Find out how to READ sheet music

The objective of writing is to achieve the transmission and preservation of knowledge, an infinite number of texts have been written in order to communicate information, an idea or a story. As well as the text, music is a language and it is important that we learn to understand their writing to interpret the author's intentions. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will learn about how to read sheet music, its elements, figures, symbols and mechanisms of musical language.

Index

1. Music: a multidimensional language
2. Work information
3. The pentagram
4. Structure of the musical work
5. Elements at the beginning of the staff
6. Elements during performance

Unlike the text, the music is interactive. It is something that we not only read but also interpret, hear and feel. This is due to the great variety of elements of which it is composed: rhythm, tuning, speed, pulse, nuances, timbres ...

All of these factors are information that lies in the

If you want to know how to read sheet music it is important that, first of all, you know what type of work we are dealing with. Every work has a title and an author. In music there is also the possibility of redoing a work, modifying it to make a new version and we call this an "arrangement".

In such a case, the arranger is also a big name. These dates are placed at the beginning of a work as a heading and although they are not a musical element, they are important to preserve the merit of the author of the work and to be able to refer to it.

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Starting with the basics, we must know that the place where all these elements are placed is on the staff, which are 5 parallel lines that will carry all the symbols and musical indications.

Just as in painting the canvas is the work surface, in music it is the staff, therefore, it is an essential element when learning to read sheet music.

All works have an established structure (even if we decide to alter it later). In our music unit of measure is the "compass". We can refer to how long a passage of the work lasts, or the work as a whole, by the number of measures. We recognize a measure when we see a vertical line that divides the staff.

exist different types of line to indicate how to continue after finishing a measure:

• Single bar: Separate each measure.
• Double bar: Indicates the completion of a part or section. Sometimes it can be accompanied by the text "Fine" from the Italian that indicates "end".
• Repeater bars: Indicates that we must do a repetition (or several) of the part we have just read. This part is delimited by two sets of bars, they indicate the beginning and the end of the section to be repeated.
• End bar: They indicate the end of the work.
• Then we have location elements in the form of text like the essay letters and the measure numbers. That are very useful to locate a specific part when we rehearse a piece with other musicians.

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Continuing with this lesson in which we tell you how to read sheet music, now we will discover the elements that appear at the beginning of the staff. Right in the first bar we will find a series of elements that give us indications of the rhythmic, harmonic and reading musical context.

Key code

The musical clef It is a symbol right at the beginning of the first measure that indicates the name that we will give to the notes in relation to the lines and spaces of the staff. We use it depending on the instrument and musical register we want. These can be: Treble clef, Bass clef and C clef. Each one has its own symbol to identify it.

Metrics

They are numbers that are seen as a fraction. The metric tells us the number of notes that can fit a measure and the pulse that we must carry, this is in other words, the way to count.

Armor

They are the series of alterations (sharps or flats) that lets us know in what tonality is the piece, or simply what notes we should always alter, unless we indicate otherwise with a symbol of natural.

Tempo

It is placed above the staff. The measure we use is BPM (from English "beats per minute"). The tempo is the speed at which we must interpret the work. As there are ranges of BPM, the tempo can also be indicated with a name according to this speed range. Examples: Allegro, Larghetto, Andante, Scherzo, etc.

And to be able to read scores during the performance, it is essential that you know these elements that are part of musical reading. They are as follows.

Notes, chords and rests

Are the musical figures that simultaneously represent the duration and tuning in relation to tempo, meter and key signature. Thanks to these symbols we can read a melody and the harmonic structure, this is the substance of a work. If we refer to everyday text, the notes would be the equivalent of the letters.

Sometimes, in more popular music genres, chords may be written with a letter system rather than a chord by note.

Volume

They tell us if it is necessary to increase or decrease the volume. This results in the perception of increased intensity or, on the contrary, relaxation.

Text prompts

Throughout the work we can find text that provides us with specific information about the interpretation, the expression with which we must play a part.

Character

It refers to the feeling to interpret (For example: dolce, cantabile, con fuoco, lacrimoso ...) it is usually placed in Italian.

Dynamic

It indicates the intensity with which we play the notes, from less to more these are: Pianísimo (pp), Piano (p), mezzo piano (mf), mezzo forte (mf), forte (f), fortíssimo (ff), sforzando (sfz).

Tempo changes

It signals a gradual change in tempo, slower or faster.

Rallentando (rall.), Ritardando (rit.), Accelerando (accel.), Rubato (rub.)

It is very important to remember that music is a dynamic and expressive art, it is not enough just to know how to read correctly a score but we must make our own interpretation of the writing to bring it back to the life. Also, know how to read sheet music it is special for a musician and to preserve the author's work as he conceived it.

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