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This is your text for the boat.
Tonnage
sdfhsdfhjk sdfhjsk dfhjksd fhjksd fhjksd fhdjk
asdhjasd hasjkdhjkasd 
asdhjasdhjasd ]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/really_fast_boat.shtml af7775b339af9940ccef6d45c4e441ef Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:16:49 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) By now, you should have a fairly good grasp of rhythm reading, and so the next equally imporant aspect of reading sheet music is understanding picthes: how pitch information is communicated in 5 staff lines.
The most obvious thing is that if the notes go up on the staff line, that means the music goes higher in pitch.
But how much higher? It's all relative.
Uncle A# and Aunt Bb
No, not that kind of relative!
Let's say the first note is on the middle line in the staff. If the next one is in the space right above it, then the pitch is just a little bit higher. If the next note is in the space right below the first note, then the next note is just a little bit lower.
But how much is a little bit?
Defining a Little Bit
Every space and line is like a ladder of pitch, but instead of notes only holding onto 'rungs' they can also hold onto the spaces between the rungs. It's a good thing too, or we'd never fit a sheet of music onto one page!
You'll learn this all later, so don't worry if it doesn't make sense now-- but the amount of the jump (that little bit) depends on things like the key signature, any 'accidentals' that are indicated, and what the starting note actually is.
Doh, Re, Me
You ever see the movie, "Sound of Music?" If so, you know all about the "Doh, Re, Me" scale, right? Well this scale plays a prominant part in determining what the note sounds like. We'll get into that later.
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/basics-of-pitches.shtml e64aaf0b9ab73b5a34390884585c714a Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:06:26 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)
Almost everyone learns how to read words when they're children, but most schools and educational systems don't place an equal priority on reading music.
It's a shame, because it's not hard, and can give the learner many years of pleasure as they make music and enjoy discovering new songs.
If you're interested in reading sheet music, and if you're willing to apply yourself to the process of learning, you'll soon find the reward of success! Many people have expressed excitement about this course:
Testimonials from Our Visitors
I studied classical guitar years ago,but haven't touched it for 50 years. Now starting all over again with an accordion, I find your instruction extremely helpful. Many thanks.Pierre Richards
I really want to thank this site and the information so practical and easy to show how to read music. One of the things you learn and become a tool for life. Jason thank you very muchReetha
First, I must thank you for taking your time and energy for making the website and sharing your information on music. Next for reading this comment.I have been playing music for about 6 years...But never able to read music...Always played by ear...Then joined a few bands...Nobody said anything...But...I want to become a professional musician so I thought "Why not try to learn something if I'm going to take this serious?!"So, I pushed myself on doing something I hated the most...Learning with reading/Learning on my own... But I only hate reading because it's usually long, with words I don't know... But you kept everything easy and simple, and I really learned a lot just by reading the posts you have made.I hope the stuff you told me would help me in life. I'll try to contact if it did.(Not that you would probably care >.>) 'cause it really helped!I can now read music, with out having to look at each note and counting from "Do" and all the way to the note "re, mi, fa"...-Elizabeth
i am a choral singer for almost 10 years.i have never attended any music course but with the knowledge i gathered i want to start writing my own vocal notes.i can write but i can not arrrange them like the ones arranged by the pros.edwin
Thankyou, I have been searching searching. This is the most user friendly site I have found. Have only browsed tonight but will come back to you once I have organised my time to follow your lessons.Brian
taking music fundimentals been feeling lost from the beginning. just happen to click to your site. it's given me more understanding than the whole weeks I've been in class! thanks!Martha
Great website.i learned alot from it specially those i still dont get from my previous lessons,,superb!!!JASMINE
Jason, I started my first piano lesson this past Monday. Playing an instrument or reading music for me is like learning a foreign language but at 52 years old, I figured if I was ever going to fulfill my dream of playing the piano I'd better start now. In any case, after my 1st lesson (private) I felt like I had been thrown in the middle of a lesson. I was (still am) totally lost! None of it made sense to me. Teacher gave me simple homework but I couldn't grasp it. I then came upon your site & I'm proud to say that "I get it!" I still have to re-read & re listen but reading music makes much more sense now! You should publish an "e-book" I'd love to have in print everything on your site.Thank you so very much for enlightening me! BTW... you need a Facebook fan page!ChristineThanks Christine, visit the new ReadSheetMusic Facebook page made just for you!
Thankyou for all the valuable informtion! it has helped me alot with reading music. however, none of the chapters mentioned how to read different types of rests. but other than that its a wonderful and helpful website. thanks!kayleyThanks Kayley, I'll add that section next! Jason
Wicked site. Thanks so much dude.Oliver Nassar
You are a good teacher as the information is very easy to understand.I am learning to play the accordion and need help with reading the music.Thank you.Bridget
Thank YOU!!! I direct a senior-citizen choir where many do not read. Most don't want to spend time/energy to learn but recently I got a request for beginning tools. Your web site is PERFECT for us!Gratefully, K Bryant
Dear Jason, your site is one of the best, because you take the time to really explain how to understand reading music. I am teaching music and I am not a professional, therefore, your help is very appreciated. I teach to socially disvantage children and youth in a Catholic mission in Nicaragua. I hope to send you some money as soon as I can. Thanks and God bless you!!!Sister Ornella, vc.
Just a simple thank you.  After years of not being involved, I'd picked up a piece of music and could not read the bass clef notes!  It was shocking.  Now, I'm all set.What a marvelous service you provide!Marlene
I dont actually have a question I just wanted to thank you for you ridiculously easy to read and understand material on the basics of reading music it very much helped me out and i appreciate the work you put into it. thank you, Ryan Maulding
Jason Silver, thank you for explaining "notes" to me. I have been trying to get my piano teacher to simplify it for me....but. You make it very easy to understand, plus it confirms it to hear it play. Thanks again. Frank Conley
I found the "read music sheets" lesson by Kevin Meixner while searching the net and I thought it was poignant, humorous and very thoughtfully explained. I would like to extend my complements to the writer of this lesson as it really helped me learn a little more than I already know about playing a piano Ciao Ciao! Shalini Gogia
I like your course, I took the free part and also the subscription part. You are doing a wonderful service. I will be working on the interval portion for a while I'm sure. I'm actually working on learning guitar and was looking for how to count 32nd notes (16's 1 a and a..etc.). Some rhythm that I can remember. I have some knowledge of piano, your information has helped me to understand more about it in a nut shell, rather that having to flip back and forth through lessons books when I need to refresh some information. Thanks Paula
Dear Jason. My name is Roxanne. I live in Brisbane, Australia. I recently came across your "learn to read music web page", whilst looking for some basic instructions, and i am just so happy i found it! They are such great instructions- I dont think you could get any better with out a teacher. So I just wanted to let you know that your work is fabulous, and i thankyou for letting me learn free-of-charge. Thanks again! Roxanne :)
Dear Jason, My name is Margot and I went to your website because I wanted to see if I could learn anything from it. And I did! On Sunday, I copied and pasted your whole tutorial on rythms in music. I read half of it yesterday and the other half today, and now...I can read rythm! I was just so happy because your tutorial is so easy to unserstand, and I learned it all in 2 days! Thank you so much for your website!
Hello, After never taking music at school after grade 8 (when it was compulsory) I have decided to take up piano and read your first for lessons last night and found them excellent. They explained everything that I wanted to know about music that noone could ever explain very well. Your help is much appreciated. Adam
Many accolades to you, friend, your very helpful guidance in understanding sheet music. I found your tutorial very quick and easy to use. I was able to pick up and play in minutes. Keen work indeed. Thank you again, Anthony D. Pitts
hey hows it goin. ive been searching lots of different websites and finding things to help me further understand music. ive played by ear for almost 5 years. and this guy at my church was teaching me music theory and reading music. and he got some things off your website and printed them for me. so i checked out your website. when i signed up, i didnt know i had to pay for anything. The things you do show for free about beginning to read music really helped me. i really know nothing about music, like i said ive just played by ear for a while. im just really hungry to learn more. thanks david
Your music lesson is very helpful. You should write a book. Thanks. Jeff
Thanks for your excellent piece on reading music. I'm just trying to get to grips with being part of a church choir and you have really helped me. Thanks again.
I'm learning how to read music, i've played the drums for years, but i'm taking up guitar/piano and found your website very informative...thanx for the good find. keith
...All of us "oldsters" can not only read music, but can perform it and write it as well. The kid I'm talking about (my apprentice) is well-trained in music appreciation with a bit of the tricks of the engineering trade thrown in. That's it. No theory. After searching the web, I found your site and it's been indispensable – particularly in isolating the first thing I needed to teach him; how to count beats and measures and realize the difference between time signatures and why you just can't mix a 4/4 with a samba!
this is awesome its helping me alot i had forgotten how to count some rythems and things like that over the summer and this totally brought it back..so check in to it if you want to know how to read music or if your just refreshing your memory.
Thanks for your free "How To Read Sheet Music" lessons. They're great! Ken
The article on reading music was a tremendous help. It was well written and cleared up a lot of confusion. Thank you so much for providing a quality article on the internet which has become quite unreliable.
Hey Guys, I think this website is great! You guys write in a way that is way easier to understand than the piano book that I have. Great job! Tammy
I pulled up your free reading music and got to the parts not in red on how to read the notes. I have wanted to read music all my life and have never had the time or teacher to learn it. I so want to learn to play the dulcimer and have found a neighbor willing to teach me but I want to do it right and read sheet music first. I appreciate your easy to understand instructions as far as I have advanced and even have discovered I have quite good rythem. Thank you so much. Please advise ASAP, I'm excited to learn at 50 and surprise even myself. Sandy
I was searching the web looking for diferent sites for reading music when I came across yours. I have already ordered books from Amazon and regret that, this is already helping. I am currently deployed and it take a while for tings to get here. I will be looking and reading through all the great easy to fallow info on your page thank you. Don Morgan
I want to thank you so much for putting your site on line. I am 52 years old and have loved music all my life, problem was i cant read it. This fact and fear of not being able to read has kept me all these years from fully enjoying my potential. Now in only 1hr. i have the fundimentals to actually sit down at my piano and understand what is there for me ,I CAN READ THE MUSIC!!! Thank you so much!!! Jim Withrow

