Written music is a language that has developed thousands of years and the music we read today is also about 300 years old. Musical notations are the symbolic representations of sounds based on intonation, duration and time, up to the most advanced descriptions of timbre, expression and other characteristics. This article will introduce you to the basics of music reading, showing you some of the more advanced methods and presenting tips to increase your knowledge on this topic.
Steps
Method 1 of 8: The Basics
Step 1. Get to know the staff
Before being able to deepen the discourse on reading music, it is necessary to learn some basic notions of musical writing. The horizontal lines on the scores make up the staff. It is the fundamental musical symbol and the one that forms the basis for all the others.
The staff is made up of five parallel lines, and the spaces between them. Lines and spaces are numbered starting from the bottom up
Step 2. Start with the Treble Clef
One of the first symbols you will encounter when reading a sheet music is the key. This symbol, which looks like a large and sophisticated letter in italics on the left side of the staff, is the legend that will allow you to understand the approximate range on which your instrument will play. All instruments and voices in the upper register use the treble clef, and for this introduction to reading music we will mainly focus on this clef for our examples.
- The treble clef, or G, owes its shape to an ornamental representation of the Latin letter G. A good way to remember this is that the line in the center of the curved part of the symbol represents the note G (G in Anglo-Saxon notation). The notes marked in this key have the values described below:
- The five lines, from bottom to top, represent the following notes: Mi, Sol, Si, Re, Fa (EGBDF).
- The spaces instead represent - always from the bottom up: Fa, La, Do, Mi (FACE).
- Using the Anglo-Saxon notation it is easy to remember the notes on the staff with a simple trick. for the notes on the lines, it recalls the initials of the sentence: "Every Good Boy Does Fine", while for the notes on the spaces it is even simpler since the acronym of the names of the notes forms the English term "Face" (face). Another way to impress these associations in your mind is to practice with an online note recognition tool.
Step 3. Get to know the bass clef
Also known as the key of F, it is used in the scores of instruments with low registers, such as the left hand of the piano, the bass, the trombone, etc.
- The shape of the bass clef derives from the Gothic version of the letter "F" and the two dots are placed above and below the line representing the note F. Of course, the staff in the key of F represents notes other than the one in the key of G.
- The five lines represent the following notes: G, Si, Re, Fa, La (GBDFA - Good Boys Don't Fool Around).
- The spaces instead represent, always from the bottom up: A, Do, Mi, Sol (ACEG - All Cows Eat Grass).
Step 4. Learn the parts of a note
The symbols of the single notes are composed of a combination of three basic elements: head, stem (or fold) and finally the tang.
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The head of the note:
it is an open (white) or closed (black) oval. In its simplest version, it indicates to the reader which note to play.
- Stem or fold: is the thin vertical line linked to the note head. If the stem is facing up, it will be to the right of the note, if it is facing down, it will be on the left. The stem direction does not indicate changes in the note, but makes writing - and consequently reading - smoother.
- The general rule is to draw the stem facing up when the note is on the top half of the staff, and vice versa.
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Codetta:
it is the curved dash tied to the end of the stem, always written to the right.
- Taken together, these three graphic representations - head, stem and tail - indicate to the musician the value of the note, measured in bars or fractions of bars. When you listen to music and tap your foot along with the rhythm, you are counting the beats.
Method 2 of 8: Meter and Time
Step 1. Get to know the measurement lines
On a score, you will see thin vertical lines cross the staff at more or less regular intervals. These lines represent measures - the space before the first is the first measure, the space between the first and second lines is the second measure, and so on. The measure lines do not affect the notes played, but they help the reader to follow the right rhythm.
As we will see below, one of the most useful aspects of measures is that each of them contains the same number of times. For example, if you happened to hit "1-2-3-4" on a piece of music on the radio, you have probably already identified the measure lines on a subconscious level
Step 2. Learn about time and meter
The meter is generally considered to be the "pulses" of music. You feel it instinctively when you listen to a dance or pop song - the "boom, sh, boom, sh" of a classic dance song is a simple example of a meter.
- On a score, the tempo is expressed by means of a fraction written next to the key. Like any fraction, it has a numerator and denominator. The numerator, written in the two upper spaces of the staff, indicates the number of beats in a measure, while the denominator indicates the unit of time of the meter, that is the figure chosen to represent the single beat (the beat you follow with your foot).
- The simplest meter to understand is 4/4. In 4/4 time, each measure has four beats and each quarter note equals one beat. It is the most used meter in popular music. Try counting "1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4" on all the songs you hear on the radio.
- Changing the numerator changes the number of beats per measure. Another widely used meter is the one in 3/4. Most waltzes, for example, follow this meter, with the classic "1-2-3, 1-2-3" rhythm.
