Having trouble learning to read music

[viivian23]

I am in high school and took band class this year. I didn't know how to read music so I figured I could learn as I went along. I found reading music really boring and never practiced. I had fun in the class, but I usually played by ear. When the quarter ended, the teacher said I had to become literate by the end of the next quarter or he would fail me. Now I'm trying to pull my act together and have been practicing reading every day, but the teacher expects me to read perfectly. The quarter ends in 2 weeks!!!!

[jrich99]

Been there done that! I'm in high school too and the best solution I can offer is to practice, practice, practice. I suggest making flash cards of notes on a staff and having someone quiz you.

[jazztele]

well, what's giving you trouble? note recognition? rhythm? be a little more specific and i'll be glad to help.

i'm a firm believer anyone can learn to read music, and it opens up SO many doors.

[emu!]

Reading music is memorizing symbols and scales...not too difficult in 2 weeks.

But, sight reading is going to take more than 2 weeks IMO. Maybe retake the class???

[Mr.Reed]

Sight reading takes time. Do you need to know how to read every key? or just a few? I'm assuming guitar music? If you have musical background the first few keys in the sharp direction are easy enough. I had most trouble going in the flat direction. Good luck!

[polishcomedy]

Do you have to read in different positions or just open/first?

[brewwagon]

stevie wonder reading braille sheet music
bw

[octatonic]

I've been in that place for a while.

It take a good couple of years of daily, structured work to get your reading together.
Keep at it.

Get Sibelius and get transcribing into it- not just copping off the recording but actually inputting everything.
Being able to go that way (from sound -> notes) makes going the other way (notes -> sound) much, much, much easier.

[Tim Bowen]

Before you play a piece in time, say the names of the notes out loud in time with a metronome.

If you're struggling with the marriage of notes and syncopated rhythms, work with them separately prior to combining them. As to syncopated rhythms and melodies, start with the familiar (well known Christmas tunes are a great way to start) and then begin to navigate the less familiar. After a point, the familiar syncopations of well known melodies begin to be filed by the brain, which informs sight reading of less familiar pieces.

Do you sing? You don't have to have "perfect pitch", but you do need "relative pitch". Get the first note of the melody by plucking an instrument, and then "sight sing" from there. Again, start with familiar melodies, and take it from there.

Know how to spell chords and inversions. Do the ear training programs. Learn the Cycle of 5ths - or 4ths in reverse. Learn the key signatures. As for time signatures, start with 4/4 (C; "common time"), 2/4, 3/4 ("proper" waltz time), and 6/8. Those are the signatures that you'll most often encounter. After that, get hip to 12/8 (often the sig of choice for slow to medium tempo blues and country ballads) and listen out for 5/4 (Dave Brubeck's "Take Five", for instance), and then there are oddballs like 7/4 (Pink Floyd's "Money").

Yeah, there's nothing more boring than standard musical notation, but there's also nothing more foundational. Scales, arpeggios, melodic sequences: sans chicken grease and imagination, possibly quite boring. Standard musical notation is the one and only universally accepted language of the musician, and this has been the case for centuries, for very good reasons.

Hang with it, try not to get frustrated. It'll pay off over the long haul, I promise. I've not yet met a musician that regretted his or her decision to make a commitment to standard musical notation. Not a single one. All it will do is make you a stronger and more informed musician, if that's appealing.

The above suggestions probably constitute more than can be accomplished within two weeks, so I'm speaking to you as if you were a lifer - a person that was chosen by music, as opposed to a person that chose music.

In any event... Do it. You won't regret it.

[Larry F]

The worst part about learning how to read is that the music sucks. The more you advance on your instrument without reading, the more the music will suck when you start learning to read. One of these days, someone will write a book for guitar that has great, great stuff from the beginning. Baroque and early Classical-era music, while not being danceable, has a lot of beautiful symmetry to it. It would tend to sound churchy, though, I think.

