Fundamentals of Music Theory: Scales, Notation, and Baroque Practice

Basso Continuo and Baroque Music Characteristics

A most important characteristic of the Baroque era is the emphasis on the accompaniment, often referred to as the Basso Continuo (or Figured Bass). In this practice, the melody has a new backing, where the accompaniment is constructed so that the bass-melody binomial is central. The most important element is often not the melody itself, but the accompaniment.

The bass line is performed with polyphonic instruments, such as the harpsichord, the organ, or the guitar, since these instruments can play several voices at once. The practice of Basso Continuo implied that the musician performing the accompaniment only had a series of numbers written below the bass line. This series of numbers, known as Figured Bass, refers to the required harmony and allows the musician to build chords or accompaniment automatically.

Understanding Major Scales

Major scales are fundamental to Western music. They follow a specific pattern of whole tones (T) and semitones (S).

Construction of Major Scales

• C Major Scale: T T S T T T S
• D Major Scale: T T S T T T S (The specific accidentals required to maintain this pattern define the key signature.)

Musical Notation Symbols

The Dotted Note

A dot placed immediately to the right of a note increases the duration of that note by half of its original value. For example, a dotted quarter note lasts the same as a quarter note plus an eighth note.

Musical Alterations (Accidentals)

An accidental is a sign used to modify the pitch corresponding to a note. While there are many theoretical alterations, the most commonly used are the flat, the sharp, and the natural sign.

• Each sign lowers (if flat, ♭) or raises (if sharp, ♯) the pitch by a semitone.
• The natural sign (♮) destroys the effect of any previous alteration, restoring the note to its original pitch.

The Musical Measure (Bar)

The measure (or bar) is the metric musical entity consisting of several units of time (such as the quarter note or the eighth note). This division is represented graphically by vertical lines, called bar lines, which are placed perpendicular to the lines of the staff. In a musical work, the written notes and silences between two bar lines make up one measure. A musical piece is composed of a set of measures, which will typically have the same length until the time signature changes.

Bar Lines and Boundaries

Bar lines are represented by a perpendicular line connecting the first with the fifth line of the staff. Their function is to indicate the end of one measure and the beginning of another.

Ledger Lines

A ledger line is a short line added above or below the staff to extend the range of pitches that can be written.