STUDY.com Week 1

Using Accidentals & Slashes

Accidentals are used in figured bass notation. An altered 3rd above the bass needs an accidental, and a lowered 5th needs the number 5 and the accidental, written with the flat symbol in front of the number 5. The flat lowers the third above the bass, and when used with a number, it indicates to flatten or lower the right note above the bass. The sharp raises the third above the bass and sharpens or raises the right note above the bass when paired with a number. The natural raises or lowers (naturalizes) the third above the bass, depending on the specifics of the piece, and when used with a number, the natural naturalizes the right note above the bass. Slashes through figures can indicate a raised chord such as a 5th or 6th, which is a half-step up.

Graphic Notation

Across music history, adventurous composers have sought ways to break even further from traditional ways of music notation. Often, this leads composers to make up their own visual rules for how to represent sound. The result is graphic notation, notation which makes use of abstract visual symbols to convey musical information. These symbols can include shapes, paintings, or just about any other type of image. Graphical notation can make use of a traditional music notation system, or it can create an entirely new set of rules. Graphic notation has been around since before the Western system. In the 1300s, composers, like Baude Cordier, bent the rules of the neumatic system to graphic ends. In this score, which contains the music for a love song, Cordier assembled the music into a heart shape. Graphic notation is also found among modern composers. One of the most recognizable graphic composers is George Crumb, an American composer well known for the visual nature of his scores. Although they're based in standard notation, his scores make use of circular staves as well as odd shapes and directions. Often the resulting shapes are intentional, using the staves to create an image or silhouette related to the work's expressive message. Several composers have also done away with the standard notation system completely, opting to create new notational rules from scratch. Among these composers are Wadada Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton, jazz musicians who improvise off of scores which contain no notes or staves. Often these scores consist of painted shapes and lines, which the musician is asked to interpret on their instrument.

Neumatic Notation

Before the 5-line staff was developed, composers experimented with several different systems for notating music. Among the most popular was the neumatic system, which records musical ideas using symbols, called neumes. Neumatic notation first appeared in the 9th century, but reached its most recognizable form in the 13th century. This form of neumatic notation is most associated with Gregorian chant, and many plainchants were recorded using neumatic notation. Neumes were quite similar to the musical notes we see today. They were markings on a staff whose position indicated pitch. However, there were a few key differences. One was that neumes did not convey rhythm the way our modern notation system does. Another was the existence of several different shapes of neumes, each of which had a different meaning for the musical gesture. Compare this to today's music notation system, where all note heads convey rhythm and have the same basic shape. Like the modern Western system, neumes rely on a staff for framework. However, in neumatic notation, the staff uses four lines and three spaces. Also like the modern system, each staff is equipped with a clef to indicate the position of the specific notes. However, unlike the Western system, the clef does not specify a specific note; rather, it tells the reader the position of a note of the solfege scale. In this chant, the clef is indicating the position of Do, the primary note of the solfege scale. The music can be then sung in any key, depending on the singer's voice. A neumatic score is read in much the same way as a Western score: the position of the heads of each symbol indicates the pitch. There are several symbols that indicate an individual pitch, such as the punctum. Other symbols indicate multiple notes as part of a gesture. The clivis, for instance, indicates two notes rising, while the podatus indicates two notes falling. There are other symbols for groups of three or more notes, as well as several symbols whose exact meaning has been debated by historians.

Figured Bass Notation

But modern music isn't the only kind that uses a bass line. During the Baroque period, from roughly 1600 to around 1750, some composers wrote music that used a moving bass line played by instruments, sometimes called basso continuo or continual bass. To tell musicians how to play the basso continuo, composers used something called figured bass notation. Figured bass notation is a shorthand system of numbers under bass notes on a piece of written music. It's sometimes also called thorough bass, and it's part of a composition's accompaniment or music that complements the main melody. In figured bass notation, the written numbers refer to intervals related to a bass note's chord structure. A chord is three or more notes played at the same time to create harmony. A typical chord of three notes has the following parts: the root or base of the chord, the third, and a fifth. The numerical terms relate to where the notes sit on the staff lines and spaces in relation to each other. In a lot of Baroque music, the bass line could be improvised, which means the musician could create the music in their head as long as they followed the basic chord structure. Rather than write out all the chords on the bass line, Baroque composers developed figured bass notation, which included a single low note on the musical staff and written numbers under it. The numbers were usually stacked, one over the other. Now, figured bass lines couldn't be played by all instruments. It required instruments with an ability to play chords, called chordal instruments . Chordal instruments included keyboards and string instruments like harpsichord, organ, piano, guitar, and lute.

Figured Bass

Figured bass, also called thorough bass, was introduced in the baroque period from approximately 1600-1750 as a musical technique to assist the keyboardist playing the basso continuo, or continued bass. The basso continuo was the primary form of musical composition in the baroque era, in which the bass line and accompanying harmony are played throughout the entire musical piece. Keyboard players and guitarists use the figured bass to create impromptu harmonies, and these improvised harmonies connect jazz music to the baroque. Figured bass is also used for vocal music.