Method 3 of 8: Rhythm
Step 1. Follow the groove
The "rhythm", as well as the meter and time, is a fundamental part of the representation of a piece of music. While the meter only indicates how many tempos are present, the rhythm indicates how to use these tempos.
- Try this exercise: tap the table with your fingers for 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, constantly. Not very funny is it? Now try this way: on beats 1 and 3 you beat harder, while on beats 2 and 4 you beat more slowly: it is already very different! Now do the opposite, putting more force on 2 and 4, a little less on 1 and 3.
- Try listening to Regina Spektor's Don't Leave Me. You can clearly recognize the rhythm: the softer bass note on beats 1 and 3 and the loudest clap and snare drum on beats 2 and 4. You will begin to understand how the music is organized. This is the rhythm!
Step 2. Imagine you are walking
Each step equals a time. The tempos are represented by quarter notes, because in Western music each measure contains four tempos. From a musical point of view, the rhythm of your walk will look like this:
- Each step is a quarter note. On a score, quarter notes are notes represented with black dots tied to a stem without flanks. You can count as you walk: "1, 2, 3, 4-1, 2, 3, 4".
- If I slowed down the pace to half speed, so as to take one step every two beats, on 1 and 3, the steps would be represented by minimum notes (which are worth half a measure). On a score, the minims are written as quarter notes, but the ovals are white in the center and not black - only the edges of the oval are black.
- If you slow down further, so that you only take one step every four beats, on the 1, you should represent a step with a semibreve - one note per measure. On a score, semibreve notes look like an "O" - they are similar to minims, but without stem.
Step 3. Pick up the pace
Just slow down. As you may have noticed, slowing down the notes were represented with fewer and fewer signs. First the black oval disappeared, then the stem. Now let's try to accelerate. To do this, we'll add marks to the note.
- Let's go back to the walk example (tap your foot to recreate the effect, if necessary). Now imagine that the bus you need to take has just arrived at the stop and you are still one intersection away. What to do? Run!
- Flags are added to represent the fastest notes in music. Each coda reduces the note value by half. For example, an eighth note (which has a coda) represents a note with a tempo that is half that of a quarter note; in the same way a sixteenth note (two tails) is worth half of an eighth note. Returning to the example, from our walk (quarter notes) we went to a run (eighth notes) - double the pace speed - and then to a sprint (sixteenth note) - double the speed of the run.
Step 4. Merge the notes
As you saw from the previous example, things can start to get confusing when there are a lot of notes present. You can cross your eyes and you can get lost in the notes. To group the notes into a more compact form that makes sense visually, they are merged.
Joining the notes simply means replacing the individual tails of the notes with solid lines that connect the stems. This way the notes are logically grouped, and although more complex music requires more complex joining rules, for the purposes of this article the notes will usually be joined into quarter notes. Compare the example below with the previous one. Try following the rhythm with your fingers again, and notice how the joining of the notes makes the notation clearer
Step 5. Learn the values of slurs and points
If the coda halves the value of a note, the dot has the opposite function. With rare exceptions that are outside the scope of this article, the period is always placed to the right of the notehead. If you see a dotted note, its tempo value is increased by half the original tempo.
- For example, a dot following a minimum indicates that that note has a tempo value equal to that of a minimum plus a quarter note. A period after a quarter note makes the note count as a quarter note plus an eighth note.
- Ties are similar to dots - they increase the value of the original note. A slur simply joins two notes with a curved line between their heads. Unlike points, which have an abstract value based solely on the value of the original note, slurs are explicit: the length of the note is increased by the value of the second note.
- One of the reasons why slurs are used is because of the need to link the last note of a measure with the first of the next. This would not be possible with the dot, as the plus note would not fit within the measure.
- Notice how the slur is drawn: the stroke goes from the head of one note to the next, generally in the opposite direction to that of the stem.
Step 6. Take a break
Some people argue that music is just a series of notes, and they are right, at least in part. Music is a series of notes and the spaces between them. These spaces are called "pauses", and although they represent moments of silence, they can add a lot to the music. Here's how they are represented.
Like notes, they have specific symbols that indicate duration. A rest lasting a semibreve is represented with a rectangle under the fourth line, while a rest lasting a minimum is a rectangle under the third line. The crotchet rest has a mustache-like symbol, while the shorter rests are drawn with a quarter and a number of sprints equal to those of the reference note; these tails are always drawn on the left
Method 4 of 8: Melody
Step 1. Now you have the basics:
you know the staff, the parts that make up a note and the basics of the musical notation of notes and rests. Make sure you understand all these topics, because now you will deepen your knowledge of music making it even more fun: reading!
