Bar / Measure 'distance in time', between one bar line and the next (Americans call a bar a Measure).
The lines are the vertical strokes showing where the first pulse occurs in the new bar.
Bar Lines / Measure Lines Bar lines divide music in bars. Each bar has the number of beats indicated by the Time Signature. The first beat after the Bar-Line is usually the strongest beat in the Bar. (see double bar line)
Double Bar Line A double bar line are two vertical lines that marks the end of a piece of music, or the end of a repeat. It can also mark the end of a section of music, a change of key or a change of time signature.
Baritone Voices and instruments halfway between tenor and bass.
Accidental any sharp, flat, or natural that is not given in the key signature. An accidental in front of a note applies as often as the note is repeated at that particular octave during the remainder of the bar it is in. In the bar that comes after accidental sharps or flats is usual to find 'warning' to contradict the accidentals in the previous bar.
Ad Libitum / Ad Lib. a tune meant to be sung or played very freely, without any regular pulse. They are written without any time signature or bar lines. The word 'freely' can be written Ad Libitum (or Ad lib.) meaning 'at will'.
The style and speed of the music is left for the player or singer to decide.
Beat The rhythm to which you tap your foot in time with music. Also the rhythm of each bar which may be counted. Some beats are stronger than others.
Common Time Four beats per measure or bar
Flat Sign A flat sign (b) lowers or 'flattens' a note. It affects all notes in the same position which follow in the bar. Written immediately after the clef, it is part of the key signature.
Natural Sign This contradicts (naturalizes) a sharp (#) or flat (b) -- the note marked becomes a 'natural' note. If affects all notes in the same position which follow in the bar .
Repeat Signs Repeat signs are usually indicated by two dots at the beginning or end of a bar ( |:). These are used for repeating sections of music. The 'D.S.' or 'D.C.' repeat is used in conjunction with FINE (end) and CODA (a closing section). Other types of repeats are one and two bar repeats which are a slash with a dot on either side crossing a bar line for two bar repeats and in the middle of a bar for one bar repeats. (`/.)
Rest / Rests Rests last for the same number of beats as the notes which they replace. A rest in a bar or measure is a period of time where no note is played.
Sharp Sign A sharp sign (#) raises or 'sharpens' a note. It affects all notes in the same position which follow in the bar. Written immediately after the clef , it is a part of the key signature .
Sonata In the Baroque, the term 'sonata' was applied to a variety of works for solo instrument such as keyboard or violin, and for groups of instruments. In the transition from the Baroque to the Classical period, the term sonata underwent a change in usage, coming to mean a chamber-music genre for either a solo instrument (usually a keyboard), or a solo melody instrument with piano. Increasingly after 1800, the term applied to a form of large-scale musical argument, and it was generally used in this sense in musicology and musical analysis.
Time Signature A time signature is a device which shows how to count the time patterns in any bar. It is represented by either two numbers, a 'c', or 'c' with a vertical line through it. This is usually shown at the beginning of staves. These symbols give the number of beats to a bar.
Concerning the two numbers, the lower number represents the unit of time: it is written according to its value in terms of a semibreve. The number of top of a time-signature shows how many units there are to the bar.
The time signature is written on the stave just before the first note of the tune. A time signature with four quarter notes to the bar is written 4/4 (common time, also represented by a 'C'). The time signature for songs with two quarter notes to the bar is written 2/4, etc.