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]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/testimonials.shtml 8402633f2f096e368670b2c8e2db537e Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:19:38 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Memorize it All
My trick to reading is to memorize everything we've talked about so far, so that it is as second-nature to me as breathing. 
1. All of the scales, and what sharps or flats they have
2. All of the notes on the bass and treble clefs (I don't have the C clefs memorized yet).
3. The way intervals sound, for example, a perfect fifth, a second, a sixth, etc.
Sight Reading? No Problem!
With these memorized, I can sight-read most pieces on the spot. Here's the order of logic in sight-reading:
1. When I first start to sight read a piece, I take a look at the key signature. 
2. The second thing I look at is the time signature - is this piece in 4/4, 3/4, or some other counting system?
3. If I see it has one flat, for example, I know right away it's the key of F. That flat is Bb.
4. I've also memorized that the bottom space on a treble clef is an F. When I see that note, I know that it should sound like Doh in the Doh Re Me scale.
5. Now that I've memorized intervals, when I see an A on the staff, and we're in the key of F, I know that it is the third note of the scale (Me), a third above F (Doh).
With practice and practice, you'll be able to sight-read the first time you see a piece of music. 
Good luck!
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/reading-notes-tips-and-tricks.shtml 25fc2ba609c6ef49cf55c25c5e92cd50 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:22:57 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Below are some simple rhythms you should practice once you feel confident with the rhythms explained in the previous chapter. If you are unsure of the rhythms and this part overwhelms you, go back over the lastchapter and carefully memorize and practice counting and clapping the rhythms.
It's important to understand these basics before moving on. If you get ahead of yourself, you'll end up lost as things get more complicated.
To get the idea, read the following rhythm thinking of the Christmas song "Jingle Bells." Like the lesson in the previous chapter, count out loud and clap the rhythm using your hands.

