How To Read Piano Sheet Music

If you are learning to play the piano then you might also be in the process of learning how to read sheet music. Sheet music is a great way to learn about the instrument as well as a great way to start playing some beautiful pieces of music.

Sheet music can be very difficult to understand as a beginner and that's why you should want to take your time. Make sure that you don't try to run before you can walk. Don't try to do everything at once and start by focusing on the individual parts of the composition.

There are lots of different parts of the music which are important and worth studying. By looking at each of these things you will be able to understand the music and play it much more successfully.

• Take a look at the whole composition and think about the structure and also how long it is. Just have a quick look through will provide you with lots of useful information.
• This time you should look through the composition but go through it more thoroughly. Look at anything that you aren’t familiar with, perhaps you don’t know certain notes or you are not familiar with chords. If you don’t know anything then mark it so that you can find out later. A dictionary for music or the internet can be used to solve these questions.
• After you have done this you should then take a look at the time signature. If you’re not already familiar with this then you should study it. The time signature can completely change the feel of a piece of music.
• Are you familiar with using the key signature of the composition? If not then you should learn about the key so that you have a much better understanding of the whole piece.
• If there are any key changes in the song then look for them. If there are key changes then find out the new keys so that you can research them if required.
• Take a look to see if there are any changes in tempo throughout the composition and mark them if noticed.
• Try and spot any common passages throughout the composition. Is there a certain series of notes which are repeated throughout the composition? If you can find these and learn them then you will find playing the music is much easier.
• To understand the composition much better you will find it easier to break the composition up.
• Do whatever you want to make the music easier for you to read. If you have trouble reading the music notes then make your own marks on the music until you master the skill.
• Now you should be ready to try and play through the sheet music, try to do it without stopping if you can. Don’t get annoyed if you make mistakes, just ignore them and carry on. This will help you to hear what the composition is supposed to sound like.
• This time play through the music again, if there are any problem areas then stop and mark on the music this time.
• Go through the music again and take a look at the highlighted areas that you have been having trouble with. Practice just the difficult sections and when you are ready then try doing the whole song again.

It can be very boring to learn a new piece of piano sheet music, however it really doesn't need to be. If you break the process up into smaller parts then this should make learning the music much more easy.