Monday, February 25, 2013

On Learning to Read Music

Dear Piano People: 

Part of being a musician, is being able to read the music notes.  Many musicians play "by ear" which is hearing music and then duplicating the sound, which is one way of learning.  But if you can read the music, it opens up a whole new world to you and makes you a stronger, more independent musician. Reading music also strengthens the left side of your brain which is useful for analytical thinking (like math). Playing music is also a creative art, which strengthens the right side of your brain. So learning to read and play music will give you a strong, balanced brain!

There is no quick, simple way to learn notes other than through an understanding of the grand staff, which your teacher can help you with and drills. I spend a little bit of each class or lesson playing music note games, but you can strengthen your note recognition by doing a little bit of note naming drills each day.  You can purchase flash cards online or at a music store. You can make your own flash cards, or grand staff chart (see me to make sure it is correct), you can study the notes in your music book, or you can play online music games. An example of one is given below.

Also, two websites I use regularly for printing free piano music and theory worksheets are:

gmajormusictheory.org
 
and

susanparadis.com

Parents, please help your children by going to these sites with them. You can choose music to print, or worksheets to help them understand note names.  In my group classes, we have a "musical game day" at the end of each term. I will give prizes for games, which focus on notereading. Another reason to learn your notes! :)



www.flashmusicgames.com/learning/notes_2.html

What are you waiting for? Go forth and conquer those music notes! :)

Teacher Zita

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hi Z we miss you

Teacher Zita said...

Hi Nikos! :) I miss you too! I gave up Facebook for Lent so I could focus on practicing my piano. I have several performances coming up. How are you? :)I will be back on Facebook after Easter.

Zita