| Author | Topic: reading sheet music |
Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
128.125.140.x
| posted: 5/18/2005 at 8:27:42 PM ET
When reading sheet music why do some notes (except whole notes) have a tail going up and so have a tail going down. Whats the difference between them??
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 toonz
Registered User
From:
Winnipeg, Canada
Registered:
2/20/2005 | posted: 5/18/2005 at 10:54:07 PM ET
There is no difference between the notes, they just fit on the staff nicely that way.
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TheHornSupremacy
Registered User
Registered:
11/17/2004 | posted: 5/19/2005 at 1:56:03 PM ET
toonz is right - there is no difference in the note itself. It's all about aesthetics. I think the standard is: any note at C or above (treble clef) should have the flag going down, and B or below should have the flag going up. This standard mostly applies to when you just have one note, i.e. a melody line. But if you have chords, like in piano music, you'll see that they don't always follow this standard because 1) it looks better to keep the flags of a chord all going in the same direction, and 2) they have to deal with both the treble and bass clef at the same time.
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Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
24.234.148.x
| posted: 5/19/2005 at 5:50:03 PM ET
Everyone is correct. The notes do not differ. However, the rule in music notation is as follows: Any notes on or above the middle line (b) the stems go on the left of the notehead and go down. Any notes on or below the third line (b) and the stems go on the right of the notehead and go up. Because B is listed twice, you can determine the correct choice by looking at the note that follows the b. For example: if the notes were b, c, d then the noteheads would all have the stem on the left and going down. If the notes were b a g then they would go on the right and go up. The purpose of this is so that when we are reading and playing music, the music is uniform. If the stems of the notes all were the same and we are playing notes on ledger lines above or below the staff, the note stems would make it very difficult to see the next staff of music. Hope that helps.
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