Notes, Rests and Semibreves - How to Read Music

How to Read Music Time Signature. Play the notes and rests in relation to the time signature. Now that you know which lines and spaces correspond to which notes (thanks to the clef), you can read the piece from left to right. The symbols will either represent notes or rests. Rests indicate silence, so they do not designate any pitch; they are typically placed in the same position on the staff. A variety of symbols are used to indicate the duration of a note or rest relative to other notes or rests.Notes:Rests:

A whole note or semibreve appears as a "circle" on the staff in a measure and is worth 4 beats in common time. A whole note is the base unit to which all the other fractional notes are related.

I know, I know. Notes and semibreves and rests, oh my!

But fortunately, you can still Learn How to Read Music in just 7 Days.

Want to Learn to Read Music? Here's the "Key"

Here's some basic information for beginners on reading time signature:

Directly to the right of the clef there may be one or more flat or sharp symbols before the notes begin. This group of symbols is called the key signature. If there are no so such symbols, then the key signature is "natural" (neither sharp nor flat).



Key signature in A-flat-major and f-minor A flat symbol on a line or a space tells you that all notes on that line or space should be played flat (one semitone lower than they would otherwise be played.) Thus a flat symbol on the line of the staff that corresponds to "B" would indicate that all "B" notes in the piece should be played as "B-flats," which are halfway between "A" and "B". The symbols that look like lowercase letter "b"s are flats.


Again, very basic but certainly worth thinking about. When I can figure out how (lol) I'll put some simple sheet music on here for us to dissect together. Plus I'll do another post or two on key signatures... In the mean time, Learn How to Read Music Fast!

Learn How to Read Music

If you're like me, not knowing how to read music has been a big hinderence from time to time..
Because of that I decided to write a few basics for people who are just trying to get their feet wet... Since the treble clef is the most common, we'll start with it.

The treble clef, also known as the G-clef (because it circles the line for the G note), is used in writing music for most musical voices (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and tenor), most woodwind instruments, stringed instruments (violin, guitar) and high brass instruments such as the trumpet. It also typically corresponds to the notes played with the right hand on the piano. The notes played on the lines of the treble clef staff are, from bottom to top, E, G, B, D, F. The order of these notes can be remembered with the use of mnemonic phrases such as Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge or Every Good Boy Does Fine. The spaces between the lines, from bottom to top, correspond to the notes F, A, C, E, a sequence which, obviously, spells "FACE."

Obviously this is pretty basic, but for much more information, we recommend the following site to learn how to read music