How to Read Music Fast All You Need to Learn How to Read Music Fast and Easy

1. 

   violin_duchess86
   October 12th, 2009 - 04:34

   how to read musichttp://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Read-Music

   I know what you mean about questions that could be answered just by Googling them. I tend to think people want to accumulate points and just like Q&A better than simply Googlins something. How boring. And yes, very lazy.
   On the other hand, I have not answered any of the questions to which you refer. You are right, it is extremely easy to learn to read music. I have three year old students who read music. All you need to know is the alphabet from ‘A’ to ‘G’. I’ll continue to not answer them if you won’t!
2. 

   tucomena
   October 12th, 2009 - 21:09

   Music Reading

   I think the reason for their reluctance to learn how to read music
   is a little bit of everything you mentioned…depending on the person, but I also think it is because people think it is MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT REALLY IS.

   This is what I keep finding in my daily experience as a teacher. I have to simplify and present things in such a way that they can easily understand them, theory, to begin with, and so on. Many people think that it is all a complete “mystery”, but no only a mystery, but a very difficult one.

   So, the best thing is to seek advice from their teachers or any teacher that really likes to help.

   Another thing, I always hear that you people who learn the notes not directly as Do.Re.Mi, etc. but with common names of each letter e-g-b.d, etc. have it a bit easier. You even have little sentences to remember them…Like “Every good boy ..etc.” However, In my country (Peru) we don’t do that..We have to learn which note is Do, which is Re, and so on.

   But again, It is still not as hard as many think. I think this is the fact that should be stressed.
   .
3. 

   relaxin
   October 13th, 2009 - 13:06

   Music Reading

   I agree that learning to read music is not that hard and is one aspect of musicianship in which innate talent doesn’t come into the equation, doesn’t matter if you’re tone deaf you can still learn the concepts of musical notation.

   I think the combination of “music creation” tools like “garage band” various tablatures (which I think are much harder to decipher) and “how-to” videos on sites like YouTube allow people to imitate the act of making music, some of the tutorials are really well done. Here’s a great one I saw last week.=-z90GrwsyiI

   The problem is these new music makers can’t help themselves as far as learning a composition they “want” to learn. They have to wait and are limitied by programs or tutorials or YA! members willing to write it out in ABCD. This is sad because if you learn to read music and a little tiny bit of music theory not only will sheet music open up doors but their playing by ear will improve by leaps and bounds too.

   As far as what to do here on YA, I say ignore the questions and seek out another question that interests you. Or just quickly recommend basic musicianship sites such as this
   The “lessons” drop down menu has multiple clear and easy to understand introductions to all aspects of note reading.

   There has always been a large contingent of “ear” guitar and piano people but I really have noticed an up swing in winds, brass and strings wanting pop tunes and classical melodies in “ABCD”. For transposing instruments I can understand some of the problem, they can read music but when they play with their friends (guitar) the sheet music is in horrors of all horrors concert pitch, so even if we point them to notation it’s of no use and thus the request “Can I have pop song X in notes like ABDC for clarinet” This is because in band the teacher will say ok were playing the concert Bb flat scale, clarinets what scale are you playing?? So that concept is drilled into there heads but the idea that they would need to transpose concert pitch notation (piano song books) is a huge stretch even for some college kids. All their parts are in Bb/Eb whatever so they learn to read their music not music in general, big hole in music education and as far as I can tell it’s pretty universal.
4. 

   i. jones
   October 15th, 2009 - 14:29

   How to Sight Read Music

   Living in the age of instant gratification, there is a reluctance to learn. Everything must be spoon-fed, and even the slightest bit of difficulty is met with whining.

   I’m not a great reader of music … even after ~40 years of reading … but I can read music, and I can accurately work out the rhythms, dynamics, and chordal structure. Not so with the “musicians” I play with. They don’t even want to see notation. All they want is a chord sheet and lyrics.

