. And like any language, music has a vocabulary and a terminology.
Here's a quick list of some terms that you should know:
Time Signature - Defines how many beats that are in each measure or bar and which type of note gets one beat. It appears at the beginning of every piece of notational music.
Key Signature - Defines the number and the types of sharp or flats (if any) naturally occurring in a piece of music. It appears at the beginning of every piece of notational music.
Common Time - 4/4 time. 4 beats per measure - quarter note gets one beat.
Interval - The distance between two notes or tones. Intervals have a numeric value as well as a quality value. For example Major 3rds or minor 3rds.
Staff - Used in music notation, it has 5 lines and 4 spaces.
Clef - There are several different types. In piano music, you will see a treble clef and a bass clef. A bass clef is used for all notes below "middle C" on the piano.
Measure or Bar - A segment of music that has a specific number of beats defined by the time signature
Note -- Notes have a time or beat value and an "A-G" value which may or not contain sharps or flats.
Scale - A specific sequence of notes depending on the scale. For example: major or minor scales.
Chord -- 3 or more specific notes played together or separated.
Triad -- A 3 note chord that forms the basis for all basic chords.
Sharp -- Raises a note or tone step
Flat -- Lowers a note or tone step
Natural - Negates the effect of a sharp or flat.
Accidental -- A sharp or flat or a "natural" sign
Musical Alphabet - A B C D E F G repeated over and over
Chromatic Scale - A 12 tone (note) scale. The numeric interval between each tone is step.
Key - A specific grouping of notes and chords that sound good together naturally
Relative Minor - Comes from the 6th tone of a major scale
Relative Major - Comes from the 3rd tine of a minor scale.
Perfect 5th -- 7 half-steps (3 steps) from a given note
Perfect 4th -- 5 half-steps (2 steps) from a given note
You're going to run across more than this, but this is enough to get you started. Some of these terms are inter-related, that is they tie into each other. In time, you will understand this easily.