How to Read Sheet Music Better

Besides knowing your notes and rests, you also need to have a basic knowledge of Italian terms used in sheet music.

Besides knowing basic music theory and music notation, reading sheet music takes a lot of practice. The more you practice reading sheet music the better you will be, but if you're not so good at it, you must have enough patience to keep on reading music to obtain more proficiency. If you know all of the music notation, and the only thing that is stopping you is applying your knowledge to playing or singing written music, then this article will help you with the information on how to practice to become a better sheet music reader.

Instructions

1. If you really want to read music better, then you should at least know all of the basic terms and symbols from memory and you should recognize all the notes in less than one second. Either memorize all of the music symbols, or always have a music dictionary with you, to look up any terms you don't understand.

2. Before you sight play or sing any music, look over the music with just your eyes. Notice: Is there a certain pattern that the notes are following? Is there a big change someplace? This is especially important if you are reading music on a more difficult level because you got to be able to read sometimes all six notes that are being played at once; for example, three notes in your left hand and three notes in your right hand.

3. Start reading music on an easier level first, but always make sure that it is something you had never seen before; however, reading something twice or three times is recommended, in order to double check yourself. You can start off with kids' music books or church hymns. If you just beginning then you should start with reading the melody lines only and once you get great at reading melody lines, start reading other lines as well. If you're in a more advanced level and have read music before, then you should stick to reading music on your level, but make sure you read something new every day.

4. Play or sing through one piece and then move on to the next one. When you're focusing on reading music, it is good to just move on from one thing to another. This is why you need to have a designed time just for reading music, aside from practicing your instrument or vocals. Practicing your vocals or an instrument is extremely important to becoming a better music reader since improving your technique will help you read music faster.

5. Singers that do not play any instruments should at least be able to give themselves a first note of a melody line before they can try to sight read a piece, unless they have perfect pitch. Most people only have relative pitch. Singing in choirs helps singers tremendously in reading music, as long as the group uses sheet music.

Tips & Warnings

• Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day for music reading practice, but if you want to make some real progress spend one hour a day, five days a week.

• If you ever spend too much time without reading music, you might end up losing the skill completely, and have to start learning all over again.