I'm taking piano lessons now to learn how to read sheet music. It's a relatively slow process and there are a lot of intricacies that I'm still not familiar with. I did only start a few months ago, though.

I know nothing about music so I'm almost always lost when it comes to knowing what key I'm in or what chord I'm really playing at any given time. I'm just wondering if you guys have any tips or practicing tricks you guys might have that could speed up this process. I suppose the biggest problem I'm having right now is not knowing if what keys I'm hitting are really the right ones on a new song. I am literally learning a whole new language, and it's tedious, but it's something I really, really want to know (Like Japanese, but lets not go there).

I'm generally impatient when it comes to learning new things, especially when it comes to something I like such as piano, so I apologize in advance. I'd just like to be able to sit down and actually be able to read sheets for a new song so I can learn to play it faster. It's actually kind of frustrating lol. A good example of this is La Valse d'Amelie. I don't find that song too terribly difficult to play even though it was a real pain to learn it "my way" - Finding a video of someone playing it and running back and forth until I get it right (It took a few months).

tl;dr
Sheet Music will make my life easier and more fun. Help!?

There are no short cuts but there are smart cuts.

The first thing is to concentrate on intervals. Just look at them and work out the interval - two notes apart is a second, three (which will be from one space to the next space or one line to the next line is a third), etc.. Intervals really helps with reading.

Also, ear training - listen to the intervals. Then you know if you played the wrong note because it's in your head.

You will need to make sure you absolutely know which note is which of course.

What else - reading the score while listening to the piece helps because you know the notes are right.

Practice, practice, practice.

Get some real simple material. I like Hannah Smith's Progressive Sight Reading Exercises for the Piano.

There are some web-based "games" for learning notes too - worth a try.


BTW, sounds like you are good at playing by ear - or at least following. That's a help when reading too - you just can't rely on it.

Probably the only way to solve this is to learn basic music theory, specifically key signatures and the circle of fifths. To be able to get a generally good idea (and with precision, later on when your ear is further developed) what key you are hitting and "why", one of the only ways I know of is to learn the scales and how they are built (and intervals as suggested by AndyPlatt).

You are right, you are learning a whole new language; it takes time and dedication, patience and persistence. Don't go overboard with theory and scales practice! but do get familiar with it soon.

There are tons of good free websites on theory, one of them I found helpful is by a music teacher: http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Fundamentals/workbooks.html

There are also good, inexpensive theory books like "The complete elementary music rudiments" by Mark Sarnecki that will get you reasonably far in the subject of music theory.





I hear you! I'm like that too. However, I learned by experience that some things cannot be rushed - piano being one of them. An impatient attitude with yourself is a sure road to frustration! Since you can already play, once you get some basic theory knowledge and are learning sight-reading, you'll do well, I'm certain I've listened and watched some of your videos, you do indeed play well, very little is missing from your performance.

John

Thank you both for your help. I'll be sure to check out some of those books in due time. Heck, maybe my piano teacher has some books covering the same kind of material.

Edit: Wow, that website will really be helpful. Thanks again!

Another really good site I forgot to mention is this one: http://www.8notes.com/theory/ - 46 lessons; the theory is clearly and simply explained, using nice "flash" format animated graphics.

John

I'd like to say thanks AGAIN for those links; They really are helping. I sat down for about an hour or so and actually learned a new song from sheet music! I've got to say, it feels great being able to sit down and actually learn something new without needing to get up and look at a video.



I was pretty happy when I realized I had actually memorized the song by accident. Now, I'm not going to lie, I did get some help from my piano teacher, but she only really gave me some fingering tips on the first bit that repeats throughout the song. She played it for me once and left the rest up to me.

One of the ways I learned rhythm was when I was taking the bus to and from school and listening to my iPod, I would find the natural beat of the music (i.e. the thing you tap your foot to) and I would imagine that it was, for instance, a quarter note. I would then tap this quarter note on my lap with my hands while mentally counting
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4, and then I would try and subdivide the beat with my hands.

For instance I might subdivide the quarternote into 16th notes and start playing 16th notes with my hands while mentally counting:
1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a 1e+a 2e+a 3e+a 4e+a.

Or perhaps I would do something simpler like 8th notes:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

Or I might try 8th note triplets:
1ta ta 2 ta ta 3ta ta 4ta ta 1ta ta 2 ta ta 3ta ta 4ta ta

Or, if I was feeling ambitious, I might try 16th note triplets:
1ta ta + ta ta 2ta ta+ ta ta 3ta ta +ta ta 4ta ta + ta ta 1ta ta + ta ta 2ta ta+ ta ta 3ta ta +ta ta 4ta ta + ta ta

You can also subdivide eighth notes, half-notes, whatever you feel like. You can also try subdividing only with your hands while you mentally count only the main beat (e.g. tap 8th notes with your hands but only mentally count quarter notes)

I found this to be a great exercise to internalise the rhythms in such a way that when you see, for instance a 16th note on the page, you have a intuitive understanding of how it relates to the quarter note.

Quick Note: the "+" is pronounced "and"

Oh yeah, great video!

I know exactly how you feel!

My first memory of seeing sheet music was as a wee girl of five or six years old. I was fascinated by it and thought it must be a great thing to be able to look at the dots and squiggles and be able to translate it into actual music! Nowadays - like you - feel quite delighted when I learn a new piece of music I've never heard before, just from reading the dots and squiggles.

Btw, that was a very nice piece you were playing, well done you.

About the only advice I can give you is the same I gave someone else on this forum only a few minutes ago: read as many different pieces of the same difficulty as you can. It's like when you learned to read as a child, only by reading more and more different things do you become fluent.

Also, something I learned myself only recently, stick to stuff you can actually read fairly fluently for a while before progressing on to more difficult stuff - but then, your piano teacher will probably advise you on that better than I could.

Try using this site that a friend recomended to me, it has some simple sheet music on, so maybe pick a couple of pieces you are familiar with and learn them. It is written in basic keyboard/piano form.
http://www.wikifonia.org/

Take your time, and don't try to learn too many things at once. With learning musical score I think if you practically try to get to grips with it you will have a better understanding rather than trying to just cover it by reading loads of theory books.