Day Ten - Types of Notes, Rests and Dynamics

Still away from my beautiful new instrument, I decided that it was time again to pursue with the learning of the language otherwise known as Music. Again, I turned to my trusty companion, T'Internet. Lo and behold, I also used my fancy graphics software to help to depict what I was learning.


While there are more than the above, this will suffice for now I think. We start from the left, where we can see a single note (A Semi-Breve) on it's lonesome filling up the whole 4/4 measure. In the next, we have two half-notes (Minims) that make up a full bar. Then we have four Quarter-Notes (Crotchetts), eight Eigth-Notes (Quavers) and finally a bar of Sixteenth Notes (Semi-Quavers). Essentially, we're breaking up the bar (of a fixed length) into a number of parts, each of which we fill with a note. Which leads onto the question - what happens if you don't want a note (and want some quiet from the awful racket that your violin is currently making)?

Thus, the lord brings us Rests. Luckily, these come in the same flavours as the above, giving us essentially 'silent notes' as depicted in the following diagram;


Last but not least for this lesson, something simple to finish on. It also seems that they sometimes stick letters on the staff to ask you alter the volume (and they also tend to call this Dynamics, luckily, not of the applied mathematics type...) They are as follows;

ppp	???	Very, Very Quiet
pp	pianissimo	Very Quiet
p	piano	Quiet
mp	mezzo-piano	Slightly Quiet
mf	mezzo-forte	Medium Loud
f	forte	Loud / Strong
ff	fortissimo	Very Loud
fff	???	Extremely Loud
cresc	Crescendo	Gradually Get Louder
decresc	Decrescendo / Diminuendo	Gradually Get Quieter

That concludes todays lesson to myself. Don't hesitate to come back tomorrow for the rest of Reading Music 101.

Day Seven - Unfortunate Break & Open Strings

Due to unforseen circumstances, it seems that the proposed practise that was to take place today will have to be postponed. While it is but a minor hiccup in the quest, the next few days will unfortunately see me some distance from my violin. I will not be reunited with my new bride until the weekend, but I plan not to allow this to hinder my progress.

The Open Strings on the Staff: And so, I start by learning the open strings once more, but this time around, I also seek out the knowledge of where the open strings live on the staff. With a small amount of aid from Wikipedia, I find the following diagram and make every effort possible to commit it to memory.


I consider this work enough for today. My trek tomorrow will take me once again through the town of Ebay, where I shall be looking for books of lore and knowledge to aid me upon my grand adventure.

Day Five - Hello Notes!

The fifth day of my adventure and I thought it time to learn (and practice) some basic notes. I'd heard that C was often a good place to start in music, and so it fell upon me to look at what notes I could strike ranging from the lowest C I could find on the instrument. Sensibly, It seems one can manage 2 scales in C, which led me to the following.


And I must confess, it came as a small shock but a massive relief, that this system was incredibly logical. We have the open strings (depicted at the top), and then you simply "slide" (although, you of course don't SLIDE per-se, just in a step-by-step basis) your finger down that string to progress through the notes until you hit the note of the next open string, then start on the next one. This means I don't really need to learn notes other than the open strings - fantastic news indeed, I feel like an expert already...

With my new found knowledge, I thought it was time to hammer out my first set of sounds. I won't lie to the world and call it a tune yet, but it was certainly an audible noise. I call it "Frere Jacques in some out of tune key".

Today has been useful, and has also inspired me in two ways. 1. I should learn how to read this music stuff. 2. I should investigate how I can record my noise to share with all you lovely people.

Day Four - A Day of Research

Unfortunately, today did not present me with the opportunity to make noise from my instrument. I thought it wise to do some reading online before potentially destroying that which I had just purchased. I found out today many important facts.

The Parts of the Fiddle / Violin: The Scroll, Pegbox, Neck, Fingerboard, Upper Bout, Waist, Bridge, F-Holes, Lower Bout, Fine Tuners, Tailpiece and Chinrest. Fantastic, I can now sound like a pro when talking about my violin, not that this is going to aid my quest greatly, but it's always useful.

The Rosin and the Bow: Puts lots of Rosin on. If you put too much on, it will sound bad and scratchy. If you don't put enough on, it'll not really sound at all. Early conclusion - put stacks on until it starts making sound, then I'll just have to re-apply a tiny bit every time I use it. Oh, and I'll need to scratch the top of the rosin block with a knife or sandpaper before I start.

The Notes of the Open Strings: Not touching the strings and playing them generates the following notes from thick to thin. GDAE. Not easy to remember, until the wonderful memory aid hit me... G'DAy MatE. Or just GDAY(E). Cool, that's actually going to stick. I'll worry about the other notes later.

Joining Symphony Orchestra: Is going to require some practice so I can make a realistic sound from my instrument. Proposed plan is to have a couple of days messing, a couple of days practise and join not this week, but the week afterwards.

In short, I'm definitely happy with the research. Note to self: keep up the good work.