How to Read Piano Sheet Music for Beginners
You can play the piano without learning to read sheet music, but it can be a relatively time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Learning to read standard musical notation for the piano will allow you to learn quickly and efficiently the music other people wrote. Once you can read piano sheet music, a vast repertoire of music is available for you to read and play. Piano music is written on groups of lines called staves, or staffs, and each stave has a clef that determines the notes to be played. Piano sheet music for beginners typically uses the treble clef. Most piano music uses the bass clef, too, and so two clefs may need to be read simultaneously.
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Instructions
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This sheet music is written in treble clef. Determine whether the piano sheet music is in treble clef, bass clef or both. If the sheet music has two staves and clefs to be played together, it is often helpful for beginners to learn each stave of music separately, then put the two together later.
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Determine each note pitch in the sheet music. The white notes of the piano are named alphabetically, with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G. On the staves, the notes are shown by circular dots. The note to be played is determined by which line, or space, of the stave the note is placed upon.
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Determine whether any of these note pitches are modified by flat (b) or sharp (#) signs. The black notes of a piano keyboard are typically written in sheet music by adding an accidental--a sharp or flat sign--to one of the notes previously mentioned. A sharp sign (#) before a note raises the note's pitch by 1/2 step. On the piano keyboard, this usually means that you would play the black note immediately to the right. The opposite of a sharp is a flat (b), which lowers the pitch of a note 1/2 step. On the keyboard, this usually means that you would play the black note to the immediate left.
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Play the notes in order, visually scrolling from left to right as if you were reading text. How quickly or slowly you move through the notes is determined by their notated rhythm. Most music has a steady pulse or beat, similar to the pulse you can feel on your own wrist. How many notes you play in each beat is determined by the note value. Many variations in rhythm are possible, and it is important to keep a steady mental beat while playing piano music.
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Tips & Warnings
In treble clef, the stave lines--from lowest to highest--represent the notes E, G, B, D and F. An acronym to help remember the notes on the lines in treble clef is "Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit." The spaces of the treble clef stave--from lowest to highest--are the notes F, A, C, and E, spelling out the word "face."
In bass clef, the stave lines--from lowest to highest--represent the notes G, B, D, F and A. An acronym to help remember the notes on the lines in bass clef is "Great Big Dog From Africa." The spaces of the bass clef stave--from lowest to highest--are the notes A, C, E and G. This can be remembered with the acronym "All Cows Eat Grass."
The piano has two flat notes and two sharp notes that are not black keys. E# is the same key as F (because no black key is directly to the right of E), and B# is the same as C for the same reason. Cb is the same as B, and Fb is the same as E.
A quarter note (which looks like a black circle with a vertical stem) lasts for one beat. A half note (an empty circle with a vertical stem) lasts two beats. A whole note (an empty circle with no stem) lasts for four beats. If notes are joined together by horizontal lines, then several of these notes fit into a single beat. Two eighth notes (joined together by one line) fit evenly into one quarter beat; four 16th notes (joined together by two parallel horizontal lines) also fit evenly into one quarter beat.
For beginning piano students, a good piano teacher can be very helpful in relating how to play sheet music.
References
- Photo Credit Piano image by Guillaume BAUDRY from Fotolia.com sheet music image by Dianne Burridge from Fotolia.com
