The ability to read sheet music is important to learning the piano. At the beginning of your learning journey, you can start by memorizing notes and practicing chords, but eventually, you will want to play music pieces. And for performing music pieces, you have only two options – playing by ear or reading sheet music. Here we will discuss tips to making reading sheet music easy.
You cannot learn to read sheet music overnight. You have to practice and learn every day to master the art of reading music. Once you have learned how to read sheet music in detail, then you can easily learn to play any music piece. After selecting your piece, all you have to do is read the music and play. Music reading skills will also help you in creating your own pieces. Before you start learning, go through the following tips to ensure you are on the right path.
Study The Basic Concepts Of Music Theory
Before learning to read sheet music, you have to study the basics of music theory. Sheet music is designed on the basis of various music theory concepts. You cannot read a note on sheet music until you know what a note means. Music theory will provide you the foundation to start reading sheet music. If you are playing piano through reading, then music theory will act as a backbone.
Knowing the basic concepts of music theory will help speed up the learning process. If you are already familiar with the notes, scales, intervals, and chords then you can quickly learn to read music and play the piano. Studying music theory is important for both playing eloquently and reading accurately.
Start With Labeling The Diagram
You should not hurry into learning the advanced aspects of sheet music. When you look at sheet music for the first time, start by labeling the basic parts. Sheet music is divided into various fragments and you can’t learn all of them at the same time. When learning to read music, first try to discover the major components such as:
Staff
The five horizontal lines with four spaces in between that you see on sheet music is a staff. A staff contains the address of each note. A note either lies on the line or in the space. Every note has a permanent address that you have to memorize. When you read sheet music for a piece, you will notice the staff divided into various bars by a vertical line. To play music on a piano, you will refer to the grand staff that is a combination of two clefs.
Clefs
There are two main clefs: treble clef and bass clef. The treble clef is the home for high notes while the bass clef contains the address of low notes. The treble clef are the notes you have to play using your right hand while the notes on the bass clef are played by the left hand. In a grand staff, the treble clef is situated on the top with a symbol on the left resembling the letter ‘g’ while the bass clef is on the bottom, containing the symbol on the left that resembles a ‘9’ with two dots on the back.
You cannot read music until you know what the major component of the sheet music represents. Imagine you didn’t label the sheet music and started playing the notes on bass clef with your right hand and treble notes with your left. It would be chaos if you mixed up the high and low notes. You cannot play a music piece melodiously if you mess with the melody itself.
Use Mnemonic Devices To Memorize Notes
Reading music is fun and easy once you know which line and space represent which note. Memorizing the location of each note will help you save time while playing a music piece. If you recognize all the notes on the music sheet, then you will be able to read quickly and easily. To memorize the notes, you can use mnemonic devices.
Treble clef – If we start from the bottom line then, all the lines will represent the notes in order: E G B D F. You can remember the notes as “Eight Great Babies Dance Freely.” When it comes to the spaces, the notes are in order: F A C E, which you can easily remember because it’s FACE. So, the bottom line is E and the space above it is F and then we follow the specified order.
Bass clef – The notes on lines in ascending order are G B D F A, or “Get Books Down For Assembly.” And the spaces represent the notes in order: A C E G, or “All Crows Eat Germs.”
Blend Practical and Theory Together
The best way to read music is while playing the piano. You must have memorized all the notes through the mnemonics so now you should understand the ledger lines. To better understand, you need to go to your piano and practice while reading. Ledger lines are the lines that are outside the clefs (above and below). Since a staff is only limited to a single octave, the ledger lines will help you shift to the adjacent one.
For example, if you see a note lying below the bottom line of treble staff with a line striking through it, then it is the middle c. Ledger lines also work as a staff as it has both lines and spaces. If you notice a note just below the E line, then it means you have to shift to the left, D. Thus, the next note with the ledger line is C. If you notice a note above the treble clef, then it means you have to move to the right. Try playing the keys while learning the concept of ledger lines, and then you will be able to understand more easily and quickly.
Familiarise Yourself With The Symbols
There are numerous symbols on sheet music, such as dots, beams, sharps, and flats. You should know every symbol in order to read music accurately. Key signature and time signature are important components for understanding the tempo of the music and whether you have to play the sharps, the flats, or the naturals. To recognize and understand the signatures, it is essential that you learn about all the symbols. Plain notes only instruct you to play the white keys. If you want to play the piece in the correct tempo and hit the right pitch, then you have to learn the symbols and the signatures.
In the beginning, always mark the name of the notes on the sheet music with a pencil. This will help you learn faster. Once you are comfortable with the symbols and you have mastered all the concepts, you can just start playing without any reference. If you’re in the beginner stages, remember to read and practice daily to hone your skills.
