A Beginner’s Guide To Reading Sheet Music (and Sight-Reading!)

Written by: HEAR AND PLAY GROUP

welcome back,

Many musicians who play by ear dream of being able to read music. There are countless pieces of complex music, especially in classical music that are fairly difficult to play by ear. Knowing how to read music opens the doors for being able to play anything you want as long as you can find the sheet music. Reading music is also an excellent brain exercise.
So, with all these great things that come with learning how to read music, what are we waiting for? Let’s jump right into the basics. We will begin with a basic understanding of how to read the notes on a sheet of music.


1. The Grand Staff. Music is notated on what we call the grand staff. Each note written on the grand staff tells us exactly which key to play. As shown below, the Grand Staff consists of a treble clef and bass clef . The treble clef is played with your right hand, and the bass clef is played with your left hand.

2. Locating Middle C and Reading Notes.
Middle C is our anchor of note reading. Many beginner pieces will begin on Middle C.
Here is what Middle C looks like on the staff in sheet music.

Here is Middle C on the keyboard. It is the fourth C from the left. You can find the first C by counting three notes in from the left side of a full, 88 key keyboard.

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