How to Read Music (Introduction)

It seems as though reading music has become a lost art. In a contemporary climate, which has provided greater technology at entry-level prices, it's much easier to attain one's goal than ever before. Though, I do feel a very fundamental understanding of music reading is helpful to any musician.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Eyes
• Ears
• An open mind
• The willingness to learn

1. 
   Manuscript paper

   The best place to start is at the beginning. The paper on which music is written is called manuscript paper. The notes are written on a staff. The staff is made up of five lines and four spaces.

2. 
   Treble clef

   At the beginning of the staff is a sign called a clef. The clef can be either treble or bass register and indicates the instrument's register. For instance, a trumpet or oboe would exist within the treble register. Whereas a bass would receive a bass clef.
   
   Note: A piano, for instance, will have both clefs because it's ranges extends to both the bass and treble register. Both registers will have it's own respective staff.

3. 
   Bar with bar lines

   The next thing to understand is that without some sort of "limitation" the music could go on forever. For this, there are bar lines. The bar lines create a definite start and stop point for the music to be performed. The bar lines divide the staff into bars or measures.

4. 
   Time signature

   The next symbol is, what appears to look like a mathematic fraction. In fact it is a fraction called a time signature. It determines the overall time of the musical passage. The top number represents how many beats are played, and the bottom number represents the value of the note being played.
   
   For example, a musical phrase that exists within a a bar with a time signature of 4/4 tells us that four quarter notes will be played.
   
   Now that you have a grasp of what's going on I hope that it is less intimidating than expected.
   
   Stayed tuned for second installment of how to read music.

[neilj]

on 1/18/2009 Step 2.
a) "...instrument's register..." That's jargon. What does this mean? When providing definitions, I recommend not trying to be economical with word usage, ie., use more words, not fewer.

b) Bass clef? I don't see one. How? Where?

Step 4 "It determines the overall time of the musical passage." What?