Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Does music notation seem to be one big mystery? Do you want to be able to read music? Music notation can sometimes seem counterintuitive. However, you too can learn to read music. This post will help give you a quick overview of how music notation works. Keep reading Basic Music Notation Explained in Less Than 4 Minutes to learn what it is and how it works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Basic Music Notation Explained #1: How Do Notes Work?
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, rotate your screen 90o to the right.
Musical notes are labeled using the first seven letters of the alphabet:
- A note tells you which pitch to play on your instrument. They are written consecutively going up a staff of five lines and four spaces: A B C D E F G.
- The grand staff (used by keyboard instruments) puts two staves together.
- The clef on the left side of the staff gives you a reference so that you can know where the notes go on the staff.
Basic Music Notation Explained #2: How Does Rhythm Work?
So, how do you know how long to hold your note?
- You’d need rhythmic symbols such as whole, half, and quarter notes for this.
- If you want to insert a silence into your music, you’d need to use whole, half, and quarter rest symbols.
- Each rhythmic symbol gets a specific number of beats.
Bar lines help organize the rhythm into measures:
- A measure is the distance between the bar lines.
- Also, the time signature tells you how many beats there are in each measure.
- For instance, the 3/4 time signature tells you that you have three beats in a measure and a quarter note gets the beat.
Basic Music Notation Explained #3: What’s a Key Signature?
The key signature is located between the clef and the time signature:
- First, sharp and flat signs modify the line and space notes so that you can play notes on your instrument that are the same as the piano black keys. A natural sign cancels out a sharp or flat, giving you the equivalent of the piano white keys.
- When a sharp is placed in the key signature, it tells you that that note is sharp for the whole song or until you see a new key signature.
- Likewise, when a flat is placed in the key signature, it tells you that that note is flat for the whole piece or until you see a new key signature.
For more info on sharps and flats:
If you have a hard time reading music notation, you can try color coding the sheet music:
Basic Music Notation Explained #4: What’s Left?
Mostly, music notation so far has dealt with rhythm or notes. However, articulations, expression marks, and tempo marks give you additional information to help you perform your music:
- Articulations (e.g., staccato, legato, and tenuto) tell you how you should attack the note.
- Expression marks (e.g., misterioso, risoluto, and espressivo) tell you the type of feel you should bring to your playing.
- Tempo marks (e.g., allegro, andante, and adagio) tell you how fast to play while dynamic signs (e.g., forte, mezzo forte, and piano) tell you how loud or soft to play.
Many of these music terms are Italian words, because the Italians were very influential during the time when the sheet music was developing.
For more info on articulations:
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- These basics give you the big picture of how music notation works, but there are many more instrument specific notations to learn.
- Nevertheless, to really understand how music notation works, you need to learn how to read it on an instrument.
- For that there is no substitute for a good music teacher.
Related Posts:
- How to Color Code Music to Optimize the Steady Beat
- How to Learn Music Theory with a Learning Disability
- What Exactly Is Dyspraxia and Its Impact on Learning Piano?
- How Easy Is it to Teach a Down Syndrome Child an Instrument?
- 50 Essential Music Symbols Explained in Less Than 5 Minutes
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
Glossary
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