Where You Lead

When composers (like you!) are ready to share their work, they create a lead sheet. A lead sheet is a standardised way of writing music so that others can easily follow. It captures the core ingredients of a composition such as the notes of the melody, the key, the chords, and sometimes some rhythmic understanding of the accompanying chords.

In your worksheet you have written down the letter names of the notes of your melody, but with so many different A’s, B’s and C’s on the piano, how will other musicians know which to choose? The solution is musical notation. In the excerpt of notation below you can see how each note represents a specific key on the piano. The first note, for example, is middle C. Not the C above or the C below. This note only ever refers to middle C.

After middle C the notes ascend up the white keys, all the way up to the A an octave above. The curly symbol at the very start of the excerpt is called a treble clef. It’s this clef that assigns the five horizontal lines their notes (EGBDF). We call these five horizontal lines the stave.

There’s a handy way to remember what the spaces between the lines mean too, ‘FACE’:

So there you have it. Transforming the letter names on your worksheet into notation is simply a matter of identifying the right horizontal line or space to use for each note.

But what about when you want to write a black key? A sharp or a flat?

To add in sharp or flat notes, simply write the ones you need all together next to the treble clef. A collection of sharps/flats like this is called a key signature. It lets the reader know the home key of the composition, in other words what sharps or flats to play throughout the whole composition. While the sharp/flat symbols in key signatures sit on just one horizontal line/space, they in fact turn all the notes that share that name sharp or flat. For example, the key signature for D major has F#’s and C#’s. In a composition starting with this key signature, you would always play F#’s and C#’s instead of regular F’s and C’s. The key signature for Bb major has Bb’s and Eb’s. In a composition starting like this, you would always play Bb’s and Eb’s instead of regular B’s and E’s.

Look at this short melody in the key of A major. There are three sharps in the key signature. But how many sharps are actually played in the melody?

The correct answer is there are two sharps in the melody. Did you find them both?

Notice how major keys and their relative minor keys have the same set of sharps or flats. This means that the key signature you’ve added to your lead sheet works for both the A and the B sections of your composition. Also notice that C major and A minor do not require a key signature as there aren’t any black notes in their key - the key signature is left blank.

Your melody is made up of the notes you want to be played and the rhythm of those notes. Musical notation captures both simultaneously. In the excerpt below the first note is a D and a whole note. So is the second. Next comes a B whole note, and so on.

Notice the pair of 4’s at the start of the lead sheet. That is the time signature and its function is to tell people that each bar has four beats in it (as per the top 4), each one lasting for a quarter note (as per the 4 underneath). As you progress your studies in music, you will discover many different time signatures, with different numbers at the top and bottom. However 4/4 is a great starting point, as it’s one of the most common time signatures in western music.

Rather than writing out sections multiple times (yawn) musicians have developed a shorthand. First they label their sections with a capital A and B. These are called rehearsal marks, and are added to the lead sheet where the sections begin.

Next they add a repeat symbol: double dots and lines at the start and end of whichever section you want to repeat. If you want to repeat the first few bars just put the repeat sign at the end of those bars, it’s not required at the start as well.

To show you want the A section to be repeated after having played the B section, add 'D.C.' at the end of the B section. It stands for ‘da capo’, which is Italian for ‘from the beginning’. It tells you to jump back to the start of your piece. At the end of the A section add another Italian word, ‘Fine’ (pronounced ‘fee-nay’). ‘Fine’ means ‘finish’ the piece here.

Accompanying chords can be captured on the lead sheet by simply writing the chord names above the stave.

Take a moment to notice what isn’t on your lead sheet. That’s right, it’s how you play your LH chords: the chord inversions and LH patterns (e.g. Oom-pah, arpeggiated chords) that you detailed on your worksheet. Why is this? Well, if you were to give your lead sheet to a saxophonist or bass player, your LH directions would make no sense to them. They apply specifically to you on the piano. Of course, you will still want to remember them, so jot them down on your lead sheet - on your copy only!

There’s one other thing that’s not on your lead sheet, and that’s the root notes that you end the piece on. It isn’t needed on the lead sheet because it’s convention to finish on the root, to come back home so to speak.

You can now give your lead sheet to other musicians and have some fun jamming together. When playing with others, it’s common to play the A and B sections once through exactly as written to establish the foundation of the piece. Don’t forget the repeats: AABB.

From there you can repeat the A and B sections multiple times, to give each player a shot at improvising, taking it in turns so as not to clash with each other (musically or otherwise!) When it’s your turn to take a back seat simply play your LH chords and leave out your RH. Over time you’ll be able to add decorative RH touches as others do their improv, but be sure to start simple. Less is usually more.

When everyone has had a go at improvising, play the piece one last time as written, with just a few embellishments to keep things spicy. Finish with the A section one final time.

Congratulations my friend, you have finished your composition!