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Reading Sheet Music
KrubixCube
JapanRegistered User regular
JapanRegistered User regular
Right, so...when I was young I used to play trumpet, and at the time I had no problem reading music. Obviously, it was simple music and only the Treble cleff but rhythm stuff and the basics were no problem. Then, in high school I tried to learn piano and was...somewhat successful but for some reason the rhythm stuff and just the ability to read the music kind of exploded. I taught myself a few Chopin preludes but a lot of it was done through slow, laborious, memorization. Recently, I found a cheap full sized, piano-esque keyboard so I can begin to teach myself again since despite how shit I am at it, I still enjoy it and it's a good stress reliever etc. I feel since I had played more difficult stuff before if I could just learn the basics of reading sheet music I could really propel myself upward. My aim isn't to be AMAZING at piano or anything, I just enjoy it.
So, long story short: does anyone know any good methods/books/exercises for learning to read sheet music? Not just the notes but I struggle with playing things in time I've found...I don't know why. If I'm playing something I can play it correctly but if you put a metronome on that sucker it goes up in flames.
I'm sure you guys know a lot more about this than me, thanks!
So, long story short: does anyone know any good methods/books/exercises for learning to read sheet music? Not just the notes but I struggle with playing things in time I've found...I don't know why. If I'm playing something I can play it correctly but if you put a metronome on that sucker it goes up in flames.
I'm sure you guys know a lot more about this than me, thanks!
KrubixCube on
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As for the rhythm issue, metronome. Set your metronome 20 bpm slower than your final tempo and play. If you make a mistake, drop 10 bpm and try again. Repeat until you can play through the section you're working without any mistakes in either rhythm or notes. Once you can do that ten times in a row, bump the tempo up 4-8 bpm and repeat. It gets boring, but woodshedding like this is the best way. Don't play it fast until you can play it slow; any mistakes you make while you practice will be ingrained into the final product.
That got me through 8.5 years of classical and jazz trumpet as well as teaching myself guitar.
Edit: Just realized I didn't really give any suggestions for music to work on, but I don't really have any since I'm not a pianist. Most any easy level fake book should do fine though.
My preferred arbitrary starting point was somewhere around 1 eighth note = 60.
It was damn tedious labor, but I'd start at around that point (depending on what I was reading, of course), and work it up until about 80. Then I'd switch to 1 quarter note = 40, and work it up until I could set the metronome to half notes.
The notes on the page tell you where to put your fingers, so focus on that rather than abstracting it once (taking a dot on the page and thinking what the name of the note is) and then abstracting it again (taking the name in your brain and translating it to your fingers). It's good to know, but don't stop playing simply because you can't make a snap statement about whether it's an E or a G. If you play it right, that's what's important.
Mad Jazz hit the nail on the head--go slow as hell to start and just focus on keeping things accurate. It's OK if you look back and forth between the sheet and your hands at first, as it'll help you equate fingering position with notation.
As far as books go, the Alfred series were the gold standard back when I was taking lessons, and they're still quite good. Tackling a few different pieces at once will also help you avoid the memorization routine by keeping things varied.
Most of all, just get stubborn. Piano is pretty easy to sit down a learn, but it's one of the hardest to master, and part of that involves learning to sight-read two different staffs at once.
If learning to read sheet music is your end goal, or an end goal, then do not remember: read. As in, consciously read the music every time, instead of doing it from memory while looking at the music. Do you know a second language? If you're fluent or near fluent in it, you should be aware of how when you read it, you don't translate it to your first language in your head first, it just comes out as something you know in your head. That's what you're looking for.
Music is a little bit different since there's two levels of separation: You must translate the written music, then you must translate that to your hand to play it. However, if you're just learning the piano, those two should basically coalesce into one anyway.
If you read read read then it should become second nature to you as you practice. Reading sheet music is only a little bit more complicated than playing rock band or guitar hero, you just need to learn what everything means and then practice getting faster and more reliable at it. That part just takes practice.
If you want advice on how to practice with the piano, there's already been some real good advice, but I won't go into it unless you want me to, since that's not on topic!