Step 2. Learn the C scale
The C scale is the basic scale of Western music. Most of the other scales derive from it. Once you have learned it, the rest will be easier.
- First you'll be shown what it looks like, and then we'll start reading the music. Here is the C scale on the staff.
- If you look at the first note, low C, you will see that it is actually written below the staff. In this case, a line is added only for that note - for this you see a thin line running through the note head. The lower the note, the more lines you will need to add. But don't worry about it for now.
- The C scale consists of eight notes. These are the notes equivalent to the white keys of the piano.
- You may not have a piano to play with (in this case try virtual piano), but at this stage it is important that you start to get an idea not only of the graphical representation of the music, but also of its sound.
Step 3. Learn the basics of solfeggio
It may sound scary to you, but you probably already know what it is: it's a fancy way of saying "Do, Re, Mi".
- Learning to sing notes will help you develop your ability to play along with a score - this is a skill that can take a lifetime to perfect, but it will come in handy right away. Let's look again at the C scale and the solfeggio scale.
- You probably know Rogers and Hammerstein's song "Do-Re-Mi" from the musical "All Together Passionately". If you can sing the "Do, Re, Mi" scale, do it by looking at the notes. If you need to refresh your memory, listen to the song on YouTube.
- Try a more advanced exercise, chanting the notes of the C scale from top to bottom and vice versa.
- Practice solfeggio a few times, until you are familiar with it. The first few times, read the notes very slowly so that you can watch them as you sing them.
- Remember the values of the notes learned previously: the high C at the end of the first line, and the low C at the end of the second are minimal, while the other notes are quarter notes. If we take the example of the walk again, while the semi-mimics represent one step, the minimum ones are two steps.
Step 4. Congratulations, you are reading the music
Method 5 of 8: Sharps, Flats, Bequadri and Key
Step 1. Take a step forward
So far we have covered the basics of rhythm and melody, so now you should have the basic skills to understand what the signs on the staff represent. While these basics can get you through your middle school music course, there are other things you should know. The most important of them is the hue.
You may have encountered particular symbols on the staff, such as hashtags or hashtags "#" Diesis, or lowercase B "♭" Flat. These marks indicate accidentals in the note that add or subtract a semitone and are usually written to the left of the notehead. The C scale, as we have learned, represents the white keys of the piano. The sharps and flats represent the black keys. Since the C major scale has no sharps or flats, it is written like this:
Step 2. Tones and semitones
In Western music, the notes are separated by intervals of one tone or semitone. If you look at the note C on a piano, you will see that a black key separates it from the next note, the D. The musical interval between C and D is called the "tone"; the interval between the C and the black key is called "semitone". Now, you might ask what name the note represented by the black key has. The answer is "it depends".
- A good rule of thumb is that if you are moving up the scale, the note is the sharp of the note that precedes it. If, on the other hand, you are going down, the note would be the flat of the note that follows it. So if you go from C to D, the note would be written with a #.
- In this case, the note on the black key is a C #. If I were descending from D to C instead, the note would be a D ♭.
- This convention makes the music easier to read.
- Note that there is another symbol - the natural. This symbol is used to delete previously written sharps or flats. The more sharps and flats there are on the score, the more complex the reading becomes.
- Often, composers who have used accidentals in previous measures insert "unnecessary" bequadri to make it easier for the player to read. For example, if an A # was used in an earlier measure of a D major piece, the next measure may contain an A natural instead of a normal A.
Step 3. Learn to understand the keys
So far we have studied the C major scale: eight notes, all white keys, starting from C. However, it is possible to start a scale from "any" note. However, if you only play the white keys, you will not play a major scale, but a "modal scale", which is beyond the scope of this article.
- The starting note, or tonic, gives its name to the tonality. You may have heard someone say "it is in the key of C" or something similar. This example means that the basic scale starts from Do, and includes the notes Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do. Notes in a major scale have a specific relationship to each other. Look at the keyboard in the previous image.
- Notice that almost all notes are separated by a tone. However, the Mi and the Fa, and the B and the Do, are separated only by a semitone. Each major scale follows the same pattern: tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone. If your scale starts from G, for example, it could be written like this:
- Note the F #. To keep the intervals between notes correct, the F needs to be raised by a semitone, to create a semitone interval with G. A single accident sign is pretty easy to read, but what would have happened if I had written a major scale by C #? It would look like this:
- Things are more complicated now! In order to reduce confusion and make the music easier to read, tones were created. Each major scale has a particular set of sharps and flats, which are shown at the beginning of the music. Let's go back to the example of the key of G: instead of placing the alteration symbol next to the note, it is placed on the line of the staff indicating the F. This means that during the performance, all the F must be played as F sharp. Here's what the staff looks like:
- This notation is read and executed exactly like the previous one, which did not report any key indications. At the end of the article you will find a complete list of the various shades.
