Advice on Reading Music Notation

Study the Sheet Music


There are tools right in Playground Sessions that really help. One is to use the finger numbers to figure out where the hands belong. Don't rely on them to play but use them as you start the lesson. Use them "off the clock" - that is, without hitting Play, walk through the piece. This is where you are also doing the "EGBDF" and "FACE" on Treble and "GBDFA" and "ACEG" on Bass. This is the time to spend a few minutes preparing to play. Leave the finger numbers on the first and second time you play through with the tempo - at the slow speed. You want time to recognize the note right now. After two or three times playing with the numbers, turn on the letter names in their place and study the piece again, just to look at it, where your fingers are on the keys and what the letter names are of those keys that you are playing. Say them out loud, again without pressing play. You want to pay attention to the notation as you do. You could also play with numbers on until you can play 100% correctly, then do the same with Note Letters. Then again with neither. These are your lessons, do them your way.



Landmarks
You can't really shortcut sight reading, but you can do things to make learning it more effective. This should not take long, another minute or two on each lesson, and one of these is to learn the landmarks. The bottom line of the Treble Clef is E, and the bottom line of Bass Clef is G - learn those. You won't be able to remember them all all-at-once. But two notes to start is good. Also learn where on the keyboard those two notes are. Also, in each lesson learn the lowest two notes, one in each hand, for that lesson. And find them on the keyboard.

Next is to learn the top two lines. F on the Treble Clef and A on the Bass Clef. Again, learn where these two are on your keyboard. Something to recognize at this point is that knowing these four notes means you can also quickly find the handful of notes that surround them. They are always in alphabetical order, going from bottom to top. The same on the keyboard, they go A B C D E F G and repeat all the way up from the lowest A on your keyboard to the highest G – lowest being to the left, highest being to the right. The notes past the lowest A or highest G are just a continuation of the pattern. 49 and 61 key keyboards often begin and end on a C. 88 Key pianos and keyboards begin on an A and end on a C.

Now, having mentioned the C notes, those are your next "landmarks" you learn, where the C notes are in the notation, one at a time, perhaps, but learn them. There is one right between the Bass and Treble Clefs, the famous Middle C. Then there is one within each clef, the second space from the bottom in Bass Clef and third from the bottom in the Treble Clef. These are wonderful landmarks. With these you will have seven notes to use as landmarks at this point.

Keep this up over time, remember to space the landmarks you learn out a little, because you can use those landmarks to figure out the notes near them. Eventually, over the ensuing lessons you will learn all the notes on the staves, on the lines and in the spaces. Next will be ledger lines, but for those you will have the process for learning new notation in hand.

Other Tools
Now, that's just using Playground Sessions, the note numbers, the note names and learning the landmarks. There are external lessons and tools. Look for Music Flashcards (you can get physical cards online and virtual cards as part of Apps for your computer and mobile devices). Use the Flashcards to "test" yourself, and to learn, see the notation, think of the landmarks you've learned and work out that specific note, and then "flip" the card to see the answer.



Just an Example of flash cards, there are many to choose from. These I found on Amazon.com – “Music Flash Cards - Set A: Hal Leonard Student Piano Library”

(Educational Piano Library). 120 color-coded cards to learn basic musical symbols, all notes from low ledger C to high ledger C, and rhythm patterns in 4/4 and 3/4. Also includes cards that focus on recognition of steps and skips on the staff. International cards are also included (crotchet, semibreve, minim etc.). About $7.00 US. There are also YouTube courses for learning your notation. Remember that you will not learn them all at once or in a few minutes. You can learn them one note at a time and a few minutes at a time, but you will need time to learn them all. You are free to repeat lessons and practice as much as needed.

One final tool: Write your own copy of the lessons on "Sheet Music" paper. Make your own if you want, but you can buy empty sheet music paper and notebooks at music shops and online. Write each lesson out, labeling first with the letters of each note, and perhaps the suggested finger numbers. This is especially powerful "hand, eye, mind" linking that will work the notation into your head. It doesn't have to look perfect, like the printed sheet music you buy, or the onscreen notation. The trick is mostly to copy the note locations, writing the little round note heads and a line if that note has one, and fill in the note or not based on what you see in the sheet music and label them for yourself. The labeling is really the tool here. Again, you won't learn them all all-at-once and it will take time to even learn just one. But keep at it, a few minutes each day before playing the lessons. Remember there are really only twelve notes - the seven white keys and the five black, and the same is true inside the notation. You only have seven letters to learn. It will still take time to fix them on the page, and that is okay. Take the time.