How To Read Music

>The ability to read and interpret music notation flawlessly and with ease would enhance your understanding of music theory. It would also help you play music that you might never have even heard previously.

It cannot be denied that reading music is not an easy task. However with motivation, patience, hard work and practice, you can master it and even create your own sheet music.

The first step to read music is to make yourself clear on the terms, elementary symbols and structure of music notation. Here are some terms which you should remember.

Terms:

1. 1. Pitch: A sounds particular frequency.
2. 2. Rhythm: The length of time in which notes are played.
3. 3. Beat: A measure of music. Music notes are played in accordance with the required number of beats.

If you have a friend who studies the piano or guitar, try to borrow his notes and follow these basic step by step tips to read the music notations:

1. Identify the staff and clef: The staff is the five horizontal lines and the four spaces in between; above, below and within which markings and symbols are made. The staff unites symbols to form music. The clef is the first representation written on the staff. Each piece of music has a clef at the beginning. The two chief clefs are the treble clef and the bass clef.

2. Look for a key signature and time signature and interpret them: You will find the key signature on the right side of the clef sign. This signature will let you know whether you need play a note as flat, natural or sharp. By looking at the time signature (meter), you would be able to know how many notes there are in a measure.

3. Try Not to Forget Note Names: Reading aloud note names as you play them will help you remember better. There are also acronyms which would help you memorize the names of notes and their positions on the treble or bass clef.

4. Understand Note Duration: You must be able to differentiate between whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and thirty-second notes. This would be easier if you can differentiate between the notation shapes for these various notes. Once you have a basic idea of note duration, you would be able to count your measures from beginning to end.

5. Tempo: Tempo markings would indicate the level of speed at which you need to play the music.

6. As your understanding increases, practice reading and correspondingly playing music pieces which have rests, crescendo marks, repeats and ties.

In the initial stages of practicing to read music, you can try pieces like Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns and as your confidence increases, move to pieces that are more complicated.

References:
http://www.mahalo.com/How_to_Read_Music
http://www.learn4good.com/kids/how_to_read_music_notes.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Music
http://www.howtodothings.com/hobbies/a2683-how-to-read-sheet-music.html

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