How to Read Music (The Notes)

So with this new installment of "music reading" I'd like to introduce you to the notes.

The notes are derived from the chromatic scale, which is a series of twelve notes effectively spelling all the notes.

The notes are spelled in ascending order: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#.

And descending order: Ab, G, Gb, F, E, Eb, D, Db, C, B, Bb, A

The order in which the notes move is indicated by a sharp (#) or flat (b) sign. If they are moving up in pitch it is given a (#). If moving down a (b). For instance the notes F# and Gb appear differently, yet sound identical. This is referred to as enharmonic.

Now that you are acquainted with all the notes possible, lets move on and focus on recognizing them on manuscript paper.

In this exercise we will cover only the natural notes (no # or b), which corresponds to the white keys of the piano.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A pair of eyes
• An open mind
• The love of music

1. 
   Reading from bottom to top the notes are F, A, C,E

   So we will begin with a staff that shows the notes that correspond to the spaces within it.
   
   The notes are spelled F, A, C, E

2. 
   Reading from bottom to top the notes are E,G,B,D,F

   The next photo show the notes that rest on the lines.
   
   These notes are E, G, B, D, F.
   
   I remember my sixth grade band instructor offering an easy way of remembering these notes with this little phrase: (E)very (G)ood (B)oy (D)oes (F)ine.

3. 
   Reading from bottom to top the notes are E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E

   The next photo displays all notes beginning with E and ending with F.
   
   It incorporates notes on both lines and spaces.

[SuzDoyleMusic]

on 7/27/2008 I've noticed that visual learners tend to pick up notation sight-reading better than auditory learners (who tend to learn better by ear) and kinesthetic learners (who do better with shapes and patterns). For the latter, it is helpful to point out that the up & down of the keyboard (left and right) is rotated from the vertical up & down of the staff. Am enjoying your articles!
Suz

[MusicalMommy]

on 3/9/2008 Great explanation!

Just wanted to add that if you are teaching a student who is not yet at the age of reason (i.e., a toddler, preschool, or young child), a wonderful resource is a little-known DVD called Trebellina that I used with my own children when they were 2 and 4 years old. [The kind of explanation you provide probably won't work with a person who is still drooling and crawling! LOL!]

It teaches babies to read music in a very unique way crafted just for them (kind of an immersion/absorption method like learning a language). It teaches other useful musical stuff too, but what was just unbelievable was how my kids were able to read music at obscenely young ages (3 and 4)!

Keep up the good work!