   You and I are not going to be able to “encourage” people to do their own work. We can moan and groan all day long, but in the end, you’ll find that those who do care about reading music, studying homework, and researching already use the tools at their disposal. They’re not hanging around on Y!A asking for illegal freebie downloads, synopsis of Shakespearean literature, note names for Fur Elise, or the birth and death dates of Mozart. The _smart_ ones already have those answers. It’s the lazy ones that ask categorize Andrew Lloyd Weber, Yiruma, and Credence Clearwater Revival as classical.

   … and when called on the fact they posted in the wrong category, are perfectly happy to blame Yahoo! because that was the automatically generated selection … they can’t even bother to post appropriately.
5. 

   mephistopheles
   October 18th, 2009 - 02:11

   Learn How to Read Music Notes

   I would guess that such people besides being inert’ly lazy sloths are for the most part dilettantes,
   as surely any self respecting and serious musician or student would put forth the necessary effort at learning and upon grasping these things would rejoice and take appropriate pride in doing so..
   That is how it works as regards learning with anything in life,understanding the how? and why? rather than just the what?
6. 

   geekchick
   October 21st, 2009 - 10:27

   Learn How to Read Music Notes

   I agree we need to stop posting the ABCD for people who won’t be bothered to learn to read music. With so many theory books available for free, legal download on, there’s no reason we should do their homework for them, or excuse them from responsibility. (What’s even worse than doing their research for them is “Can you answer this question at website X” when you know they are trying to get you to type in their homework for them at the grading site. I’ve been tempted to copy/paste some doctoral dissertations on unrelated topics in those cases.)

   I think it must be our responsibility not to put up with this kind of behaviour. I personally am sick and tired of answering the same five questions, day in and day out, when we could be doing something much more productive.

   I can write a very simple article on how to read music and refer everyone to it. Or we can refer everyone to any one of the great number of websites that tells how to read music that exist already. You’re right, we have to stop mollycoddling these children and let them expend some personal effort.

   There will always be those who will type out 1500 notes for someone, I suppose. But if the top contributors refuse to play, and we start having our own discussions, perhaps Y!A will quit being a playground for the lazy and dilettantes and become a productive resource for those who really wish to share knowledge.
7. 

   Muse - Viktor's Mommy
   October 23rd, 2009 - 21:07

   Music Reading

   What baffles me is how it seems as though they’ve learned enough about piano/other instrument to know what pitches correspond with the letters, yet they see reading music as being too difficult. Same amount of effort goes into either method, really.

   We can’t encourage or push people to learn to read music; we’re not their parents, nor is their education our problem. Also, having a policy like refusing to type the answer they want may make sense, but simply ignoring those questions makes more sense. Y!A isn’t going to not allow such questions, obviously. So, we need to just deal with it. If it bugs you this much, then just don’t read the questions.

   Edit: I’m rather surprised when I hear about elementary school music classes nowadays. When I was in first grade (age 6), we had music class once a week (as many schools do), and the teacher taught us so much. We didn’t just sing the little songs in the books, but she also made up games so we’d learn note values, time signatures, rests, and basic dynamic symbols. That was just the first of many good music learning experiences I had, but that one has stayed with me. It makes me sad to hear that other classes weren’t this way and that this is rarely the case nowadays.
8. 

   brown hat
   October 24th, 2009 - 09:24

   Music Reading

   As with anything else, reading music can only happen with commitment. I started on a simple instrument, the saxette, in a class situation, and we all learned the notes, the key signatures, the sharps and flats, the clefs, and everything else you need to know about the page of music. The members of the class went on to other instruments with the basic knowledge firmly established. I chose violin, and later piano and organ. The basic class was invaluable, and I have never been sorry for putting in the time and effort to be able to read music. I constantly practice sight reading, and it gets better all the time.
9. 

   duhmightybeanz
   October 26th, 2009 - 04:16

   Music Reading

   i agree with u and i shall star this question as well…

   Now everything must be spoon fed to them/us(im 15 but im not like that)…useless ppl aren’t they?just leeching off ppl’s hard work or in this case their time and effort due to their laziness…i fear the forthcoming generation as well…since their mostly the same height or taller than me as well as wat would become of them…

   I also have ppl requesting me at school to play pieces like Apologise and the like…when i replied them i only know Classical they get pissed off for no reason…a classic example of how they treat musicians as machines where u insert a coin and they play wat u like…

   I have absolutely no idea how difficult is it to read music or even keep track of beats…the section leader in my choir had to ask me how many beats was it when i saw the sheet music i nearly laughed…4 whole bars with semibreves in them…how hard can it be to count?