Method 6 of 8: Dynamics and Expression
Step 1. Increase and decrease
Listening to music, you will surely have noticed that the song does not always proceed at the same volume. Some parts are played louder and others more "sweet". These variations are called dynamics.
- If the rhythm and the meter are the heart of the music, the notes and the keys are the brain, then the dynamics certainly represent the voice of the music. Consider the first version in the image.
- Knock on the table: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, etc. Make sure you make each beat equally loud - the sound you get should be similar to that of a helicopter. Now look at the second version in the image.
- Notice the major sign (>) above each fourth note of C. Follow the rhythm with the beat, but this time emphasize each time that bears the mark. Now, instead of a helicopter, the rhythm should be reminiscent of a train. With a little change of accent, we completely changed the character of the music.
Step 2. Play softly, fortissimo or somewhere between these extremes
When you speak you don't always use the same level of voice: in the same way, the musician tells his piece through different modulations, thus giving it more personality.
- There are dozens of symbols to express dynamics, but the most common ones you will encounter are the letters f, m and p:
- p means "softly"
- f means "strong"
- m means "means", divided into mf (mezzoforte) e mp (mid-level).
- To indicate major alterations, we write pp (pianissimo), ppp (very slowly), ff (very strong) e fff (very strong). Try singing the previous example (using solfeggio - the first note of this example is the tonic, or "C") and use the dynamic signs to notice the differences.
Step 3. To better indicate some types of dynamics alterations, two other musical notations are used, which are the "crescendo" and "diminuendo"
"They are a graphical representation of a gradual change in volume, and look like elongated" "symbols.
The crescendo is an increase in dynamics, for example from pianissimo to forte; diminuendo represents a decrease in volume. You will notice that, for these symbols, the "open" side of the symbol represents the loudest dynamic and vice versa. For example, if the music gradually went from forte to piano, you would see f, then a > elongated, finally a p.
Method 7 of 8: Continue Your Education
Step 1. Keep learning
Learning to read music is like learning to read text. It takes some time to learn the basics, but they are quite simple. But there are so many nuances, concepts and skills to learn that it can take a lifetime to do so. Some composers even go so far as to write music on sheet music with spiral staves or entirely without a staff. This article should have given you the foundation to keep learning!
Method 8 of 8: Table of Shades
Step 1. Learn these shades
There is at least one key for each note in the scale, and the experienced student will notice that there are multiple scales for the same note. The G # scale is exactly the same as the A ♭ scale! When you play the piano, and for the purposes of this article, the difference is academic. However, there are some composers - particularly those who write for strings - who would suggest that the scale of A ♭ is slightly "sharper" than that of G #. Here are the shades for all major scales:
- The key of C (or unstressed)
- Key with sharp: G, D, A, Mi, Si, Fa♯, Do♯
- Key with flat: Fa, Si ♭, Mi ♭, A ♭, Re ♭, G ♭, Do ♭
- As you can see in the previous image, going up between the notes with sharps, one sharper is added at a time until all the notes with sharps are in the key of C #. The same goes for flats, with the C ♭ scale having all notes with flats.
- If this is any comfort to you, consider that composers usually write in easy-to-read keys. D major is a very common key for strings, because open strings are closely related to the tonic, D. There are some works that make strings play in E ♭ minor, or brass in E major - these compositions are as hard to write as they are hard for you to read.
Advice
- Be patient. Like when trying to learn a new language, it takes time to learn how to read music. The more you practice, the easier it will be and the better you will become.
- Get the scores of the pieces you like. In any music shop you will find thousands of scores. Reading music while listening to it makes learning more intuitive.
- Learn to sing by reading the score. You don't have to have a loud voice, just train your ear to hear what is written on the paper.
- On IMSLP.org you will find a large archive of musical performances and public domain soundtracks. To improve your music reading, listen to the music while reading the corresponding score.
- Repetition and constant practice are the secret. Make cards or use a notebook to take notes.
- Practice with your instrument. If you play the piano you will surely have to read the music. Many guitarists learn to "listen" rather than read music. To learn to read music, forget everything you already know - learn to read first and then to play!
- Try to have fun, otherwise learning would be much more difficult.
- Practice in a quiet place. It's best to practice on a piano, but if you don't have one, you can find many "virtual" ones online.
- To remember notes more easily, try using Anglo-Saxon notation: A (A), B (Si), C (Do), D (D), E (Mi), F (Fa), G (Sol).