If you feel confident that you understand reading the quarter notes () and the half notes () and the last whole note () then try to read the following exercise. We'll add eighth notes () to our set here now. Remember, two eighth notes are played in the space which one quarter note takes.

This exercise contains eighth notes and quarter notes, no half notes or whole notes. Practice this while counting aloud.
 
Notice something different in bar three of the following exercise? This is a type of rhythm called syncopation. Don't worry if you don't understand how to clap or play this; the next chapter deals with this in more detail. I've included it here as a challenge. See if you can figure out how toplay syncopation on your own. :-)

 

 ]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/reading_rhythms_exercises.shtml f0deafe18221273aa003722dacecc30b Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:21:43 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Often you will see little markings above and below the notes. I'll attempt to explain what the most common ones mean here.
Basics:
Imagine all of the different ways you can play or sing the same note. You can hit the note hard or soft, touch it quickly or more smoothly. Basically, accents and markings over and under notes serve this purpose. They explain how the note should be played.
Why Over? Why Under?
It's quite simple to understand why the marks are above a note or below. If the stem on the note goes up, then the mark goes below. If the stem goes down, the mark goes above. This isn't always the rule however.   If the marking is going to be in the way of other notes, or hard to see, then sometimes it is placed at the end of the stem. This is fairly unusual however.
It doesn't really matter where the marking is, it is still played the same way.

examples of various types of accents.
 
In music notation, an accent mark indicates a louder dynamic to apply to a single note, or an articulation mark. The most common is the horizontal accent, the fourth symbol in the diagram above; this is the symbol that most musicians mean when they say accent mark. The vertical accent, third in the diagram, may be stronger or weaker than the horizontal accent; composers have never been consistent in using these markings. The vertical accent has many informal names such as a teepee, housetop, or mamba-jamba. In most musical works this type of accent is meant to be played more forcefully and usually shorter. The remaining marks typically shorten a note.
Staccato, the first symbol shown above, indicates that the last part of a note should be silenced to create separation between it and the following note. The duration of a staccato note may be about half as long as the note value would indicate, although the tempo and performers' taste varies this quite a bit.
The staccatissimo, shown second, is usually interpreted as shorter than the staccato, but composers up to the time of Mozart used these symbols interchangeably. A staccatissimo quarter note would be correctly played in traditional art music as a lightly articulated sixteenth note followed by rests which fill the remainder of the beat.
The third one shown, the vertical accent, is played with the same dynamics as a regular accent mark but condensed into about half the original length of the note (depending on style, song, preference, etc.), essentially a combination of accent and staccato. This type of accent is known incorrectly as marcato by many classically-trained musicians, and even as just a "rooftop accent" by those not knowing its name at all. It is correctly known as martelato or martellato, which is Italian for "hammered".
The fourth mark shown, the Accent mark, indicates that the marked note should have an emphasized beginning and then taper off rather quickly. This mark is correctly known by classically trained musicians as marcato, though it is usually simply referred to as an accent.
The tenuto mark, shown fifth above, indicates that a note is to be separated with a little space from surrounding notes. This separation may be enough to emphasize the note, or it may have to be played a little louder, at the discretion of the player. The tenuto mark also indicates that the note should be played for its full value - not cut off earlier. Sometimes these symbols are used in combination. Tenuto is Italian for "sustained," and notes should be played as full valued as possible with a medium strengthed, legato accent.
Even when these symbols are absent, experienced musicians will introduce the appropriate gesture according to the style of the music.
 
Note: As you may have noticed in the examples above, you can combine accent markings. This merges the attributes of the two types together. A 'marcato accent' combined with a 'staccato' would be a very short marked accent.]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/accents_and_markings_-_how_to_make_sense_of_musical_symbols.shtml 4884ec6100b2c488101e6b8d9d03a935 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:11:47 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) ]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/contact.shtml 6d34b7cd2af2e26f516fb7d720f71e17 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:32:38 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Be A Sponsor


The entire course is now completely free! But that doesn't mean you can't help me pay for my server hosting and incidental expenses. :)

Some of the lessons have been lost, and I'm slowly rebuilding them... but if you have benefitted from this site then I ask you to consider a small amount to
help cover my costs.

Thanks!
~Jason
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]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/sign_up.shtml 1f4caf2675b2e5cd367e8bb1fd74e5f1 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:32:19 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) The circle of fifths is a magical wheel that describes the relationship between chords in a cunning way. I'm going to talk through the fifths so that you understand how it works, and what makes it so amazing.

