Piano Lessons for Reading Sheet Music

Series Summary

Music is one of the primary forms of communication on Earth. Whether the use of tones and melodies developed before, after, or in conjunction with spoken language is unknown; yet music is unique in that it helps us to talk to each other in ways that language cannot achieve.

Music creates a connection between people that is not limited by time, distance, or relationship; a song can speak to anyone, anywhere. That’s why music continually changes and grows, is still loved and still proliferates. Music is a living language.

Sheet music is an important tool for preserving accurately the musical information laid down by an artist 5, 50, or 500 years ago. This system of communication, this language, allows musicians to recreate, and thus re-experience, a musical message sent by an artist or composer generations before. The piano is probably the instrument that most commonly uses this method. Piano compositions lend themselves easily to transcription, which has proved to remain faithful to the original intent of the artist. There is also such an amazing wealth of piano sheet music to draw from that it is a respected tradition for students to begin their studies there. In learning from Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, a player learns the fundamentals of the instrument as well.

In this free instructional video series, learn how to read piano sheet music for yourself. Our expert will walk you through a step-by-step tutorial that covers such basics as which notes to play with which hands, what key signatures mean, how to interpret the rhythm of the song, and how to sight read without knowing the song.

Video Transcript

"Hello! I am Annie Brunson on behalf of Expert Village. Today you’re going to learn how to read music for the piano. Of course, you will need to have access to a piano or an electronic keyboard. If you are purchasing a keyboard, make sure you find one with a weighted keys or touch sensitive keys. This means you will be able to play both loudly and softly. Today we’re going to learn the names of the notes, both on the keyboard and on the staff. Let us get started. Take a look at the keyboard, you will notice that the black notes are grouped in groups of 2 and 3. Go to the center of the keyboard, find the two black notes, and go just to the left. That’s middle C. The next note is D, E, F, G, and then it starts at A again, B, and we’re back to C. It keeps on going all the way up. Now lets take a look at the treble staff, the treble clef on the staff. Look at the spaces; you will notice that it spells out ‘face.’ F, the next space is A, the next space is C, the next space is E. Now let us look at the lines. Take the first letter of each word of… Every Good Boy Does Fine, and you got the names of the lines on the staff. Every E, G, B, D and F. Every Good Boy Does Fine. "