I started seriously learning the keyboard a few months back, because I got the Beatles Complete Scores and some other sheet music for Christmas.
The problem is, I suck at reading sheet music. It’s always cumbersome for me to spend 10 minutes figuring out what the music is saying before I can attempt the song. Generally I end up pulling out a sheet of paper and writing the names of the notes out.
I’ve played guitar for five years, so I’m not really used to it. I used to read music way back when I was 11 and played sax in the school band, but the chords and different clefs, key signatures (learning something in B is murder for me), and notes above or below the staff are a pain to me.
Is there any way I can get better at this? I’ve tried using the trainers at musictheory.com but they’ve only helped a little.
I’ve been trying to learn to read for quite some time myself. It is a slow and frustrating process.
Get yourself a beginners level piano book. When you play the exercises, play them painfully slow, I mean really really slowly, but stay in time. If you miss a note just skip it and keep going. If you can’t do it, either you’re going too fast or the exercise is too tough.
I don’t know if this would help, but when I began playing piano, I would keep a piece of paper on the stand next to my music where I had drawn the staffs and written the note names on it. My biggest problem was always remembering where the notes for bass clef were, so this helped me. I hope it helps you.
I’m not sure what musictheory.com has, but for me flashcards with a staff and a note, and then the note name on the back, helped a lot. You could probably make the same type of cards with different chords written out. Goodluck.
I don’t know if these devices will help or not, but you’re getting them anyway.
Treble clef
– Lines: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
– Spaces: FACE
Bass clef
– Lines: Good Boys Do Fine Always
– Spaces: All Cows Eat Grass
There are more here, and they range from the note names to the circle of fifths to the progression of sharps.
My only other advice is to practice. If that fails, you can always write the note names on tape and either put them on the keys or above the keys and slowly wean yourself off that. This depends on how much you love your piano.
And don’t be afraid to mark up your music. When I was learning clarinet, I had to mark all the note names above the staff for a while. Just use pencil; you can always erase it. Practice a lot and whenever you make a mistake, mark it so you remember it next time.
The biggest challenge for someone trying to learn to read music (or re-learn) who already plays fairly well is that it’s really easy to ‘read’ without reading something.
I like the suggestions about getting a basic piano book and really work on the exercises… they’re generally good about getting you to read music. But, be very intentional about your reading. Don’t go by ear or by memory; read the music.
It’ll take some work, but the payoff will be grand.
I guess I’m kind of in the same position as you. I am a trombone player, but I started out playing some piano and percussion, so I have properly learned the bass and treble cleffs and can read from a staff. However, being a symphonic trombone player requires me to recognize and be able to play music in the tenor and alto cleffs (the “C clefs”) and I don’t have much experience with them. My past of trombone playing was only band music, and for some reason, the people who write and publish band music very rarely, if ever, use tenor cleff (and never use alto cleff as far as I know). Right now it’s a grueling process learning this stuff because I’m so used to reading from the more common cleffs most of the time. Anyhow, here’ some hints that I’ve learned which I hope will help you:
[ul]
[li]Look over your music, but do not play it. Give it a good look over before you start, and try to remember what is going on in the tune. Try to summarize the melody in your head as best you can.[/li][li]Instead of playing it on the piano, just name the notes off as they come along. You don’t have to sing their corrosponding pitches or the rhythm; just only read the letter names out loud for the notes one at a time. Do this until you do it without flaws, then go on to playing the piece.[/li][li]Take your time! With time, you’ll get used to it. Believe me, two weeks ago I couldn’t read tenor cleff without writing the notes in, now I don’t need to write them in (but I do still fumble a bit).[/li][li]Here’s a tricky one, but it’s important: Try not to write the letter names above the notes. It’s a bad habit. This discourages you playing from the staff like you should be, instead you are playing from the letters your have written on the music. You CAN however, pick up a theory excersise book and practice by writing in the notes there.[/li][li]TAKE YOUR TIME![/li][/ul]
It sounds like you’re looking for a royal road (as somebody said about geometry). There’s not one. Practice, keep at it. It will get easier. The aids others have suggested will probably help but practicing is the heart of it.
(slight hijack) in high school I played the flute, and at one point I got a piccolo and the band director, of course, trotted out “Stars & Stripes Forever.” I looked at the music and thought–“what are these notes!?” 7 lines above the staff . . . whatever. I ended up playing it pretty much by ear, they were a full octave higher than I was used to (of course) and I didn’t have time to count the lines.
Some folks might suggest that, instead of reading the full scores for the song, you instead read the lead sheets (or “fake sheets”) just like you would when playing guitar. That way, you only have to read one staff at a time (and it’s always a treble clef staff), and you only have to read one note at a time (the melody note) on that staff. Then you play the chords in your left hand, by using the chord names written on the lead sheet, and just improvise the way you play the chords (e.g. arpeggiation, repeating the chord on every beat, bass note on beats 1&3 and the rest of the chord on beats 2&4, etc.).
Of course, the folks who suggest this are also trying to sell books with titles like “play piano right this minute!”, so take it with a grain of salt.
I know this will sound incredibly obvious, but you just need to read a lot of music. You will get to a point where you are perceiving patterns and chunks instead of discrete notes and rhythms. Just like in language, when you are confronted with an unfamiliar or nonsensical word–
canthwermolite!
–you don’t have to parse it letter by letter, but can see the common root particles and combinations that help you to pronounce it (rhymes with Xanth worm polite).
Also, get some manuscript paper and write out melodies that you know. Write Twinkle Twinkle in a few keys, write the melody to the Star Wars theme, commercial jingles (“Byyyyy Mennen!”), Hey Jude, etc–all in a few different keys. You will be amazed at how much this helps your reading.
My reading is still bad but some things helped me at least not be utterly useless.
How’s your understanding of theory, you do practice your scales and arpeggios don’t you? (that includes B major). Once you don’t need to keep reminding yourself what notes are sharp/flat in a particular key things get a lot easier, you just have to interpret the accidentals
Read everything you can get your hands on, don’t just read the same pieces over and over.
I’ve found it’s a skill (like riding a bike) that doesn’t go away. I’ve lapsed once or twice not practicing for months if not a year or more but been surprised that I could still do it when I started again.
There’s various elements that you can break reading music down into…
Without the instrument complicating things, you can sing through the melody, ignoring the rhythm. Then you can tap out the rhythm, not needing to worry about the pitches. Then you can combine these - and you can carry on tapping the rhythm, or just the beat, whichever you find easier. Then you’re ready to do each stage again, using the keyboard.
With some particularly compex music, I still need to go through all of these stages.