Yellowspotlight89 asked:
Okay, so for my voice class we have to learn to read sheet music. you know, the whole FACE and Every Good Boy stuff. I have all of this down and understand.
The problem I have is identifying the notes above and below the lines. I know C because it always has a line through it. The other notes, when its clef and bass and its below or above the line, I just never can get it. Can anyone help me out here?
Tags: Clef, How To Read Music, Music Sheet
Learning to Read Music
You know – I struggled for a while with it but it just becomes one of thse things that just clicks.
What you should try (as geeky as it sounds) is test yourself. Try looking at pictures of notes and see if you can remember what they are. It helped me ok when i was doing it. Although it is possibly one of the least fun “games” ever made!
Good luck.
learn to read music
If you remember C always has the line then the next one above or below it won’t have a line. Just continue through the alphabet so it would be D then the next one will have a line through it, that would be E, the next won’t have a line so it’s F and so on. This goes for above and below the staff. And if you were going backwards, the one before C that doesn’t have a line would be B, because you go backwards through the alphabet.
Learn How to Read Music
YOU BET!
those lines are called “Ledger Lines” – and are used to indicate where the notes are in relation to the staff (above or below the five line staff)
If you know that the musical alphabet goes from A-G then starts over again, it’s pretty simple to figure out.
Lets take the ledger lines above the Treble Clef Staff.
The top line of this staff is an F
The not that sits on TOP of that line is a G
So the first ledger line is an A (first note with a line through it)
The note that sits on TOP of that ledger line is a B
The next Ledger line is a C
and so on (See below for a treble clef example)
_ C
_ A
________ F
________ D
________ B
________ G
________ E
Going below the staff is the reverse, go down in the alphabet.
Good luck to you!
Learning to Read Music
It is just work and patience I’m afraid. A visit to might help.
learn to read music
Once you know the history behind music notation, it’ll all become clear to you . . .
Way way back in time, the priests would just chant out their chants. Then some creative guys thought to add some musical tone to what they were doing. They liked it, and wanted to remember what they did so they could do it again. So what they did was to draw one horizontal line, and put dots above and below the line to designate how high and low the pitches should be:
x
x
______x_____________________
x x x
Then some of the singers complained that they couldn’t really tell what the pitches were supposed to be, since they were so far above and below that line. They tried using two horizontal lines, and that helped some, but not a whole lot. Then they went to the other extreme — they drew 11 horizontal lines, so they had 11 lines and 10 spaces. But that was too much to read. So they took out the middle line like so:
—————————-F—
———————–D——-
——————-B———-
————–G—————-
———-E———————
–C– This is the outcome of making one 11-line staff more readable
———-A——————-
————–F—————-
——————D———–
———————-B——-
————————–A—-
and put symbols on each collection of lines so the singers would know which was written for sopranos, and which was for basses. When they needed the note right between the two staffs, they’d draw it in with a line through it. When they need to show the note above or below this 2 staff collection, they just draw a (ledger) line to show it, and keep on truckin’.
My gripe with this method is this: Had they been smart enough to put 2 (two) ledger lines between the two staffs instead of just one, then the names of the lines and spaces on the top (G) clef would be the same as the ones in the bottom (bass, or F) clef. But I wasn’t around at the time and didn’t get a chance to put my two cents worth in, so we’re pretty much stuck with what we have now, unless you want to rewrite everything . . .
————————–F—————
———————-D——————
——————B———————–
————-G—————————
———E———————————
–C– This is how I’d do it . . .
–A–
———–F—————————-
————–D————————–
——————B————————
———————-G——————-
—————————E—————
Probably the fastest way to learn the names of the lines and spaces is to copy some music from a hymnal or whatever music you have onto sheet music paper.
learn to read music
It’s simple.
As the notes get higher on the page, they get higher in pitch, and go up in alphabetical order (ABCDEGFABC etc),
As the notes get lower on the page, they get lower in pitch, and go down in reverse alphabetical order (GFEDCBAGFE etc).
So: you know that the bottom line of the treble staff is “E”. The note below that has to be a D, because we’re working in reverse alphabetical order, and D is before E in the alphabet. The note below that, with one leger line through that, is C. The one below that leger line you can work out: what comes before C in the alphabet?
It’s the same with the notes above the staff, but going in forward alphabetical order.
Most people when they start have to take a bit of time working notes out, but eventually you memorise them and can recognise them instantly.
Learn How to Read Music
How Long Does it Take to Learn How to Read Music?
Here’s the entire range of a piano
You just end up learning by doing. Read music often and it’ll become second-nature.
… rarely are you going to see more than three ledger lines above or below a staff.