Learn Piano Note Reading



Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2008

by
the-piano-site.com

Note reading for piano is a lot easier than many people think – it all comes down to your ability to memorize and repeat what you've remembered.  As soon as you have the basics down, you've developed the ability to start reading notes.  Just practice those skills again and again until they become second nature and you'll soon be a whiz at piano note reading.

The basics of musical notation are the placements of notes on the five lines and the four spaces the lines create. The design on the beginning portion of these lines and spaces is the clef. Mainly for piano note reading, there is a bass clef and a treble clef. The treble clef holds the octaves found to the right of middle C on your piano. The treble clef design looks somewhat like the ampersand symbol. The bass clef, on the other hand, looks like a backwards facing "C" with a pair of dots. This is fitting because the bass clef points to the keys that are to the left of middle C on your piano. It is important to note that notes can continue on beyond the lines of the two clefs with note location being in the same relative proportion of those on the clefs. Middle C, for example, occurs two spots below the bottom line, and thus has a line drawn through it whenever it appears below the treble clef to denote that it would be the next line below the bottom line if there were a line below the bottom line.

The Treble Clef

The notes on each clef range from lower notes at the bottom to higher notes at the top. The five lines of the treble clef from bottom to top are E, G, B, D, and F. You've probably heard the piano note reading mnemonic used by piano teachers that "Every Good Boy Does Fine." In contrast, the notes in the four spaces of the treble clef are F, A, C, and E. This group of letters is easy to remember because you have to "FACE" the music. For simple beginner piano pieces, the right hand will play the notes of the treble clef, though the left hand will often have to play these notes as you advance to more diverse pieces.

The Bass Clef

The bass clef also has five lines, but these lines are represented by different notes than the lines on the treble clef. The notes of the bass clef lines are G, B, D, F, and A. For these lines of the bass clef, piano teachers usually use the mnemonic "Good Boys Do Fine Always," which is similar to the treble clef mnemonic. You may also see "Grizzly Bears Don't Fear Anything" used as a mnemonic for the bass clef. The spaces of the base clef represent the notes A, C, E, and G. The mnemonic used by piano teachers to help students with piano note reading of these bass clef spaces is "All Cows Eat Grass." For simple beginner piano pieces, the left hand will play the notes of the bass clef, though the right hand will often have to play these notes as you advance to more diverse pieces.

If you see a bass clef, you'll know that the five lines represent different notes. In this case, they're GBDFA.  The spaces are ACEG.  There are plenty of ways to remember these, too.  "Good Boys Do Fine Always" and "Grizzly Bears Don't Fear Anything" are sometimes used for the lines.  For the spaces, you'll often hear "All Cows Eat Grass."  Most of the time, you'll play the bass part with the left hand, and the treble with the right.  However, sometimes you'll need to cross over if there's a note that's too hard to reach with the usual hand.

There's some modification of these notes, too.  If you see a sharp (like the # symbol on your phone) or a flat (like a small "b"), you'll need to move up a half step.  This often means using the black keys instead of the white ones.  Sharps and flats are sometimes noted in the staff, but are often placed at the beginning, near the clef.  If you see a sharp or a flat there, assume that it will be played consistently throughout.

Musical theory and piano note reading can get more complicated from here, but these basics are all you need to get started.  Repeat them until you know them well, and don't have to think about them when you sit down at the piano.  They'll quickly become easy – almost like second nature.
 
 
You can get a more in-depth knowledge about pianos in general and digital pianos in particular by going to the-piano-site.com - The Complete Online Resource For Pianos And Piano Music.
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