Estimated reading time 5 minutes
Table of Contents
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #1: The Basics Remain the Same for How to Read Sheet Music
Do you want to know how to read sheet music? It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking vocal sight reading, reading classical music, or understanding guitar tab, basic music reading will remain mostly the same. In some way, shape, or form all music notations track notes and rhythms, but how they do so will sometimes be different. Read more of Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) to get an overview of how to read sheet music.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #2: The Staff as a Graph
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
The Staff as a Graph
The first thing we’ll cover in Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) is basic note reading.
- The staff is a graph-like notation that tracks pitch on the vertical (y) axis and pitch on the horizontal (x) axis.
- Most people don’t think of the staff this way.
- However, it’s an essential concept you need to know if you want to understand how to read sheet music.
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #3: How to Read Sheet Music’s Rhythm
When learning how to read music, the notes and rhythms form the foundation upon which everything else rests. So next, let’s look at how to read the sheet music’s rhythm.
- Notice that the bar lines above help to keep track of the number of beats. However, even more importantly, the invisible graph lines of the beat are used to track the rhythm.
- The “fractions” on the left side of the staves below are called time signatures.
- When reading music, a time signature tells you how many beats are in a measure, and what type of note gets one beat.
For more information on how to read sheet music’s rhythm:
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #4: How to Read Sheet Music’s Notes
Learning how to read music notes involves several parts of the staff.
- For example, the purpose of the clef on the left side of each staff above is to give a reference point for the notes on the staff.
- The figure above shows you the three most common clefs.
- For example, the clef at the top is used for sight reading for violin.
Keyboard instruments combine both the treble clef and the bass clef to form the grand staff (above).
Clef Mnemonics (above) help students learn the notes on the staff. When students struggle with the clef mnemonics, I color code the music.
For more information on how to read sheet music’s notes on piano with color coding:
If the music needs more notes than can fit on the staff, small ledges lines (above) can be used to extend the range upwards or downwards. For more information on how to read sheet music’s notes:
- Sharps and flats get used to play the equivalent of the black keys on the keyboard.
- Naturals cancel out sharps and flats (i.e., play the white key again).
- Key signatures tell you what sharps and flats last through the whole song.
For more information on how to read sheet music’s accidentals:
To access an online keyboard: click here.
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #5: How to Read Sheet Music’s Repeats, Articulations, etc.
- Learning how to read music is more than just notes and rhythms.
- Repeat signs help to keep the score from becoming huge.
- It does this by telling you when to play certain lines again.
For more information on how to read sheet music’s repeat signs with color coding:
- When reading music, tempo marks tell you how fast to play, while expression marks tell you the mood of the song.
- Articulations (i.e., staccato and legato) indicate how to play the notes.
- Dynamics and accents tell you how loud to play the music.
For more information on how to read sheet music’s articulations:
In the next section we’ll talk about understanding guitar tab.
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #6: Understanding Guitar Tab
Understanding guitar tab is just as important for guitarists to master as note reading on the treble clef.
- In fact, tab is usually used with the music staff.
- Both notations track time from left to right.
- However, tab shows guitarists exactly what string and fret get played at any given moment.
For more information on understanding guitar tab:
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #7: Vocal Sight Reading
Learning how to read music for voice has the additional element of solfege.
- Having said that, vocal sight reading with standard notation has the same basics as what I described above.
- However, the trick is to figure out which solfege syllable goes with each note.
- Which can be tricky in standard notation.
However, there’s an easier to read music notation called shape note.
- Shape note notation makes vocal sight reading simple.
- Why?
- Because it tells you exactly what solfege syllable to sing.
For more information on vocal sight reading:
Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music) #8: Final Thoughts
Here’s a Summary of Reading Music (A Quick Guide to How to Read Music):
- If you want to know how to read sheet music, you’ll need to understand the staff as a graph concept.
- Once you do, you can start to unravel how basic music reading works through basic note reading and basic rhythm reading.
- This’ll start to expand your musical world, allowing you to enjoy reading music in any style.
- Guitarists: understanding guitar tab will augment your ability to sight read beyond just standard notation. Most rock guitar sheet music uses tab.
- Likewise, shape note notation will also augment vocal sight reading ability beyond just standard notation.
- This post gives you a quick look into the world of reading music, covering the main areas involved in learning how to read music.
- Beyond this there’s a lot of instrument specific notation to learn, but you’ll find these basics in almost all music notations.
Related Posts
- Piano Major Scales (Basic Fingering Concepts)
- 12 Easy Piano Songs (Including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
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