Reference Materials

Music Notation Glossary

Staff - the five horizontal lines between or on which notes are placed
Clef - indicates the range of notes that can be represented on the staff lines; middle C is the pitch that falls roughly in the middle of a full-size piano, so we will use it to compare the highness or lowness of the range of pitches on a staff

Treble Clef ('G clef') - for high instruments or voices; curves around the line to be used for the G above middle C
Bass Clef ('F clef') - for low instruments or voices; the dots surround the line to be used for the F below middle C
Alto Clef ('C clef') - for mid-range instruments or voices; the middle line is used for middle C

Grand Staff - two staves joined by a brace and used for a single performer; typically top staff uses treble clef and bottom staff uses bass clef, meaning that middle C falls on a ledger line between the two; standard for piano music
Note - indicates both the pitch (highness/lowness) and rhythmic value (duration) of the note to be sounded

Pitch - indicated by the vertical position (height) of the note on the staff in conjunction with the clef; note names (such as A, C-sharp, or E-flat) are also used to denote pitch; see Pitch
Rhythmic Value - the duration of a note is indicated by noteheads, stems, flags, and dots; see Rhythm

Note Head - the oval part of the note, the position of which on the staff indicates the pitch; may be open (an outline), or filled in completely
Stem - the line that goes up on the right side of the notehead, or down at the left side of the notehead
Flags and Beams - the curved lines that come off of the stems to indicate different rhythmic durations are flags; often succesive notes with flags are connected by horizontal beams as a replacement for individual flags
Dot - a small circle placed to the right of the notehead that increases the duration of the note 150% of the original rhythmic value

Rest - indicates the duration of silence between notes, see Rhythms
Time Signature - the top number indicates how many beats are grouped into a measure, and the bottom number represents the rhythmic duration that is counted as the beat (4 means quarter note, 2 means half note, and so on); see Rhythms and Beat and Meter
Measure ('Bar') - delineated by vertical barlines; measures mark groups of beats as defined by the time signature
Accidentals - sharps, flats, and natural signs; see Pitch

Sharp - indicates that a given note or collection of notes is to be played a half-step up

Double Sharp - indicates that a given note or collection of notes is to be played 2 half-steps (a whole step) up

Flat - indicates that a given note or collection of notes is to be played a half-step down

Double Flat - indicates that a given note or collection of notes is to be played 2 half-steps (a whole step) down

Key Signature - indicates the collection of notes to be used in a piece or section; the placement of sharps and flats indicates which pitches should be sounded up or down a half-step, and thus indicates the scale to be used in a particular piece or section; see Scales and Keys

Dolmetsch Music Theory and History Online
Online Companion to A History of Western Music, 7th Edition
This website is the companion to a textbook that is often used in music history courses for undergraduate music majors. The 8th edition came out in 2009, which may be why these materials from the 7th edition are now available for free.
Chronological Summary of Western Music History
Naxos Music Genres
"Why So Serious?" by Alex Ross
Article from the New Yorker on the history of the classical concert