4/30 Blog 5: Learning to Read

    This week was by far not the most fun. I did, however, learn a lot about sheet music, which I've been putting off. Like, why do I need to be able to read music when I can just follow a random tutorial on YouTube to play songs??? Jokes aside, it was way tougher than I expected. I started learning sheet music a couple of weeks ago, as mentioned in a previous blog, so I had a headstart.

    First I watched this, reviewing where the notes were on the staff and getting it on the top of my head. The "Every Good Boy Deserves Fries" to remember the notes on the treble clef staff lines gave me some flashbacks of elementary school music class. The spaces were just "FACE" so I could remember that with ease. The bass clef is very similar but is offset up by one note, so the lines would be "BGDFA" and similarly, the spaces would be "ACEG." I also gained familiarity with ledger lines, which were notes that could represent higher or lower-pitched notes that normally wouldn't be able to fit on the staff. One thing I found interesting was that the treble and bass clefs share middle C at the same place and that sometimes the treble clef could go into the bass clef's "territory."

    

    This video helped me learn how flats and sharps are represented on sheet music. It was pretty simple; a # symbol shows that the note is sharp whereas a b represents a flat. It also gave a trick to identify notes quicker: make a "checkpoint" at the top and bottom of the staff and knowing the notes there, move up and down the staff to find the correct note.

    To practice, I have been going to this website and identifying notes on the staff. It has definitely improved my speed and accuracy. 

    In addition, my next song of choice is going to be Für Elise by Beethoven, a more classical and common song to learn on piano. It is, of course, going to be an easier version of the song but I will be learning it using sheet music. Reading music is tough, so starting with some simpler music will help me get an idea of the notes' position and timing.

I commented on Kai's, Connor's, and Tiffany Liu's blogs.