What it Describes
The Circle of Fifths is named as such because each note, moving clockwise around the circle, is a fifth apart from one another. If you count from C, to the note next to it, G, you'll see there are five whole steps between them: C, D, E, F, G. The same as true all the way around the circle.
Because of the nature of music, moving the other direction, (counter-clockwise/anti-clockwise), each note is a fourth apart from the one next to it. Start at C, and go to F: C, D, E, F! 
Why Is this Important?
Every scale has three major chords. They are chord ONE, (the tonic), chord FOUR, and chord FIVE. In the key of C, this would be the C Major chord, the F major chord, and the G major chord. F is a perfect fourth from C, and G is a perfect fifth from C. Notice on the circle above? They are the chords directly to the left and right of C!
This is true all around the circle. If you want to know the perfect fourth in the key of E, look to the left of the E chord. It is an A. The perfect fifth is to the right, a B. These three chords, E, A, and B, are the three major chords in the key of E.
How to Use This
When you play an instrument that can chord, such as a piano or guitar, often the trick is to know which chords work with which key. But this is never confusing if you've got a circle of fifths in front of you. The chords are all in the same quadrant (a quarter of the circle) as the key name.
How about an example. If we are playing in the key of C, the major chords we need are C, F, and G. The minor chords we will sometimes need are Dm, Em, and Am. Take a look for these chords right now on the circle above. Notice they are in the same quarter of the circle?
Ninety-five per cent of the time, these are the only chords you will use in any song. Sometimes you may use Bb, and D as chords in the key of C, but they are right next to the quadrant.
Almost NEVER will you use a chord on the opposite side of the quadrant. 
Transposing Made Simple
Let's say you were playing a song in the key of C, and someone asked you to lower it to Bb. Take a quick look at the circle, and you'll see how this can easily be done.
The major chords are no longer C, F, and G, but are Bb, Eb, and F. The minor chords are no longer Dm, Em, and Am, they are now Cm, Dm, and Gm!
Flats and Sharps Too!
You can see that as you move clockwise around the circle, you add a sharp to the key. As you move anti-clockwise around the circle, you add a flat!
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/circle-of-fifths.shtml 44f255a4b8d97c6515e18bcfae7cc269 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:01:40 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Membership is managed by PayPal, so to cancel, log into your PayPal account, search for the "read sheet music" transaction made to jasonsilver at crookedbush.com and cancel from there.
If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
~Jason]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/cancel.shtml 3df7e3febfdcb72b4b86820e57795c10 Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:43:14 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)
To many people, reading sheet music is an intimidating, mysterious activity. But it doesn't need to be! It's actually quite simple, once you understand the secret behind it. At "ReadSheetMusic.info," my desire is to teach you how to read sheet music as quickly as possible. I'll take away the mystery, and put reading sheet music within your grasp. Since 1999, I've made this course available at www.notationmachine.com. So many people have enjoyed it that I decided to give it a web page of its own. I've also added some more chapters so that if you really want to learn, you can get beyond the basics.In any case, there is enough information to easily get you started reading sheet music right away! Try it for yourself, and then tell your friends! Jason Silver
How To Read Sheet Music... a Free Course
click here to download our free Ebook! Pass it on!
All you ever wanted to know about sheet music and how to read it.
How to Read Sheet Music - by Kevin Meixner
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How to Read Sheet Music - by Jason Silver
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]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/index.shtml 78c5f18fc68ea8d2592cc2d00c895726 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:51:54 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Introduction: There are two basic aspects of reading music. First, rhythms- how the notes of the melody fit within time, and second, pitch- how high or low these rhythmic notes are. The first part of this tutorial will cover rhythms.
Understanding the Basics of Counting Rhythms
The first step in understanding rhythms is to memorize the various notes and their 'values.' You don't need to understand them now, but for information's sake, look over the five most commonly used notes:


whole note
four beats long

half note
two beats long

quarter note
one beat long

eighth note
half a beat long

sixteenth note
quarter of a beat.


It's confusing to think of something being an eighth of a beat, and you may wonder why a note that is one beat long is called a quarter note. Why wouldn't it be called a whole note, since it's a whole beat?
It's because we name our notes based on the length of time they are played within a measure, not based on how many beats they are.

I often tell my students to think of a measure as a whole pie, in that it can be cut into quarters (4 pieces), eighths (8 pieces), and so on. A whole note is called a whole notebecause it is played and held for a whole measure. A quarter note is called aquarter note because a full quarter note takes up exactly one quarter of a measure.
I know what you're saying. "Yuck! Fractions!" To this, I hang my head sadly and nod. You're absolutely right. But I'm not going to make you add fractions, or anything
like that. If you get the pie illustration, then you're set.
Now that we understand why the notes are named the way they are, let's look at the chart again:


whole note
Fills a whole measure

half note
played for half a measure

quarter note
one quarter of a measure

eighth note
eighth of a measure

sixteenth note
sixteenth of a measure


Dividing a measure up into eighths and sixteenths on the fly while playing would be difficult, especially with complicated rhythms, so this is useful mostly as an
understanding of the basics. The next step to take is to actually count through the rhythms.
Counting Through The Rhythms
As evenly as you can, count to 4 like this: 1- 2 - 3 - 4, 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. Repeat the counting over and over again. Try to make sure each number is evenly spaced. Don't
count like this: 1... 2... 3 4... or any other jilted time. It doesn't matter how fast you count, but keep the numbers evenly spaced.

You are counting 4 beats in a measure, so each number is the value of a quarter note! Congratulations!

Now, while counting, clap your hands only when you say "1." Hold your hands together to simulate holding the note until you have said 4, then clap again on 1.
You are now "playing" a whole note!

FYI: We're going to use hand claps as our "instrument." If you're in a place where it's conspicuous to clap your hands, then tap a toe or a finger tip.

Now clap on each count. You are "playing" quarter notes.

Continue to count 1234, but clap an extra time between each count. It might help to say "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" so you stay even. Once you get this
down you are clapping eighths! You've divided the pie into eight even pieces!

Study the diagram below: Notice that the eighth notes on the fourth line (called a staff in music) look a little different than this
. Their flags are joined together! This simply
makes for easier reading. The same is true for any other note with a flag.


In our counting exercise we skipped clapping on the half beats, on the sixteenth beats, and on the thirty-second beats. As a personal challenge, see if
you can master this on your own. Have fun with the thirty-seconds! They're fast!
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/basics_of_counting_rhythms.shtml 705f1c9a0dcb8bad399f9be6ada71176 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:19:17 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) Once you've got a handle on the simple straight beats (as they're often called) your challenge will be to understand and execute syncopated beats accurately. Modern music utilizes this type of rhythm much more than traditional music. For example, sing "Mary had a little lamb" quietly to yourself while you tap a toe on each beat. You'll see that the melody sticks to the counted beats 1-2-3-4 pretty closely.
So how is syncopated music different? Syncopated music puts accents on notes played between the beats. To demonstrate, count 1-2-3-4 to yourself like we did in chapter 1. Now while you are counting, clap your hands on the "off beats." Off beats is the name we use to describe the moment in time between each beat. You may understand this better by counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and". Now clap on the "ands."
These off-beats are the basis around which syncopated music is built.
I'm sorry, you need a plug-in to play MIDI files to play this song example.
Here's an example of a song which uses syncopation. If your computer can play MIDI files, then play this one so we can break it down.
Notice that the song begins with a simple "tick tick tick tick" to establish the beat. After the beat is clear, the melody begins very "straight." The melody is then repeated with a more syncopated version. Here's what the music would look like for this song.