Reading Figured Bass

In figured bass, the musician realizes the harmonies based on the base line and the numbers below. However, the numbers correspond with intervals higher than the bass clef and in the treble clef. The intervals can be larger than the octave. The key signature influences the figures, and depending on the key, a flat, sharp, or natural may be needed to specify a scale degree. For example, the key of G major does not need any accidentals before a figure. Under the bass line, the harmony line is designated by a series of figures (numbers) indicating the intervals to be played above the bass line. The intervals correspond to a normal triad or 7th chord. If no numbers are written under the bass note, then it is the root of the chord.

Examples of Figured Bass Chords

In root position triads, the bass note is the root of the chord, and the numbers written below are a 3rd and 5th (5/3) measured from the bass note. The numbers can indicate a simple interval or compound equivalent, such as a 3 can be a 3rd, 10th, or 17th. The musician decides which interval to play. In inversion triads, the triad has first and second inversions. The first inversion has the 3rd of the chord in the bass (written as 6/3), and the second has the 5th of the chord (written as 6/4). The inversion chords are also measured from the bass. Seventh Chords use the following figure notations: Root Position - 7 First Inversion - 6/5 Second Inversion - 4/3 Third Inversion - 2

Staff-Based Nonstandard Notation

In the 20th century, modernist composers sought ways to expand the sounds the musical staff could express. One strategy was to use the staff to indicate music that wasn't rigidly tethered to the music in other parts of the ensemble, to indicate on the staff music that a performer could play out of sync with the rest of the ensemble. The rest would be a musical line that interacted with the material around it in random, unpredictable ways. This type of music came to be called aleatoric music, music which leaves elements of the performance to the performers or to chance. Some important composers who used aleatoric strategies in their work include John Cage, Witold Lutoslawski, and Earle Brown. Aleatoric music is often written using box notation. In box notation, the composer writes the aleatoric material on the score as usual, but encloses it in a box, often linked to an arrow. The box separates the material from the rest of the score, indicating that it is not related to the rest of the music rhythmically. The material in the box is repeated for the duration indicated by the arrow, usually out of sync with the non-aleatoric material around it.

Music Notation History

Most ancient cultures made music, and while many of them had systems for writing music down, the notation systems they used are largely lost. Our notation system derives from neumes, a European system from the Medieval era. Neumes were most common in the church, where monks would use them to write down and recall chants. Around the 11th century, a monk named Guido d'Arezzo developed a notation system from neumatic practices that eventually evolved into the system we use today.

Examples of Figured Bass Notation

So figured bass notation was a written signal to the person playing the bass line to add chords to complete the harmony. Composers who used figured bass notation included Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695), an Englishman who wrote sacred music and music for theatrical performances; and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750), the famous German composer of sacred music like masses, motets, and cantatas. During the Baroque, musicians reading and performing music would have known what the figured bass notation meant as soon as they looked at a piece of music. And a few things were assumed. The basic chord we discussed earlier, with the root, the third and the fifth, was often referred to as a 3/5 chord. On a piece of music with figured bass notation, if a note didn't have any numbers under it, the player knew they were to play the notes of a basic 3/5 chord. Otherwise, they followed the written numbers. For example, if the numbers under the bass note were a 6 over a 3, that meant the player would create a chord with the third and the sixth to the written note. People who wrote in figured bass notation also used other symbols to guide the players. If the symbol of a sharp or flat appeared next to a note, that meant the player was to make that change. If the sharp or flat symbol appeared under a note that had no numbers, it was to be applied to the 3rd of the chord. A slash through a number or a plus (+) sign meant to raise the note a half-step. While it sounds complicated, remember that the person playing the line knew what all the numbers and symbols meant. It's also important to understand that while the figured bass notation served as a guide, it wasn't absolute. The person playing the line was free to play the notes up or down the octave as long as they respected the intervals specified under the written note. Sometimes they did a figured bass inversion, where the notes of the chord were played in octaves different from their normal positions. For example, if playing a chord with a C as the normal root, an E as the third and a G as the fifth, in an inversion, the C would be played up an octave. So, if the system of figured bass notation was used more than 300 years ago, why learn it today? Well, learning figured bass can help you better understand the development of written music. It's also helpful if you want to play a historical instrument or play music from the Baroque time period in an instrumental ensemble. And by really learning what all those numbers mean, it can help you better understand chord structures and the role they play in making music. So, figured bass notation is all about the bass.

Figured Bass Realization

To realize a figured bass, you translate the chords that the musicians play in the figured bass into the treble clef. Although a musician can improvise the harmonies in the figured bass, singers need the harmonies written out. Figured bass realization means 'making it real'; truly real for singers, who sing in four-part harmony. The soprano, alto, and tenor lines are added to the bass to create this four-part vocal harmony. Then, the rules of harmony need to be followed to develop the four-parts, and a musical melody line needs to be written for the soprano voice, as the soprano sings the melody line.

Voice Leading and Musical Guidelines

When realizing a figured bass for voice parts, the construction of the parts, called voice leading, must work with the bass line in a musical way rather than a vertical construction for the figured bass. Otherwise, it could end up a musical mess. By using proper voice leading, each voice part will flow from note to note so that no parts will cross each other, like the alto going higher than the soprano. Also, the soprano part will move by a step or a third, and the alto and tenor lines will travel by a step or repeat the prior note. Other musical rules to follow for realizing a figured bass are consecutive fifths and octaves, doubling, and omission. Furthermore, following guidelines for writing a solid melody for the soprano voice is the foundation of a strong four-part harmony.