Someone who hasn’t taken a music class might look at the ‘flytracks’ on the paper and wonder how anyone makes sense of it. Some people play music and NEVER learn to read it. Playing by ear comes natural to them.
Some can’t play by ear; only read. Without music to read they are helpless. They learned early and their first experience came by the music of the rote memorization method.
We learn the system established through traditional music lessons in which we learn to read notes. Several hundred years of development went into the building of this system.
Notes are placed on a staff. The staff has 5 lines and 4 spaces. Notes are positioned on a line or space.
The eight notes of a scale are all placed on the staff. The high notes are placed on the treble clef staff and the lower notes are placed on the bass clef staff.
When you place the two staffs together that is known as a great or grand staff.
Accompanying notes in music staffs are key signatures. Key signatures basically tell the player what key the song is played in. More specifically it tells the player which notes get special treatment with either a flat or sharp. Flats and sharps lower or raise notes by a half step.
Next to take into account is the time signature. Depicted by one number placed on another. An example would be 44 which has significance. Here the note on bottom is the number of beats in one measure and the upper note indicates 4 equal notes per measure.
When mastering the reading of music every beginner must know this. Additional information is also read by the player and is learned later. Things such as tempo, dynamics, volume, styles etc. Extra techniques such as these enhance the musicality of the piece. Only getting the correct note doesn’t add much to musicality. Computers that play midi sound files are an example of playing unmusically.
Learning to read music, therefore, requires much more than merely reading the notes and playing them at the correct point in the music. You must add expression and interpretation to sound musical.
Tags: bass clef staff, grand staff, key signatures, learning to read music, memorization method, midi sound files, music staffs, rote memorization, time signature, treble clef