You should ask your teacher what he expects in terms of position, key, and rhythm. Or actual examples of what he would ask you to play. That is a legitimate request.

[flatout9]

Keep at it and don't give up even if the nim wit fails you. Like others have said it really separates you and will give you huge access if you decide to carry on after H.S.

[mickeydean]

i do a lot of pit shows.

they always ask "do you read music".

i always say "yes but not to the point that it hurts my playing".

truth is i can't read but boy can i pretend like i am lol.

reading music = $$$$$$ stick to it.

[stantheman]

Keep studying regardless of The Teacher.
You'll never find steady work UNLESS YOU CAN READ.
That's a very cruel and very real fact.
But - it doesn't mean You cant be successful.
It simply means that "Regimented Music" is no longer a possibility.

Albert Collins was denied a spot in James Brown's Band because he couldn't read Music.
But he still made a name for himself and a decent living.

And most of "The Blind Guys" do not read Music either.

But, guys like Larry Carlton probably read Music better than they read the written word.

If You want it bad enough You'll get there. Everything that's worth anything at all never comes easily.

[nvilletele]

Originally Posted by stantheman

If You want it bad enough You'll get there. Everything that's worth anything at all never comes easily.

Yeah, Ringo was right: "You gotta pay the dues if you wanna sing the blues, but you know it don't come easy."

[Saxguitar]

When I was learning I found that trying to figure out the notes and counting was actually harder for me than seeing the note in a certain place on the staff and know that this rhythm sounds like this. To this day I am in college studying the saxophone and I still teaching myself to read music, it is a never ending process which I began when I began sax in middle school.

I was never taught the All Cows Eat Grass or Good Boys Do Fine Always approach or whatever the similar one is for treble clef, I found it way to confusing.

Before you can learn music you have to learn your instrument and know the inner workings of it, experiment when you have free time and never stop practicing. I hope I am making sense, but I know I probably am not.

Just practice, practice, practice and you will get it. My college band prof. said that it is easier to learn a new song when you practice for short times more frequently rather than long times less frequently. Maybe try and take the same approach to learning to read music. YMMV

I am sorry if I have confused you at all, it is really hard to explain to someone how to read music when I can't even remember how I learned to read music. It just has to come naturally. Regardless never give up trying to learn to read music as many have said many more doors will be open to you. Best of Luck.

[jazztele]

Originally Posted by Saxguitar

I was never taught the All Cows Eat Grass or Good Boys Do Fine Always approach or whatever the similar one is for treble clef, I found it way to confusing:

exactly!

mneumonics (sp?) are cool, but they're an extra step here that's unecessary, and that extra step in thinking is usually enough to stop a student in their tracks!

a student sees a note on the top ledger line (in treble clef) and says "Fine, F" in their head. I want my students to just say F.

[BigDaddyLH]

Not to mention the order of sharps in a key signature: FCGDAEB -- Faulty Condoms Give Doreen An Easy Baby.

[Saxguitar]

Originally Posted by jazztele

exactly!

a student sees a note on the top ledger line (in treble clef) and says "Fine, F" in their head. I want my students to just say F.

That is the reason I ditched that idea and just learned the notes on the ledger. It was just easier for me. But maybe something like phuemonics ( however it is spelled) will help the OP.

I am still a little shaky in bass clef but that is because I never read it since I play sax.

[BigDaddyLH]

Originally Posted by Saxguitar

But maybe something like phuemonics ( however it is spelled) will help the OP.

We are really torturing the spelling of that word! It is mnemonics -- the initial "m" is silent (Greek and all that). Some people say its a mnemonic for "Mnemonics Neatly Eliminate Man's Only Nemesis - Insufficient Cerebral Storage"

[Saxguitar]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLH

Insufficient Cerebral Storage

I think I suffer from that.

Thanks for the spelling lesson, never knew how to spell it, guessed I could have looked it up before posting.