Sight singing is an integral part of aural skills, and ultimately, basic musicianship.  It is typically the first skill we begin to develop when studying ear training.  Sight singing involves singing aloud intervals, scales, chordal structures, and melodies from a score without the aid of a musical instrument.  This ability improves our reading skills, and develops our internal ear, that is hearing the music in our mind when looking at a score.  In the next few posts we will explore some beginning exercises to help develop sight singing skills.

How to Read Music

Let’s explore some simple patterns to help you learn to read music that contains triads:

Simple Triad Patterns - How to Read Music Notes

This first pattern arpeggiates through all the triads in C major in root position in a scale-like fashion.  Practice this pattern, and the other ones presented here at your instrument, slowly and steadily.  Start to use a metronome as you gain familiarity with the pattern.  Transpose these exercises into some of the other keys that you are currently working on and you’ll be reading music with triads in a hurry!

If you want to how to read music notes, how much should you pratice? I’ve heard alot of wrong answers about this so it’s time for me to weigh in…

First, a quick review…

1)   You’ve got to make that you’re using exercises designed to teach you to begin thinking musically, not just memorizing lines and spaces… In the long term it’s not helpful… You’ll never be fast at reading music that way.

2)  Make sure you’re using exercises designed to help you learn how to read music notes FAST. Anyone can learn to read music notes given enough time, but it doesn’t have to take MONTHS they way it does most people if you’re using a music reading program built “from the ground up” for speed. Click on that link if you’re looking for one…

Anyway, now you can begin practicing. Don’t practice more than twenty minutes per day. It’s easy to feel really motivated one day and over do it, but long term the results won’t be so great… Study about 20 minutes every day (or at least 5 days a week) and your results will be MUCH better than if you practice for hours a few times per week… Your brain can only absorb so much in one sitting. How’s that for a Music Reading Tip?

Odd numbered intervals:  seconds, fourths, sixths and octaves, fall on a line and a space.  Study the spacing between the note pairs in the following examples:

Intervals to Learn How to Read Music Notes

Notice that seconds have no lines or spaces between them.  Fourths have one space between the two pitches.  Sixths have two spaces, and octaves have three.  Its not that you have to remember how many spaces and lines there are between the intervals, recall that we are learning to recognize them at sight, but we want to build a visual image of how a particular interval appear on the page.

Now its time to test your new-knowledge.  Try to name the size of the following intervals by saying them aloud, one after the other, in a steady slow tempo:

How to Read Music Notes Intervals Exercises

We’re getting close. Will wrap up this music reading lesson next time!

4. Now try descending thirds:

C A F D B G E C . . .

5. Could you figure out ascending and descending fifths?  Here’s how ascending fifths starts:

C G D . . .

Once you have mastered these basic patterns, its time to look at them on the staff.  The first two exercises are really just ascending and descending scales respectively.  What perhaps is a little different, however,  is that these scale-like patterns can start on any scale degree. – What this means is that the music notes in this scale can begin on any note -  For example below is the same music reading exercise in G major that presents a series of continuous scales that start on each pitch in the key:

How to Read Music Notes Exercises

To familiarize yourself with the note names you can practice a few simple exercises away from your instrument:

1. Say the note names out loud in order starting on any name, through two or more repetitions of the musical alphabet. For example:

D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D . . .

2. Now reverse the order:

D C B A G F E D C B A G F E D . . .

3. Once you can say the notes backwards, try this pattern starting on any pitch:

 C E G B D F A C … 

This is an ascending thirds pattern. C to E is the interval of a third ( count C D E, one two three)  Notice that this pattern of ascending thirds repeats itself once all seven note names are covered.  This kind of patterning and repetition comes up a lot in music theory and is a common technique in almost any real learning system to learn how to read music notes.