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Reading Music Ain’t That Hard!
By Kate Grana
You’ve decided to pick up that musical instrument you always wanted to study as a child, but never had the where-with-all to see it through. Now as an adult, you understand the self-discipline it takes to see any project to completion and you really are ready to give it a try. Don’t let the reading of the musical symbols throw you off the track. It really isn’t that hard once you get a basic understanding of what a piece of music tells a musician to do.
First, get yourself a beginner’s book for keyboard, such as, The Older Beginner Piano Course, by James Bastien, published by Kjos West, San Diego California, or another basic beginning piano book. I recommend a beginning piano book because those usually include a keyboard so you can actually see the distances between notes. This helps you to understand the first concept in reading music – the relationship between each of the notes.
Music is a new language with new symbols, so be patient. The learning process takes time. Think of yourself as an infant learning a new language. As an infant, each day brought a new word that was repeated by your parents. This repetition gave you the chance to hear the word and learn how to go about reproducing its sound. Music is learned in the same basic way.
The musical staff, on which the actual notes sit, consists of five lines and four spaces that run horizontally. Music is read left to right as in a book. Each line or space has a designated letter name which corresponds to a key or fret on your instrument. The musical alphabet runs from A to G. Starting at the bottom of the lines, as in a ladder, the first line is the letter E. Any note that has the first line running through its center will be sounded as the letter E. The spaces in between the lines are just as important as the lines, so the first space between lines one and two has a letter name also. The first space is the letter F. Can you guess what the second line is? That’s right - the letter G! If music is anything, it’s very logical. The second space is the letter A. The third line is the letter B. The third space is the letter C. The forth line is the letter D. The fourth space is the letter E and the fifth line is F.
Confused? Try drawing it out on paper so you can visualize it. Draw five horizontal lines with enough space between to fit the letters in for each line and space. When you get to the top line, which is F, draw a small circle above the staff and that note would be the letter G. When I was teaching beginning students, I would ask them to name lines E G B D F and think of a sentence to help them remember. How about Elephants Grow Big Dirty Feet? The spaces spell the word FACE so space rhymes with FACE.
Each staff is then divided into measures, the vertical lines, which help our eyes break down the entire piece into bite size chunks. This, in turn, helps our brains figure out what each measure holds for easier playability. The amount of notes in each measure is determined by a time signature at the very beginning of the piece. Those are the two fraction-looking numbers that appear next to the big squiggle called the clef. There are two main clefs, the G clef, sometimes called the treble clef, for higher sounding notes, and the F clef, sometimes called the bass clef, for lower sounding notes. Violas and sometimes the cello use another called the C clef.
In another article, we’ll get into the different types of notes, which gives a specific length to the duration of time each note is sounded. It might feel complicated right now, but what foreign language doesn’t seem complicated to the beginner? When starting to play a new instrument, you begin with very few pitches and build from there. You don’t begin with a concerto to memorize! Take small bites and, before you know it, you’ll be reading music!
Kate Grana
Kate Grana is a Voice Talent and performs at weddings, funerals and religious ceremonies and services. She also writes jingles and compositions for businesses looking to advertise on radio and television.
Kate maintains a vocal studio in Portsmouth, RI and is a devoted voice teacher and vocal coach. Her strengths lie in teaching correct vocal technique to the beginning student.
Feel free to contact Kate at 508.677.0626 or visit her website at www.KateGrana.com.
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