In this unit, you will learn the basics of music theory (if you couldn't guess already).
More specifically, you will learn how to read music.
The first thing to know about reading music is what it looks like.
This is Bach's seventh chorale. Here is some more information on it if you are interested.
As you can see, there is plenty to work with. Do not be daunted, though, you will learn.
To start, we observe two primary components of music notation.
The staff...
and the notes.
In modern music notation, the staff is the means of showing the pitch of the notes and "direction" of the song.
Notes are placed on the staff and are used to organize the rhythm of the song.
When placed on a staff, notes tell the performer how long to hold the pitch that the note displays.
Here is an example:
