[jimm]

There are ten and two different notes, or steps, in my people's music. The sounds go up and down such that a note that is ten and three higher than another sounds the same but higher up. We group those notes into pleasing sounds, and those groups are made up of notes that have a set number of steps between them. The notes have names, but there are fewer names than there are steps! The notes between the named notes are named by adding a changing word that says if the note is higher or lower by one step than a named note.

To write down this music, we use one or more sets of five lines drawn from side to side next to each other. The notes are drawn as spots on or between the lines in the spaces with sticks going up or down from the spots. We use more lines and some smaller spots to say how long the note should be played. Some of the steps (the ones that don't have their own names) are really in between the lines or spaces, so we use two different pictures to say if a note is really higher or lower by one step.