So what is happening here? The first line is all quarter notes and half notes. You should feel comfortable with those by now. The second line has two new features: a "dot" and a "tie." Both of these features are usually necessary to describe syncopation.
A "dotted eighth note" is longer than a regular eighth note. The same goes for any other note you put a dot after. It lengthens the note by half of it's original value. This is one of the most complicated aspects of music reading and writing. It's difficult to describe well, but once you figure it out, it doesn't have to be difficult to play.
"." Let's use a whole note as our first example. In "four-four" time, a whole note is four beats long. So what happens when we place a dot after it?
Let's break it down:
The dot means we add half of the original value.
The original value is four.
Half of four is two.
Add four plus two and we have six.

Therefore a dotted whole note is six beats long.
"."
What about a dotted half note?
The dot means we add half of the original value.
The original value is two beats.
Half of two is one.
Add two plus one and we have three.

Therefore a dotted half note is three beats long.
"."
What about a dotted quarter note?
The dot means we add half of the original value.
The original value is one beat.
Half of one is... a half!
Add one plus half and we have one and a half!
GULP! That's disgusting! How do we play that? One and a half beats???
Remember how we learned in chapter one to split one beat into two. We called these one beats "quarter notes" and we called the smaller ones "eighth notes." Well, one and a half beats is really equal to three eighth notes. If you count eighth notes while you play, instead of quarters it becomes quite simple to play a note for one and a half beats. This is an easier way to handle syncopation, and is one of the signs of a professional musician: counting eighth or even sixteenth notes.
Count eighth notes like this "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and..." Counting this way is counting each word on the eighth beat.
The second part of this song contains dotted sixteenths. To play them, you must think sixteenths on each beat. If you're counting 1234,1234,1234,1234 in each measure this will help immensely! I'd count the above example like this:
123,123,123,123,12-12  |  1234,123,1-1234,(rest12),12  | 12,3412,3412,34,123,4  |  1234,123,1-12341234
As you can imagine, it doesn't get easier as the divisions get smaller. We can dot any note including sixteenths and thirty-seconds. Every time, half the value is added to the note. I won't get into it here, but study the example above if you're interested.
(As an aside, did you know you can also double and triple dot notes?! Every time you dot a note, half of the new value is added again to the total value. So a half note dot gets a 1 added to it, but an extra dot gets half of that last added value (.5). Then if there's yet another dot, then half of the last added value of .25 is added, and on like that. This makes for complicated music, and is not often done.)
Another important part of syncopation is the"tie." This is not something to put around your neck. Rather, it's a way of joining two notes together. This is especially useful if we need to join two eighth notes together across a bar line. Since each bar is limited to have only the right number of beats in it for that song (sometimes four beats in a bar, sometimes three, sometimes other amounts) when we need to hold the fourth note of a bar for five beats, we can use a tie!
This tie looks like a bracket "(" laying on it's side.In the second line you see them joining notes together. If a tie joins two quarters together, then you play two beats. If it ties two eighth notes together that makes one beat. If it ties one quarter and one eighth note together that makes one and a half beats.
In conclusion, don't get discouraged by syncopation. In the beginning it is very difficult to read syncopation accurately the first time. You'll find as you practice that there are only so many combinations that are used frequently. After you get familiar with them, the rest is cake.]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/dotted_notes_-_reading_complicated_syncopation.shtml 144c23f76a0be042fd6b673e3c97cdf1 Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:34:36 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)
Welcome to our free music dictionary!

Ask a question about music and find the answer! Is there a term or a word you don't know? Type it in and send it to us. If you can't find it listed, then send us a note and we'll send you the definition! Cool!
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/dictionary.shtml a5426542254b432bc128660369b60340 Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:30:24 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)  
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Understanding the Basics of Pitches 
 
For all of the previous lessons we have focused on reading the rhythms of music, but as you know, music is also about pitch. Sometimes a note is high, and sometimes it is low.
 
One comment as an aside: some people are said to be tone deaf-- in other words, they can't seem to sing a melody, observing the difference between high notes and low notes. As far as I'm aware, these people don't have difficulty recognizing melodies when they are played for them, so this is most often a case of poor listening, rather than an inability to perceive the tonal differences.
 
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So to start to understand reading music, let's go back to our staff lines, as demonstrated above. You'll notice that there are many places to put notes: they can be stuck on a line, or they can be squeezed between two lines in the 'space.' You could think of it as a kind of ladder with super long rungs. The notes which have climbed to the top of the ladder are "higher" in pitch than the notes which are down at the bottom of the ladder.
 
Remeber our study of "Jingle Bells?" Here's the version we used earlier for exercise on reading notation rhythms:
 
[staff of jingle bells]
 
Every note is on the same line here, (to demonstrate only the beat of the song). But this is how we sing this song:
 
[staff of new jingle bells]
 
This one has the same rhythm, but the notes move up and down on the staff lines for the last phrase, "Jin-gle all the way"
 
The "gle" is higher than the "jin" before it and the "all" is lower than both of these notes. "The" is up one step from the "all" and the "way" is back on the original note we started with.
 
Many people who claim to read music have just learned that notes which are far apart on the clef are also a lot higher or lower from each other... they make guestimates as to what note to sing based on how far it is from the previous note. This system works fine if you're standing next to a strong singer, but if you want to learn to read on your own, you'll need to study the scales in more detail.
 
