Here we'll provide a short tutorial of how to read sheet music. The ability to read music is critical for anybody aspiring to be a musician. For the corresponding images to this article, see the music figures. These images will be critical to your understanding of the rest of this article, please don't continue without them.
The first thing you should see at the beginning of the first line is the time signature; this tells you about the rhythm of the piece. It looks like two numbers on top of one another. The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets a beat, and the top one tells you how many beats per measure. If you see a big C, that means common time, or 4/4. A slashed C means cut time, or 2/2.
Along with the clef, you may see a collection of sharp signs or flat signs. This is the key signature. Seeing a flat sign on a space, for example, literally means to play the flat every time you see a note on that space. The whole collection gives you some idea of which key you're playing in, for example 2 sharps is D-major or B-minor, and 3-flats is A-flat major or F-minor.
In the rest of the piece, each symbol tells you two things about a note: it's pitch and its duration. The location of the note tells the pitch, in the treble clef, starting from the bottom line, the notes are EFGABCDEF where F is the top line. In the bass clef, the notes are GABCDEFGA where A is the top line. You'll need to have this memorized really well to be able to play in real time.
Each note can be made sharp or flat by the sharp or flat sign. A sharp means that you play one half step higher (usually the next black key) a flat means that you play one half step lower. For notes that don't have an adjacent black key, you just play the next white one, so E sharp is also called F, and C flat is also called B. It is also allowed to have double sharps or flats, but you'll rarely see these.
The other piece of information you get is the duration of each note, you can tell this from the shape. Remember that you know which note is a single beat from the key signature. In 4/4 time it's the quarter note. The half note gets two beats, and the whole note gets four. Similarly, Eighth and Sixteenth notes get half and quarter beats respectively. Rhythm demonstration video.
There is a basic introduction to how to read sheet music. That's really all the information that there is, but you'll have to know it like the back of your hand to read music fluently. - 32524
The first thing you should see at the beginning of the first line is the time signature; this tells you about the rhythm of the piece. It looks like two numbers on top of one another. The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets a beat, and the top one tells you how many beats per measure. If you see a big C, that means common time, or 4/4. A slashed C means cut time, or 2/2.
Along with the clef, you may see a collection of sharp signs or flat signs. This is the key signature. Seeing a flat sign on a space, for example, literally means to play the flat every time you see a note on that space. The whole collection gives you some idea of which key you're playing in, for example 2 sharps is D-major or B-minor, and 3-flats is A-flat major or F-minor.
In the rest of the piece, each symbol tells you two things about a note: it's pitch and its duration. The location of the note tells the pitch, in the treble clef, starting from the bottom line, the notes are EFGABCDEF where F is the top line. In the bass clef, the notes are GABCDEFGA where A is the top line. You'll need to have this memorized really well to be able to play in real time.
Each note can be made sharp or flat by the sharp or flat sign. A sharp means that you play one half step higher (usually the next black key) a flat means that you play one half step lower. For notes that don't have an adjacent black key, you just play the next white one, so E sharp is also called F, and C flat is also called B. It is also allowed to have double sharps or flats, but you'll rarely see these.
The other piece of information you get is the duration of each note, you can tell this from the shape. Remember that you know which note is a single beat from the key signature. In 4/4 time it's the quarter note. The half note gets two beats, and the whole note gets four. Similarly, Eighth and Sixteenth notes get half and quarter beats respectively. Rhythm demonstration video.
There is a basic introduction to how to read sheet music. That's really all the information that there is, but you'll have to know it like the back of your hand to read music fluently. - 32524
About the Author:
Mike Eggers is the Author of many articles for students who want to Learn To Play the Piano. He has also written several reviews of products like Pure Pitch Review.
