im getting a new touch sensitive keyboard, and i wondered what were the signs on sheet music that i have to watch out for and what do they mean.
for example:- < underneath a set of notes(but a bit longer than the one shown)
Led (which is written in italic like writing undernath the notes again)

By this sign < i think you mean a crescendo which means gradually get louder. I dont know what led means though


Hope this helps
Nathan

QUOTE (Saxophonist @ Dec 15 2004, 05:18 PM)

By this sign < i think you mean a crescendo which means gradually get louder.

Or possibly an accent?

And as for 'led' are you sure its not 'ped' written in italics?

lol

Don't lol!!! I remember when I was unsure of pedal markings!

I wish you'd just buy a music theory book/get a piano teacher and stop posting these ridiculously basic questions.

QUOTE (pianissimo @ Dec 16 2004, 06:42 PM)

I wish you'd just buy a music theory book/get a piano teacher and stop posting these ridiculously basic questions.

Hahaha... yup!

The sideways-on V-sgn is a hairpin - point toward left, get louder, point toward right, get softer (don't fade out to nothing! but they are effectively "fade-ins" and "fade-outs" - use your taste to decide how much to fade in and fade out to if it doesn't say.)

Led - trade your keyboard in for one where the keys light up when you see this sign. Just kidding -
it's Ped and you press the sustaining pedal* (the right hand one) until you reach this elaborate-looking asterisk, then release the pedal. Sometimes an underscore follows Ped and you hold it down* until the underscore line stops.
Sometimes that line is broken by a series of upside-down Vs. You release the pedal each time you see that sign and immediately press it again.

*with your right foot.

I agree with pianissimo. A lesson or two should come next or search the music shop websites/ ebay/ abebooks/ for a grade 1 or 2 "theory" book.

The problem appears to be that you want to know random information about reading music. The trouble with this is that to understand most of tyhe answers you need to know some other more basic stuff first.

well thanx for all that youve said and im sorry that i ask basic questions. I just thought it was better to ask an easy question, when almost everyone knows the answer (and allows them to chat on these boards) than ask a harder one that only one person knows!
silly me

Nope, that's a very good point, Reign...
Useful to have a little reference book if you can ask Father Christmas or... whoever...

When I answered your questions (a few posts up) I went into extra detail just so there was no ambiguity. Hopefully your question was answered. I just edited the bit about hairpins to make it a little clearer.
R

PS, don't worry about what questions you ask. This site, like all sites, has plenty of lurkers who read everything but contribute nothing. For any topic (like this one) compare the number of viewings with the number of replies. Yup, the readers WELL-outnumber the repliers. On this topic the lurkers outnumber the repliers by 12 to 1 !! ! !
So, matey, at least you've had the enthusiasm or courage to SAY something, not just sit there reading what everyone else has said. I, for a start, can appreciate that.

Thats a very valid point!! And everyone has to start somewhere!! There is no shame in asking simple questions! You will also be assured they will be answered quickly! Feel free to ask whatever you like!
good luck with your playing!

thanx bubblegum

Once again I read a topic that makes my blood boil. If someone can laugh at someone who is trying to learn they are a seriously horrible person. And as for the "random information about readin music" comment, dynamics is basic! If you play keyboard then you can read basic notation. People go on these forum for help, not to be ridiculed.

Some people aren't trying to learn. They want others to do the work for them...
boom-boom!

QUOTE (Hand @ Toe, Knee,Dec 19 2004, 09:14 PM)

Once again I read a topic that makes my blood boil. If someone can laugh at someone who is trying to learn they are a seriously horrible person. And as for the "random information about readin music" comment, dynamics is basic! If you play keyboard then you can read basic notation. People go on these forum for help, not to be ridiculed.

Some people abuse the help they get or simply won't be advised of the SIZE of their question nor the complexity of a good answer.

Then when someone TRIES to answer, the original asker doesn't bother to come back, doesn't acknowledge etc. I personally don't expect "thank you" but I get fed up when I find I've taken an hour to answer something only for the asker to have wandered off asking something just as facile somewhere else never to come back. Or worse, BE RUDE.
I'd charge a paying student £12 for the time.

WHAT'S WORSE IS THE ASKER BEING UNPREPARED TO DO ANY WORK FOR HIMSELF. I'll answer the simplest questions but IT IS NOT A GOOD PRACTICE TO KEEP SPOONFEEDING STUDENTS WHEN THEY ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF FINDING ANSWERS FOR THEMSELVES.

In these cases, I'll guide them to the answer rather than tell them it. That isn't enough for some.

The other day I spent an hour answering a couple of posts from someone on Viva Piano. One was in fine detail the other was in a "getting started" vein. I even PMd him to say I'd done my best. I've received no response at all, let alone feedback/debate.

His other repliers were plain dismissive.

Nope, the person had wandered off asking similarly facile questions just to make small talk one supposes. THAT, I find annoying so, as far as this guy goes, I'm with the dismissers now.

Yeah i understand what you mean, and there are a few people out there who are genuinely trying to help. However, I think It's a lot easier to give someone a link to a website dedicated to music theory than to, as pianissimo did, tell them to "stop posting these ridiculously basic questions." They're not basic to a beginner and when people get responses like that is it surprising they don't want to post a note of acknowledgment?

QUOTE

QUOTE (Hand @ Toe, Knee,Dec 19 2004, 09:14 PM) Once again I read a topic that makes my blood boil. If someone can laugh at someone who is trying to learn they are a seriously horrible person. And as for the "random information about readin music" comment, dynamics is basic! If you play keyboard then you can read basic notation. People go on these forum for help, not to be ridiculed.

I rather get the impression from the posts so far that the OP can't read basic notation.

The OP obviously knows what a crotchet is, just not what a chrescendo hairpin is. I would have thought u learnt to read the notes before u learnt to ready synamic/articulation directions.