Lesson One
The objective of this lesson is to learn how to select a piece of music with two key signatures that is written for your vocal range
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Basic Elements of Sheet Music
You should remember that a piece of music has a staff, time signature, key signature, and musical notes. The staff indicates whether the musical notes are on the treble or bass clef. The time signature informs the performer how many beats are in each measure and what type of notes are used to fill up that measure. The key signature lets the performer know what notes are flat or sharp in the piece of music and the musical notes indicate which pitch to sing or play. These are all terms that you have been exposed to in choir and should be familiar with. We are focusing on key signatures in this Webquest and you should remember what they look like from your choir experience. Although you may not be able to describe the parts of a key signature in detail, you have been exposed to enough music over the year that this should not be a new concept. Remember the basics and by the end of the Webquest you will be a professional at all things related to key signatures!
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Treble Clef and Bass Clef
After being refreshed with the basics elements of music, it is now time to learn how to select a music for your voice range. When selecting a piece of music for your voice range you must first identify whether you are a soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Sopranos and altos will sing music that is written in the treble clef while tenors and basses will select music written in bass clef. In seventh grade we sing in two parts, first and second, and everyone sings using the treble clef. If you were selecting a piece of music as a seventh grader you would need to make sure the piece was written in the treble clef.
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It is time for you to start selecting music on your own! This is an example of a typical piece of music for everyone in seventh grade choir. Notice that the music is written in the treble clef and has all the important elements of sheet music: key signature, time signature, treble clef, and musical notes. When selecting a piece of music for you final video you will need to select a piece of music with two key signatures. As you can see this example has only one key signature. When searching for music check to ensure that there is at least one key change in the music to meet the requirement for the final project.
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A key change can be located at any time in the music so you need to look through each song from beginning to end. This picture is an example of what a key change will look like in a piece of music. The left side of the picture is the key signature at the beginning of the piece and the right side of the picture demonstrates what a key change would look like in the middle of the song. When looking through music you must identify at least one key change in the music. Do your best, but do not be nervous if this terminology is confusing as this will be discussed in more detail in Lesson Two.
Let's practice! Look through these websites to find choral music and identify pieces that fit your vocal range, are written in treble clef, and have at least two key signatures, one at the beginning and one in the middle of the piece of music.
Search through this website and look for music that is written in treble clef and has two key signatures. After clicking on the link double check that the drop down menu for the Instrument is set to Choir - Vocal (5556), Style - All, and Instrumentation is set to Soprano Voice - Piano. Click go! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and start exploring music. Open the music in a PDF file and examine it to determine if it is in treble clef and has two key signatures, some will and some will not. Compare your choices with the examples on this page to check your selections. If you are ambitious you can change the Instrumentation in the drop down menu and explore other songs - most will fit our requirements. Have fun!
Let's practice! Look through these websites to find choral music and identify pieces that fit your vocal range, are written in treble clef, and have at least two key signatures, one at the beginning and one in the middle of the piece of music.
Search through this website and look for music that is written in treble clef and has two key signatures. After clicking on the link double check that the drop down menu for the Instrument is set to Choir - Vocal (5556), Style - All, and Instrumentation is set to Soprano Voice - Piano. Click go! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and start exploring music. Open the music in a PDF file and examine it to determine if it is in treble clef and has two key signatures, some will and some will not. Compare your choices with the examples on this page to check your selections. If you are ambitious you can change the Instrumentation in the drop down menu and explore other songs - most will fit our requirements. Have fun!