Scales? We're not talking about fish, and we're not talking about systems of measuring weights. A scale is the term we give to a group of notes which follow each other sequentially.
 
For example: Doh Re Me Fah So La Tee Doh
 
We've all heard this scale before (The Sound Of Music, right?), but many of us may not understand it's purpose. It was developed to be a universal scale which can be used in any key. Melodies can be described to people based on this scale, like this:
 
Me Me Me, Me Me Me, Me So Doh Re, Me
 
This is, of course, the Jingle Bells melody in the form of the Doh Re Me scale. (We'll get into keys later, so don't worry about that now.)
 
I prefer to think of pitches using numbers... it's just more concrete for me than "doh and re." Here's a chart that shows the Doh Re Me scale in numbers instead:
 
Doh Re Me Fah So La Tee Doh
1   2  3  4   5  6  7   8
 
Using numbers, I would represent Jingle Bells this way:
 
3 3 3, 3 3 3, 3 5 1 2, 3
 
The final, and most common way of representing the notes for Jingle Bells would be as actual named notes:
 
E E E, E E E, E G C D, E
 
The named notes are a way of telling a singer or instrumentalist exactly where to start the song, so that everyone plays it in the same key. (Again, we'll get to keys later).
 
Let's look at the names of notes on this standard staff:
 
[picture of treble clef on staff, with names of notes written on the lines]
 
Each line or space has it's own name in the above example. If I see a note on the top line, I'll know to play that note, an 'F' on my instrument.
 
Here's a piano representation of notes, and how these notes are shown on a staff.
 
Note that a piano has 88 notes, but our staff line has only 5 lines. Counting the spaces above, below, and between the lines, we are only able to represent eleven notes on this staff! What now?
 
This is where clefs come in. When you are comfortable with these notes, read on to find out more about how clefs solve the many note problem.
 
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Clefs And Staves with Five Lines Only
 
Some instruments play really low notes (like a Tuba, for example), and some instruments play really high notes (like a picolo). A piano can play a very broad range of notes! So how to we represent this gigantic range on a staff line?
 
There are two common ways to show notes that extend beyond the 'ladder' or the staff lines. 
 
1. Ledger lines
2. A New Clef 
 
Ledger Lines
 
A Ledger line is the name we give to little extensions of the lines above and below a clef. With the common treble clef, the top line is an F, and so the space above it is a G. But what about one more line above the G? How would we represent that? Simple! We just extend the ladder for that note... like this:
 
 
The same is true for lower notes. On the treble clef, the bottom line is an E. Therefore the space below it is a D-- one note down. So how do we represent the C below the D? Easy! We simply extend the ladder of notes by drawing a short line and putting the note on that line. Here's what a middle C on the treble clef looks like:
 
[ a picture of middle c on a g clef]
 
Now what if I played tuba, and all my notes were down really low-- a treble clef with lots of ledger lines would be really hard to read. Here's an example of what a tuba's part might look like if written on the treble clef:
 
[ a picture of a g clef with many low ledger lines ]
 
A New Clef
 
So far we have only described notes on a standard treble clef, otherwise known as a G clef. What's a G clef? Well, first, study this picture:
 
 
Now compare it to this bass staff (officially known as an F clef):
 
 
If we think of clefs as ladders of notes, then the various ladders have different starting points. The instruments which play down low would prefer that most of their notes are not in ledger lines, since many ledger lines get hard to read. So we move the starting point of the clef to a more appropriate place:
 
[ the same notes above for a tuba, but on the bass clef ]
 
Here are two lesser known clefs, a tenor clef and an alto clef, called C clefs:
 
[ a picture of C clefs ]
 
A piano plays a wide range of notes, so we can notate this by joining a treble clef and a bass clef together with lines. This is also done for vocal parts, string ensembles, and other groups of instruments. When notes are to be played at the same time, they are piled up together.
 
[ apicture of treble and bass clef for piano, with some chords ]
 
 
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Intervals
 
An interval is the distance between any two notes. If the space between the two notes is the same, for example, if three spaces are between the two notes, or four spaces between the two notes, then this interval will sound the same.
 
Here are the most widely used intervals:
 
major second [picture of notes]
minor third  [picture of notes]
major third [picture of notes]
perfect fourth [picture of notes]
perfect fifth [picture of notes]
major sixth [picture of notes]
minor seventh [picture of notes]
major seventh [picture of notes]
octave [picture of notes]
 
To aid in sight-reading, you should memorize the way intervals sound. The trick to starting this, is to think of songs which have these intervals in them. Here are some songs which I use for these intervals:
 
major second - easy - just a scale between Doh and Re.
minor third - "Oh Can - a - da" (between Oh, and Can) (with a Midi example)
major third [picture of notes] "A-las, and did my Saviour bleed" (with a Midi example)
perfect fourth [picture of notes]  "Rise Up oh Men of God" (with a Midi example)
perfect fifth [picture of notes] "Taps"  (with a Midi example)
major sixth [picture of notes] "St. Elmos Fire" (with a Midi example)
minor seventh [picture of notes] (with a Midi example)
major seventh [picture of notes] (with a Midi example)
octave [picture of notes] "Let it Snow" Well the Weath-er out-side (with a Midi example)
 
Come up with your own melody-pieces which contain these intervals, and try to memorize them so that when you hear the interval, you know what it is instantly.
 
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In Between The Scales - Flats and Sharps
 
Here's a C scale on a treble clef:
 
[ picture of a c scale on a treble clef ]
 
On a piano, this scale would be all the white notes, but none of the black notes, from middle C up 8 notes to the C above middle C.
 
But what about all those black notes? If the ladder has every space used up, but there are playable notes even between these notes, how do we represent that?
 
