger Lines?
Notes on leger lines or spaces are named the same way. Following is an
example with leger lines below the staff. These are the first 8 notes for
both guitar and clarinet. Again, don’t worry about the things we haven’t
gone over yet. Focus on the note names only.