How to Read Music Notes?

There are various manners in which music notes can be written. And, it not exactly difficult to read music notes. There are some very simple steps and factors that can be effectively used to learn sheet music. The following article is a column to the query, 'how to read music notes'. To know more about reading music notes, read ahead…

 

The conventional style of writing music is with the help of staff and stave. There are many different methodologies of writing music. The guitar tabs is a style of writing music numerically, or the swara is a format of writing music notes for Indian classical music. These methods of writing music are however not universal, and are restricted only to some selected fields within music. Staff and stave, notation is however the universal language of music, as it is basically written in a symbolic form. The notations that are denoted through this symbolic language, can be played on almost any musical instrument and can also be sung. Due to these reasons, any person who is planning to become a musician must definitely learn to read music notes.

How to Read Music Notes?

As mentioned above, the standard staff and stave music notation is a symbolic language. Hence, it is very important to learn the meaning of all basic symbols. The following is a small list of music notation symbols that would help you in reading music notes.

Notes:

In order to learn how to read music notes, one must definitely grasp the concept of a note. The note is basically a dot on the staff and stave, and denotes a single note such as 'C' or 'D'. The easy way to read music notes is to start recognizing the notes as fast as possible. Once you start defining the note as a reflex, you will also be able to play the same, simultaneously as you read it.

Clefs

The next important aspect of learning sheet music is to learn the use of clefs. The clefs are written on the extreme right hand side of staffs and stave. A clef defines the ovate on which the particular notes are to be played. On instruments such as the piano, there are many compositions where one has to play multiple octaves at the same time. This skill is rather difficult to master.

Time Signatures

Another very important aspect of such notations is learning and using time signatures. Time signatures can be divided into two types, namely the ones that define the 'beat' of a particular composition and the ones that define the beat of a notation. The notational time signatures are defined by various symbols such as the Staccato and tie.

Rests

The last among the basics of music notations is the use of rests. A rest is a small resonating silence, within the composition. The rest is often termed as the 'signature that touches the heart'. In a rest, the note that is played earlier resonates to emphasize the feel of the composition. Rests are pretty abstract, and are hence extremely difficult to master.

Tips to Read Music Notes
'How do you read music notes?' is a very common query. The following are some simple tips that can be used to learn to read music notes.

• One of the easiest ways to learn the staff and stave music notes is to accept that it is a language of symbols and has its own grammar. This makes learning easier and quicker.
• Start to read and play simultaneously. This would help you in reading more complicated music, and will also help you to read and figure out the structure and arrangement of a particular composition.
• Learning the signatures is also very important as every signature is like an alphabet. To get the gist of the composition right, one must be able to recognize and play the signatures.
• It is also essential to know all the elements of music, and the feel of every note and signature.

To know about sheet music and music notation, read:

• Learn to Read Music
• Piano Notes for Songs

Learning to read music notes is not a very difficult task. At the same time, it is also not a very easy one too. A sincere and dedicated effort is sure to lead you to success. I hope that I have answered your query, 'how to read music notes?'.