This is when we start to use sharps and flats. A sharp makes a note go up one half step, and a flat makes a note go down one half step. Here are a Bb and a G# as an example:
 
[ a treble clef with a middle line Bb and a top space G# ]
 
If you're near a piano, try to find the B, as shown below on the keyboard, and then play the black note directly below that B... this is a Bb.
 
Find the G on your piano as well-- the note directly above the G is a G sharp.
 
Now find an E...what would E sharp sound like? Notice that in the illustration below, there is no black note directly above (to the right of) the E... so an E sharp is also known as an F.
 
[ illustration of a keyboard E and E sharp ]
 
The same is true of a C flat.
 
[ Illustration of a C and C flat ]
 
When a note has no sharp and no flat, we call it a natural note. There is only one scale that has only white notes (natural notes)-- no sharps nor flats. This scale is called the C scale. All other scales have sharps and flats.
 
 
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Getting Past Pitch Basics - Keys and Key Signatures
 
If we are reading the C scale, which has only natural notes, then there is no need for a key signature. But if the key we're in has sharps or flats in it, then our music can get cluttered quite quickly. Here's Jingle Bells moved up a whole step (from the key of C which we used as an example above) to the key of D below:
 
[ Jingle Bells in D, with accidentals instead of a key signature. ]
 
If we add additional harmony notes (chords) then it would look like this:
 
[ Jingle Bells and chords in D, with accidentals instead of a key signature. ]
 
If we had to write the sharp next to the F and the C every time it appeared, our music would be more difficult to read. Since these two notes will always be sharp in the key of D, we'll place the symbols at the beginning of the staff, like so:
 
[ a key signature in D, with Jingle Bells in D ]
 
We know that this key is called D because the scale of D has two sharps, C# and F#. An easy way to demonstrate which keys have which number of sharps or flats is to memorize a chart, called the circle of fifths (below). D is the name chosen for this key, because the root note, (the Doh, in Doh Re Me) is D. If you started to sing Doh Re Me on an F#, then you would be singing the scale of F#. Here's what F# looks like with accidentals:
 
[ Scale of F# with accidentals ]
 
And with a key signature:
 
[ Scale of F# with key signature ]
 
Some smart guy once figured out that if you put your keys in a circle, with the numbers of flats and sharps, it makes a cool chart, named a circle of fifths:
 
[ an image of a circle of 5ths ]
 
Accidentals
 
If we're playing a song in D, which has a C# and an F#, then what do we do if we want to play a note outside of the scale? For example, an F, (which is normally sharped in D) or an A# (which is normally an A natural in the key of D)? This is when we use something called an accidental.
 
Here's an F natural in the key of D. Notice the symbol used to naturalize a sharped note?
 
[ picture of F natural in the key signature of D ]
 
Here's A sharp in the key of D:
 
[ picture of A sharp in the key singtuare of D ]
 
 
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How to Practice Effectively
 
When practicing, the tendancy for most people is to play over things they do well. But if you are going to improve in the shortest amount of time, you should pick one or two areas in which you are struggling, and repeat the excersices over and over until it's second nature.
 ]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/found-files.shtml d1c9d5a2f5e43593f30944b270d1dbbe Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:10:19 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) ReadSheetMusic.info is a web site for people learning to read sheet music. Whether you're slightly familiar with reading, but still a little uncomfortable, or even if you're a complete novice, I hope these pages will get you going and make sheet music reading as easy as anything else you do!

My name is Jason Silver and I've been making web pages since 1995. You might know me from my other music web site, www.notationmachine.com, or my music site from the past, www.tran-scribe.com.

Please use any of the free tools on this site as much as you want. Tell your friends, and pass the word on. I hope you'll consider also signing up for the paid sections of this site. This helps me keep the pages up, and to feed my four kids. ;-)

Enjoy!

~Jason
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/about.shtml 36f6025c7ebcadb4efdb26e303e0da03 Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:55:23 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) When I was a kid, my school music teacher gave me a card that said, "B#, don't Bb!"  Since then I've seen another version that said something about being natural. These are cute little plays on words, but they don't tell us much about the difference between a flat and a sharp.
It's quite simple really:
A sharp looks like a pound sign, or a number sign: # - it means the note goes up one half-step (higher).
A flat looks like a lower-case b, and means that the note goes down one half-step (lower).
A natural looks like a little box with the top left and bottom right corners extending past the edge. It means to reset the note back to it's natural state, without sharps or flats.
Whups!! I Made a Mistake
Yes, music can make a mistake-- sort of... they're called accidentals. This is the term for a sharp, flat, or natural that is applied to a specific note within a measure.
The purpose of the accidental is to say, "Please, I know this note is normally natural (for example) but I want you to play it THIS time as sharp (or flat, as the case may be... something other than what the key signature indicates it should be).
Key Signatures Have Sharps and Flats
Another place you'll see sharps and flats is at the beginning of each line of music (the beginning of the staff). In this instance, there may be one to seven sharps or flats. They tell us which key the music is in. I get into that in more detail here.
a la'Naturale
Naturals are notes without any sharp or flat. An example of a natural note would be C, D, E, F, G, and A. A note that is not natural would be C#, Eb, Bb, G#, etc.
The natual symbol is used when the key signature indicates it is flat or sharp, but the music requires the natural value of the note to be played.
For example, in F, the B is flatted, making a scale of F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E. If I wanted to hear a non-flatted B in a melody, then I would have to put a natural symbol on the staff line, to the immediate left of the Bb.
How Long Do They Last?
Accidentals last for the duration of the measure in which they occur. After that, the next measure would have the note return to it's key signature value.]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/flats_and_sharps.shtml c885ab096d98d7c10747c9cf4fb73e47 Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:40:50 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)
Think of time signatures as counting systems. Have you heard a band leader count in a song like this, "1 and-a 2 and-a 3 and-a 4". He's counting off the four beats that the whole group will syncronize to. These groups of four are one of the many time-signatures.
Our example tune, Jingle Bells, is in the time signature of 4/4. This means that there are four beats in every section, (these sections are called measures, or bars), and that each quarter note gets one beat. See, the two numbers together mean 4 quarters.
If our tune was a waltz, then it would be in 3/4 time. This means that each measure has three beats, and that the quarter note gets the beat. Three quarters.
We can deduce from these examples that the top number of a time signature represents the beats in a measure, and the bottom number represents which type of note gets the beat, or the emphasis.
Other time signatures: 
2/2, in which there are 2 half notes in each measure
5/4, in which there are 5 quarter notes in each measure
2/4, in which there are 2 quarter notes in each measure
3/8, in which there are 3 eighth notes in each measure
Get the idea?
Changing the number of notes in each measure also impacts the way a measure appears, and how you will count it. You would count 3/4 (waltz time) as 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3 and so on.
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/time-signatures.shtml 88be29e2ac6ff6f619b6ba85a221a0e1 Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:08:52 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) OK, so there's no dotted line, and a key signature will never be found at the bottom of an official document... but they are nevertheless very important. Without a valid signature, it is impossible to read sheet music accurately.
Think of a key signature as a starting point. It will tell you the 'frame of reference' you need to have in order to understand the notes on the staff lines, and especially how they relate to one another.
That's because notes in any given key signature are all in the same note-family. It's like a surname for every note in the scale.
Not Your Typical Family Reunion
Ahh, families. Often a great source of stress and friction. But notes in the same key-signature are a collection of relatives that play nicely together. Each note sounds pretty, or at least, acceptably disonant with the other notes in this collection.
The most common key signatures have the fewest number of sharps and flats. For example:
C - no sharps or flats
F - one flat
G - one sharp
D - two sharps
Bb - two flats

