Tips For Reading Piano Music

Source:Internet    Posted by:Learntopianoonline.com   Date:2010-01-14   Click:

With just a little success behind you, you can tackle the task of learning to read music. Of course there are a number of successful musicians that aren’t able to read music. They can simply listen to a song and play it by ear. They are able to make improvisations on simple things to deliver elaborate variations of well known songs. These musicians seem to know their instruments just as well as a singer knows his or her own voice.

You might be the type of person that can do that. You will learn more a little later about chords and improvisation. However, if you are just learning about the piano, it’s very likely that you will get more help from written music. Further, when you learn how to read music you will open a new world for yourself. You will be able to play songs that you have never heard before. Not only will you be able to play this music, but you can repeat your performance anytime you want to because the sheet music guides you note for note.

There is a great deal to learn. You will have to find out how each note is depicted. You will have to know what the staffs are that the notes are written on and what they look like. You will have to learn how rhythm, sharps, and flats are represented. Once you learn these basics, you can start to build on the knowledge.

You can really learn a lot just by looking at a piece of music. If you already have a songbook, some sheet music, or a hymnal, take a moment to really look at it. If you don’t have any kind of written music, either buy or borrow some.

One of the first things you will notice is the groupings of five horizontal lines. If the music is written for both hands, you will see that two of these groups of lines are joined together with a longer line along the side. The horizontal lines are the staff. You can purchase staff paper that is marked with the lines.

Along the left side of the staffs you will find the clef markings. The treble clef marking is for the upper staff. The treble clef symbol looks like a fancy backwards S that has a line going through it vertically and curling underneath. You will start out by playing the notes on the treble clef with the right hand.

On the lower staff you will find the bass clef sign. It looks a lot like a backward C with two dots on the right of it. The bass staff indicates the lower notes that are played with the left hand. The upper and lower staffs usually repeat several times down the sheet. Take a look at your written music and locate each of the staffs. Once you do this you will be ready to learn to read the notes.