1.3 Music Notation Practices
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
1. Defining and understanding measures and bar lines.
2. Defining and recognizing sectional directions: “Roadmaps” in music.
3. Learning basic conducting patterns.
In
Section 1.2 "Pulse, Tempo, and Meter"
, when describing meter and time
signatures, we spoke of “grouping pulse values together” to form discrete units. In
music these groupings are delimited, or “bounded” by vertical strokes called bar
lines. Bar lines serve as boundaries, defining a “measure” of music.For these
examples we will employ a five-line staff. Use of the staff will be explained fully in
Chapter 2 "The Elements of Pitch:Sound, Symbol, and Tone"
The crossover period between Renaissance and Baroque music at end of the 16th
Century and the beginning of the 17th Century witnessed many changes as to how
music was written. The rise of the “Second Practice,” (
Seconda prattica
) or “New
Style” (
Stile moderno
) of composition (early opera) and the concomitant rise of
instrumental music necessitated changes in notational practice.
Since rhythmic durations in Renaissance music were organized in proportion to one
another (differing forms of
mensural
notation), measures and their separating bar
lines were not in use, nor were time signatures, as we know them. These elements
came into gradual use. Scholars offer many explanations for this: practicality and
ease of reading and interpretation, a shift away from multi-voiced music and
toward solo or homophonic settings in dramatic music, the desire for segmenting
music into discrete segments, and so forth.
Measure and Bar lines
This became common notational practice. A
measure
8
of music constituted beat
groupings (or their durational equivalents) within the context of the stated time
signature, bounded by a bar-line. Composers may use a double bar line to denote
sectional divisions in a piece. A final bar line ends the composition.
8. A measure of music is a span of
music, bounded by a bar line. It
is a discrete grouping of pulse
values dictated by the time
signature.
Chapter 1 The Elements of Rhythm: Sound, Symbol, and Time
32