   I dun think we should have a section policy as ppl need their rights on this forum but we have the right to stand firm and tell these brain dead ppl to learn to read music instead of relying on us…the ppl of the Classical forum…Introducing websites such as can be a way where it could make learning music quick and easy…
10. 

    Westie
    October 27th, 2009 - 10:11

    How to Sight Read Music

    As a singer, I am frustrated by the number of young people wanting to learn the craft, but not prepared to put in the hard yard and learn to read music.

    A lot of kids these days are wanting to travel the path of Musical Theatre and probably many could have some success in this area, due to the fact that kids are becoming ‘multi-skilled’ in that area. Schools are teaching them drama, dance and music, unfortunately in that order too.

    As a teacher, when a youngster asks for lessons, my first question is ‘Can you play the piano or any other instrument?’ – usually the answer is ‘No’, so I suggest some piano lessons for a good grounding in music. And anyway if they are serious about their dream of musical theatre, they should be able to read music and play a little piano.

    Another responder mentioned music in schools. Why is it that schools nowadays don’t recognise the importance of music in the holistic education of our kids? The learning of music and especially an instrument, has been proven to improve numeracy and literacy. It frustrates me that the education system does not recognise this. For those of you out there that are musicians and either did music at school, played in bands, orchestras etc, or sang in shows – How much fun did you have? Think of all the things you learnt, apart from having fun – discipline and teamwork to name a couple, it certainly kept you off the streets and out of trouble!

    I also believe that there is not enough music offered to our kids at Primary school level. We did a lot when I was at school, including have a crotchety old nun take us for singing and choir lessons each week. The school was also involved in music festivals with other schools and what a great experience that was as a youngster. These days the kids don’t seem to do any singing or learn anything about music until they get to secondary school. And, the little singing that I have seen in school is accompanied by CD’s.

    I do agree with you that people seem to be taking the easy way out and just asking the questions, hoping that someone will answer so they don’t have to do the work. Unfortunately I think it’s a sign of the times. The dumbing down of society and the lack of enthusiasm to succeed. In our school system there is nothing to provide motivation for the student to strive for excellence anymore. So why should they do it themselves, when someone else knows the answer?
11. 

    toutvas bien
    October 30th, 2009 - 14:48

    Learning to Read Music

    when I have to push reading (which isn’t as often as one would think after reading many of the questions in this forum) … I do the “how much easier do you want? a language with only 7 letters?!!!! If reading music is only .. say 7 steps, far too many take 5 and then refuse to finish their progress …. all we can do is refuse to answer those questions, many times we get penalized for answering (usually with sarcasm) that they have to learn to read. Yahoo doesn’t allow wit

    Edit have you also noticed how often the Suzuki method is pushed in this forum … one that doesn’t make reading a necessity
12. 

    Lady Prism
    November 2nd, 2009 - 17:26

    Music Reading

    I think there are 2 issues that contibute to this problem:
    1) a mass embrace of mediocrity
    2) a highbrow attitude

