CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



The notes are placed in the staff both upon the 

 lines and in the spaces, so that, by means of one 

 staff, eleven notes may be indicated, including 

 those above and below the upper and lower lines. 

 When notes beyond these limits have to be indi- 

 cated, they are placed upon short lines, called 

 leger lines, above or below the staff itself, as in 

 fig. 5. In order to distinguish, in writing, the 

 different octaves of the same note, those in the 

 lowest octave counting from C, are denoted by 

 capital letters ; those in the next, by small letters ; 



in the next, by letters once underlined; and so on. 



&c. 



Fig- 5- 

 Fig. 6 shews the different notes so distinguished. 



C DEFGABcdefgabcde^gab 



&C. 



Fig. 6. 



Notes above g are frequently called notes in alt. 

 In speaking of the different octaves shewn in fig. 6, 

 they are called the great octave, small octave, 

 one-line octave, &c. When it is not specially 

 desired to distinguish the particular octave of a 

 note, the capital letters A, B, C, &c. are used for 

 all the octaves. 



The notes we have so far defined are the notes 

 which occur in the scale of C the white notes 

 upon the pianoforte. The sign $ (called a sharp) 

 placed before a note indicates 

 that a note a semitone higher is 

 to be substituted for it ; while 

 the sign b (a flat) denotes the 

 substitution of a note a semi- 

 tone lower. Thus, in fig. 7, the 

 notes stand for C sharp and A 

 flat, instead of for C and A. The signs X 

 (double sharp) or bb (double flat) indicate the 

 substitution of notes two semitones higher or 



lower (respectively) 

 than the notes writ- 

 ten. Either of the 

 signs affects the note 

 to which it is pre- 

 Fl S* " fixed every time it 



occurs in the same 



measure and in the same staff, unless it is con- 

 tradicted, the contradiction being indicated by 



Fig. 7- 



the sign (a natural). Thus, in fig. 8, the note 

 B flat is to be substituted for B each time it 

 occurs, except the last. 



2. Absolute Duration of Notes. In modern 

 music, it is usual to mark on all important compo- 

 sitions or movements the number of times that 

 some particular type of note occurring in it could 



be repeated in a minute. For instance, J = 60 



prefixed to a piece of music means that in it 

 each minim is to last the one-sixtieth part of a 

 minute, and similarly with I 100, &c. An in- 

 strument called a metronome is, or may be, used 

 to determine the exact value of these tempi. It 

 is still very common, however, to affix no more 

 definite indication of time to a composition than 

 the Italian words Andante, Allegro, &c. which 

 rather mark the style or manner than the time. 

 In these cases, the absolute duration of the notes 

 is entirely in the hands of the conductor or 

 performer, and depends on his taste and judg- 

 ment 



3. The relative duration of notes is indicated by 

 their shape, as their pitch is by their position. 

 The following are the signs used in modern music, 

 each one standing for a note exactly twice as long 

 as the one which follows it (thus, one semibreve 

 equals two minims, one minim two crotchets, and 

 so on) : 



Breve. Semibreve. Minim. Crotchet Quaver. Semiquaver. Demisemiquaver. Hemidemisemiquaver. 



Fig- 9- 



The sterns of the notes which have them may j A dot laced after a not as . increases it 

 be turned either upwards or downwards, as may be 



length by one half ; and a second dot adds half as 



much as a first ; so that a dotted minim, 

 equal to three crotchets, and a double-dott 



Fig. i a 



most convenient, and the tails of several may be 

 joined together, as in fig. 10. 



694 



minim, r ' ', to three crotchets and a quaver. 



There is a sign to indicate rest, or silenc 

 corresponding to each of the signs of durati 