Key signatures never have both sharps and flats. It's one or the other.
What They Look Like
You'll recognize a key signature by the sharps or flats assembled along the left side of the staff lines. Every line should have the key signature reinterated, just so there's no question what key we're all playing in.
There's a special order for these flats or sharps, but that doesn't matter now. What does matter is that you can figure out the key name by looking at this signature.
Finding the Key Name
Unfortunately, the key signature isn't written in plain English. Rather, we need to count the numbers of sharps or flats in the signature to determine the key name. There's actually a system for this, called the 'circle of fifths' which we'll get into later.
But for now, use this cheat:
For Key Signatures with Flats
The name of the key signature is the name of the second last line the flat is on.
Example: three flats - the second last flat will be on the Eb space, making it the key of E flat
For Key Signatures with Sharps
The name of the key signature is one half-step (one space or line) up from the last sharp.
Example: four sharps - the last sharp will be on the D# line, and one half-step up from D# is E, making it the key of E!
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/key-signatures.shtml b699baef8a4cf0245542a274618d3632 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:21:18 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor) So we learned recently that the staff lines are a five rung ladder, and that the spaces and lines can both hold notes. (This is actually called a staff. The plural or staff is staves).
Let's see; five lines, four spaces, that's nine notes! Oh, and the space above and below would make 11 notes.
Making 88 Notes with 11 Spots
But anyone who has seen a piano keyboard knows there are a lot more notes than 11! In fact, a full-size piano keyboard has 88 keys! So how do we work that out?
Well, we could add little extensions below and above the staff as necessary-- kind of like adding short rungs to the staff-ladder so notes can climb higher or lower, above or below the staff's five line limitation. These little extensions are named 'ledger lines.'
But no one wants to could more than two or three ledger lines above the staff...it just gets too hard after a while. So instead of endless ledger lines
That's when clefs come into play. A clef tells you what your frame of reference is-- it tells you a starting place note, so you can figure out all the other ones in reference to it.

Originally, instead of a special clef symbol, the reference line of the staff was simply labeled with the name of the note it was intended to bear: G, F, or C. These were the 'clefs' used for Gregorian chant. Over time the shapes of these letters became stylized, leading to their current versions. If you look at a treble Clef (G), a bass clef (F) or an alto/tenor clef (C) you can almost make out how the letters became stylized symbols over time.
The treble clef was once shaped like a G, with a dot on the second line from the bottom (the G line). The bass clef is shaped like an F, with a dot on the F line (the branches of the F are dots in the G and E spaces). The Alto and Tenor are both C clefs, with two backward C's on either side of the C line.
It takes a while to get used to reading different clefs. Just when you get used to a note at the bottom of the staff with a single ledger line through it being 'C' in the treble clef, now you have to learn that it's 'E' in the bass clef.
Focus on learning one clef, for example, the treble, first. Keep pushing yourself to memorize the notes of the other clefs after that and they will all eventually come.
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/clefs-and-staves.shtml 6a8470390bc6d572bfa07af2f73d4fd2 Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:31:30 -0000 jasonsilver@crookedbush.com (Site Editor)
An interval is the distance between any two notes. If the space between the two notes is the same, for example, if three spaces are between the two notes, or four spaces between the two notes, then this interval will sound the same.
The Most Widely Used intervals
To aid in sight-reading, you should memorize the way intervals sound. The trick to starting this, is to think of songs which have these intervals in them. Here are some songs which I use for these intervals -- some of them are hymns, which you may not know, so try to find your own songs to help you.
major second - easy - just a scale between Doh and Re.
minor third - "Oh Can - a - da" (between Oh, and Can)
major third "A-las, and did my Saviour bleed" 
perfect fourth  "Rise Up oh Men of God"
perfect fifth  "The Last Post"
major sixth "St. Elmos Fire"
minor seventh "Star Trek, the Original Series Theme"
major seventh (I don't have a song for this one)
octave  "Let it Snow" Well the Weath-er out-side
Make it Your Own
Again, come up with your own melody-pieces which contain these intervals, and try to memorize them so that when you hear the interval, you know what it is instantly.
]]> http://www.readsheetmusic.info/intervals.shtml 2eda155a5820f1c7ecdce630ab8c671e Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:19:45 -0000