Ukulele For Dummies (79 page)

A dot only adds half to the length of a note when it appears after the note. A dot
above
the note means you should play it
staccato
(in other words, release the note as soon as you play it so that it's very short).

Taking a rest

Rests indicate points in the music where no sound is heard. Therefore, not only do you not play a note, but also you stop any note that may already be sounding.

Like notes, rests each have a symbol that relates to a certain number of beats and these are shown in Figure B-14.

Repeating a Section

In many pieces of music you find sections that repeat themselves. Instead of showing exactly the same sections over and over, notation indicates in various ways the sections to repeat, when and how many times. This keeps the number of pages of a score to a minimum, therefore requiring fewer page turns.

The simplest type of repeat is one shown with bar lines. Figure B-15 features a set of two repeat bar lines. The first has the double dot on the right of the double bar lines to indicate the start of the section you're to repeat (the opening of the repeat). The set of double bar lines with the double dots to the left indicates the end of the repeated section (the closing of the repeat).

When you come to the start of the repeated section, you play straight past the opening repeat symbol: treat it as a normal bar line. When you get to the closing repeat symbol, go back to the opening repeat symbol and play through that section again. The second time you get to the closing bar line, play straight through it.

You play the repeated section only once unless you see a ‘x2', ‘x3' and so on over the closing bar line. If no opening repeat symbol is present, you start from the beginning.

Sometimes a repeated section ends with a different bar (or number of bars). In this case, you see a bracket above the stave with a ‘1' before the close of the repeat and a ‘2' after it, as in Figure B-16. Here, you play the bar(s) under the ‘1' the first time around. Second time around you skip the section under the ‘1' and go straight to the section under the ‘2'.

In Figure B-16 you play the bars in the following order: one, two, three, two, four.

Deciphering Written Musical Terms

As well as symbols, standard notation also includes some written instructions. The three most important areas using written text are as follows:

Dynamics:
How loud and soft to play.

Tempo:
How fast and slow to play.

Directions:
Where to go elsewhere in the notation.

Cranking it up or bringing it down: Dynamics

Two types of dynamics can be marked: one that takes immediate effect and one where the change is brought about gradually.

Those taking immediate effect are indicated above the stave. The most common are:

pp:
Pianissimo
– very soft

p:
Piano
– soft

mp:
Mezzopiano
– moderately soft