The score gives you for each line and each position in between the lines one of the eight notes of the scale. If music is in Do major or La minor, then the scale is exactly Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti, hence there is nothing in the signature, since all notes are as is written. If you look at the keyboard, this corresponds with all the white keys. If we look at the intervals between the notes, then we see that the interval between Do and Re contains 1 note in between (the black note), similar with between Re and Mi, however there is no such note between Mi and Fa. We call the interval a minor second if there’s nothing in between, and a major second if there’s one note in between (thus Do - Re is a major second, Mi - Fa is a minor second).
Then, looking at the scale of Do major, we have the intervals: Do (major second) Re (major second) Mi (minor second) Fa (major second) So (major second) La (major second) Ti (minor second) Do.
If we want to play the same scale in a different key center, then we will have to transpose these intervals to that key center. For example, something written in So major will have the notes So La Ti Do Re Mi Fa♯ So. Playing a Fa will not be correct, since there should be a major second between the 6th note of the scale (Mi) and the 7th note of the scale (Fa), but there is only a minor second between Mi and Fa, thus we have to raise Fa by a minor second to Fa♯. Similarly, notes get lowered with certain other scales, e.g. the scale of Fa major has the same notes as the Do major scale, but with the Ti lowered by a minor second to become Ti♭.
It gets bothersome to write these things in front of the notes all the time, so instead, the notes that are raised or lowered by a minor second are already written at the start of the score. If you ever encounter a Ti in the music, and there is one ♭ in the key signature, then you know that a Ti♭ is meant instead. The actual Ti is written with a natural sign (♮) in front of the note.
I could go on for hours, but perhaps I should stop here before it gets confusing
Hahaha yes I faintly remember the theory.
But I can’t easily tell which line/space the thingie corresponds to, while when it’s next to the note I can tell. In the example above, it writes Sib, and then the thingie that says it doesn’t apply later on so I know what to do, but when there are four # at the start I can’t tell which key they mean and also usually I forget halfway.
You can write it in front of a note if you keep forgetting it (even professional musicians do that occasionally when it gets confusing, no shame in that. Notation is there to be clear and unambiguous)
One time I downloaded a sheet for violin or guitar (a string one don’t remember exactly now, maybe bouzouki) without realizing and couldn’t understand what was wrong. Ah, fun times.
Dots have to do with octaves. A dot above raises the note an octave, and one below lowers an octave. The slightly lighter color on some of the numbers is just because they’re tied over from the previous measure.
There are sheets that include 1-7 as do re mi below the notes for beginners but none that I’ve seen that write out do re mi.
In jianpu, 1 is usually but not always do. You’ll often see at the top 1=C, 1=G or 1=哆/do, 1=唆/so depending on the instrument or the key the piece is in.
Sheets with jianpu numbers included are not that easy to find. It’s much easier to just find one or the other, but there are some out there.
I was just scrolling thru this again It’s cool how this thread blew up. I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this little tidbit but when I took an aural theory class my teacher would change the sound of the solfege when singing different scales. Like De or Da or Ra or Fi, etc. It was to help build experience in picking out the spaces between sounds, but we would be able to sing different scales and modes that way.
Edit: Now that I’m thinking about it I think we started with C and would change the sound of the solfege as we played every mode within that scale up the piano.
When I see numbers like these it is usually a help to tell you which finger to use for each note. You might think a 6 is strange, but hey, have you ever wondered how China had all those piano virtuosos?
You can listen to the sheet music and you can adjust the tempo to play along. They offer many more features and it’s for free (you can donate if you want to support them).
It’s cool how this thread blew up. I’m not sure if anyone mentioned this little tidbit but when I took an aural theory class my teacher would change the sound of the solfege when singing different scales. Like De or Da or Ra or Fi, etc. It was to help build experience in picking out the spaces between sounds, but we would be able to sing different scales and modes that way.