    Viktor’s Mom related a story of her early instruction of music… I dare say this is a rarity. When I was in early music classes, we were not taught to read music, notation, value… nothing. We “learned” to play recorders by the teacher yelling out numbers- and these numbers had NO relation to the music, and if it did, it was not made clear. She would yell out “6″… and we put 6 fingers down. When not “playing” the recorder, we sang trite little songs like “On Top of Spaghetti”, with the obligatory hand movements. That was the extent of our musical training until the age of 12, and then was no longer mandatory.
    If a piece of sheet music was brought in and we asked the teacher how to play it, she would respond with “Oh, I think it’s a little above you. You don’t really need to learn THAT to play pretty music.” So we learned that you didn’t have to work, think, or do anything to play music… and the poor kid that railed against it and tried to learn to read music anyways, usually failed the class- written up for “inability to follow instruction”.
    We learned that mediocrity- doing things half-a$$ed was the way to get it done… the way to succeed. And as many of you know, this bled into ALL studies (English, History, Math) through high school… and into the 9-5 workplace of today.
    Also, even now at a kindergarden age, we have begun “teaching to the test”. We don’t teach the kids how to think or reason or UNDERSTAND how things work, but simply to memorize and regurgitate. It is incredibly hard indeed to read music when you don’t know HOW or WHY something works… like why learn to recognize and play E# when the composer could have written F? It’s all theory, but those kids don’t know how to question it. That’s a whole ‘nother rant, though. LOL

    As I have gotten older, and had more and more exposure to the world of professional music, I have run across the 2nd contributing factor to people’s utter contempt to learning… the highbrow-I’m-better-than-you “musicians”. So often, in person AND here on Y!A, I see young kids completely enamored by a new music that they’ve found… something that speaks to them and brings sparkle to their lives- and god forbid it be classical or jazz.
    I was chaperoning a Chamber music concert for about 300 middle school and high school band students a few years ago… after the 1st movement of a 4 movement piece, they all applauded. One of the musicians stood up and said “It is impolite to clap until the entire work is done, so please hold your applause.” The chamber group played the next movement… and it was followed by applause. This same person got up, took his instrument, and walked off the stage! Not only was it unprofessional, but it made every one of those kids feel stupid, ill-educated, and discouraged. Wow… why would they want to learn any more if those are the kinds of people they have to deal with?
    Even here on Y!A, there are tons of questions like “What is this song?” And inevitably there is someone who responds with “It’s not a song, it’s a piece.” Generally, this is said as a way to educate, but I have seen it said in such a manner as to be nothing more than rude… and how many average Joe’s know the difference without having been to college to learn the terminology? Who says you have to be educated to enjoy music of any kind? Well, the highbrow musicians, obviously. Not all musicians are like this, but the few who are give a bad name to the rest of us- and discourage a whole generation of aspiring musicians with their snotty attitudes. These people have forgotten where they came from and forgotten that at some point, they also didn’t know how to play or read music… and they treat anyone who is not as “advanced” as they are as pond scum.

    This brings me to your dillema- do we try to teach these people how easy it really is to read music, try to teach them to overcome the mediocrity that is so accepted? Or do we assume they are just lazy, or translate that laziness into stupidity, and tell them where to shove it? I know at some point, we all close our eyes and shake our head… but is it out of dissapointment or out of a superiority complex?

    In all honesty, some of my early answers to these questions were “A, C, E, B, D” and I told them the notes. Now, mostly I just ignore these questions, faced with thoughts akin to your very question: “What should we do?” On more than one occassion, I have emailed the poster and offered help. I give them hints and clues to figure out the main melody, trying to recognize intervals, etc… I have them write it and email me, and I check it for them, responding with techniques and ideas to further help them learn. But I can’t do this for everyone, nor do I really want to.

    HOWEVER, I think that is the best way to answer… get them started, give them support, and let them know that it’s not hard. As they see that they CAN do it, where they take it is up to them. Maybe we should all answer this way- not by emailing them- but giving them general ideas, hints, and a new way of THINKING (note- not regurgitating), and sites they can go to for help if they get stuck. We should do so with sincerity and excitement, and an underlying tone of encouragment… not with a derogitory attitude. The people who are not affraid of a challenge will jump to it, taking our advice and adding it to experience. Those who want to be lazy will just repost the same question… if that’s the case, just answer the SAME way, til they either figure it out or go away.

    I guess that sounds a little harsh, but it goes back to the old adage of “teach them to fish”… or let them starve.

    Thanks for letting me rant!

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