Music Theory: fun facts and quiz

Tempo is how fast the beat goes, measured in beats per minute. Pitch is how high or low a note sounds.

Key fact
Many pop songs sit between about 100 and 130 beats per minute.

Western music uses seven note names, A to G, plus sharps and flats: 12 different notes before the pattern repeats an octave higher.

Key fact
An octave higher means the note vibrates twice as fast.

Harmony is what happens when notes sound together. A chord is three or more notes played at once, and chords give music its colour.

Key fact
Many hit songs use the same four chords.

Music in a major key often sounds bright and happy; a minor key often sounds sad or tense. The difference can come down to a single note.

Key fact
“Happy Birthday” is usually sung in a major key.

A time signature tells you how beats are grouped. 4/4 is the most common in pop; 3/4 gives the ONE-two-three sway of a waltz.

Key fact
4/4 is also called “common time”.

Sheet music writes notes on a staff of five lines. The higher a note sits, the higher it sounds, and its shape shows how long to hold it.

Key fact
The treble clef is also called the G clef.

Orchestras and instruments tune to a shared pitch. Today, the standard A above middle C vibrates 440 times a second.

Key fact
Before standards, tuning pitch varied from city to city.