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Add to FavoritesLearning to read music requires three major areas of effort: time, work discipline, and an instrument. Written music is like a written book. There are languages to learn. There is the language of the key of the music. There is the language of the rhythm of the music. There is the language of tone. There is the language of how the tone is to be executed with the instrument.
At the basic level, knowing which key to sing or play in is essential. The key of the song tells us why the song is joyful, mournful, mysterious, or complex. The minor key is generally associated with sadness, but there are many songs which are wonderful expressions of joy, written completely in the minor key!
O Del Mio Dolce Ardor is a fine example of a passionate and joyful expression of love in the minor key!
To make things easier, instead of each note being marked with a sharp, flat or neutral symbol, a number of sharps or flats are presented at the beginning of the music. This tells the music reader which scale, from the "C" scale to the "G" scale, applies to the song. The reader then knows when an individual note should be natural, or a sharp or a flat. If the key changes, a new set of sharps or flats, or the key of "C", (which has no sharps or flats) is noted.
So, for knowing which key to play in,as well as how to quickly construct the chords of the song, it is essential to memorize the number of sharps and flats for each key.
There are whole, half, quarter, sixteenth, thirty second, and sixty fourth notes. There are triplets, grace notes, and other special designations for the speed and way in which a note is to be played.
Knowing the rhythm structures is the next essential part of reading music. Whether a straight tune with three counts to a bar, or a complicated syncopated rhythm, knowing the rhythmic structure of a bar of music leads to knowing the heart and soul of the song.
The song begins with a time signature. The time signature sets the pace and the flow of the song. There are many fractions of time available for a song. As with the key, the rhythm can change throughout the song.
Scott Joplin: "Maple Leaf Rag"
Then there are the clefs. It's simple. There is a treble clef with lines and spaces. For the spaces, remember FACE. For the treble lines, remember Every Good Boy Does Fine, or EGBD.
There is a base Clef (the backward "C"). For the Spaces, remember All Cows Eat Grass, or ACEG . For the lines, remember Good Boys Do Fine Always, or GBDF. These must be memorized. There are ledger lines which are below or above the clefs. Those must be memorized, too.
This allows the music reader to look at a note and know what to sing or play! The basic notations of written music are guides that tell us all that we need to know, the note to play or sing, the length of the note, whether to hold the note for a while or let it go and move on. There are more advanced notations and instructions which tell us the volume, the sweetness, or the attitude of the section.
So yes, learning to read music is difficult. It takes time and effort. It takes repetition. It takes memorizing. It takes playing or singing or humming or tapping. But as with reading the written word, it becomes another skill that we use, but don't think about when we use it.
Then, our knowledge takes us into whole new worlds of experience, whether we play an instrument seriously, or whether we just enjoy listening to music.
Learn more about this author, Elizabeth M. Young.
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No
Like learning anything new, learning to read the musical alphabet is much the same. With the will to learn, the patience to try and the determination to follow through, learning to read music is not that difficult. Of course, not everyone learns the same or wants to learn, which may make it seem that learning to read music is hard to do.
Some easily pick up how to read music on their own by way of theory books, instructional websites, learning manuals, or one of the many other self guided learning courses offered these days. The good old fashion piano teacher has to be the best choice though, especially for students requiring more structure and face to face instruction than a self taught program may offer. Most piano teaches are registered with the Royal Conservatory of Music and teach techniques and theory registered with the Conservatory. If you are planning a career involving your musical training, a teacher of this sort will be most beneficial to you. The best and easiest choice for which type of musical learning will work best for you depends wholly on your individual preference.
One of the best tricks to help children (and the big kids at heart) find it easier learning to read music is to find rhymes or easily remembered sentences to match the notes, scales or sets on each the bass and treble staffs to use as memory tricks. Once the basics of this new language are understood the student then moves on to the more complicated theory of it all. The notes and theory soon start to make more sense as the two seem so correlated. To be able to sit looking over, what to some might seem as six sheets of scrambled scribbles, and hear a symphony roar in your mind with not a sound in the air, is a magical experience. Once you learn to unscramble the scribbles, notes of different lengths, slurs, rests, fortes and codas unravel themselves to create a beautiful piece of music to express this beautiful form or art.
So, is it hard to learn to how to read music? No, but yes it can be. A child that may not be interested in learning to read music will guaranteed make if extremely hard, if not impossible to learn. On the other hand, an older child or adult with the interest to learn this new skill should not find it difficult at all. As a child pushed through many years of piano and music theory lessons, I thought it painstakingly difficult at the time. After the hours spent learning this language with fingertips hard on the keys, whether it really was or was not difficult, I am so thankful for the lifelong skill I learned.
http://www.thecanadi anencyclopedia.com/i ndex.cfm?PgNm=TCE&am p;Params=U1ARTU00030 50
http://www.rcmusic.c a/ContentPage.aspx?n ame=home
Learn more about this author, Jessica A. Tucker.
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