This is The Fastest Method to Reading Sheet Music

[@LessonsOnTheWeb]

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[@lucasneumanndeantonio9727]

I've played piano for years when I was younger and no teacher ever mentioned identifying intervals like this, Thank you!

[@lucasneumanndeantonio9727]

Also I just noticed that the stems (thin vertical lines) are usually 1 octave tall in most cases, unless the notes are on ledger lines. Is this consistent enough that I can trust it for reading?

[@lastbornrelic3430]

@@lucasneumanndeantonio9727 is it?

[@lastbornrelic3430]

@@lucasneumanndeantonio9727 I'm getting a piano tomorrow got any tips on what i should learn?

[@Racegas]

@@lastbornrelic3430 if you have zoom or sum I can be a free piano teacher

[@lastbornrelic3430]

@@Racegas wa age are u?

[@Kapomafioso]

Reading sheet music is like reading a book (each phrase is a sentence, each chord or cluster of notes is a word and each note is a letter). You don't read a book letter by letter, whole words and sentences pop in front of you and the meaning appears in your head. Same with notes. Clustering is great, however, there are annoying circumstances, like being in a scale that has e flat in it and having to read that first chord with perhaps sharp on f - whoops, instead of second we suddenly have minor third. That can be maddening, but just like in a language, to be better at reading or speaking, one has to experience seeing/hearing a lot of words/sentences in order to decipher them more succesfully in future. Luckily, the dictionary for music is pretty thin - there are very few notes, so to really learn how to sightread one has to...sightread. Same as with language, if you want to master another language, you have to speak that language and read books in that language...sure, at first, it might feel clumsy, awkward, you might have to reach for a dictionary to translate a complicated word (= double-checking what that note several ledger lines up is), but after enough practice it will feel less burdening and more enjoyable.

[@ajbreezy11]

That is a really great analogy. Very good explanation. :)

[@SugarTouch]

That's why I just write down notes names directly in sheet with (apple) pencil. Along with key sharps/flats. To fluently read instead of recognise, measure and recall alterations. It will take 15-20 minutes per page (or faster).You will eventually learn notes anyway without additional techniques, but the goal is to PLAY MUSIC. Not to READ SHEET. So I'll better force my brain and memory to work on playing instead of reading. May be visual clusters are nice technique to read the sheet but sheet is just annoying hindrance between you and the music. Do we actually need fastest methods to deal with hindrances instead of fastest methods to play music ?

[@marffvmarffv5438]

Fully agree on that. There are no shortcuts. I'm beginner in piano and I learn bass and treble clef by telling the names of the notes while I play the same. It is difficult, but we did it to learn reading our language. Music is just another language with rules etc... It requires regular practices and patience to master enough to the desire or objectives that we have all in mind. So I will continue the old school way, but clearly I do not see a better way. Have fun with music because at the end it is why we spent so much effort.

[@ironmonger100]

Perfectly summarised, the only way to improve at reading is to do lots of it

[@clares9957]

Thanks

[@execdd17]

I've been playing guitar and piano for over 10 years by ear and general music theory, but this makes me actually want to take the leap into conquering sight reading once and for all! Thanks for the inspiration. I'm going to check out your site while I'm at it.

[@GeorgetteBu]

I have posted this comment to several different tutorials. I am thankful for what has been offered to new musicians and old ones like me. I'm a 60's trained musician that took lessons from the little old lady down the street every Thursday. The cost was $3.00 an hour. That was a lot of money for my folks back then. I continued playing and studying to this day. I also still come right back to beginners lessons and refresh my knowledge. Thank You Again. Young musicians have no idea of the value of what you are doing here.

[@akaash_toor]

💕 glad for you, man ❤️

[@larizzyy]

I’ve played piano for pretty long and no teacher ever taught me this and it’s so unbelievable helpful, thanks!

[@johnmac8084]

This is a game changer. I've been reading a letter at a time and now I'm reading words. I've never heard anybody teach this before, everyone else just says keep practising a letter at a time and you'll get faster, and eventually read words. Thank you. Liked and subscribed

[@draugami]

Wow! I am a senior who has played the piano since I was a child. Never learned this technique. Thank you!!!

[@deltafour1212]

THIS IS GOLD! Please, don't ever take this video down.

[@TheKingkhaotic]

I've watched a ton of videos on reading sheet music, and this one by far is the best one I've watched. He explains it in a way that's super easy to understand. Thanks so much.

[@lumpichu]

It's great and the best I've seen. But it is still partly very confusing for me, probably because I'm quite a math person. Yes, a fourth is a fourth, but the notes are three notes away, not four! Because at least for my brain, notes in a unison are not one note away, but ZERO notes away.

[@lastbornrelic3430]

Pianote explains it better in my opinion

[@sweettoy3824]

"You will need to know how to read notes on the staff" _puts 5 crotchets in a single 4/4 measure_

[@mpc4353]

Lol

[@jeffmckeon4596]

Hsaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[@Codesixir]

this made my day lol

[@forbiddenfursona]

5:4 lezgooo

[@sheba8433]

I enjoyed this lesson very much. I play basic notes by ear but have always wanted to learn to read notes. You have explained how to read notes easily. I will try your technique on my keyboard. Thank you very much. You are a good teacher. God bless

[@Youtube_deleted_my_favourites]

The best channel there is for learning the piano

[@RolandDeAragon]

Nice job. Being a music educator for 20 years this is a simple way to do it. After teaching over a thousand students I realized one major issue the a lot of my students had when it came time to read sheet music. They always had trouble identifying the note. When reading sheet music you're basically trying to accomplish two things in a split second. 1. Note identification 2. Note values. Traditional music has too many rules. Another major issue my students had was rhythm and time. I figured if I created a new notation system that could eliminate the struggling note identification part and just concentrate on rhythm and time, then students would advance faster. So I did. I removed many traditional rules for note identification but still kept the traditional note value system. I've transcribed many works with it and have tested it on my students and also friends and family members. In seconds you're literally learn how to identify the notes so musicians can concentrate on rhythm only. Still in the transcription process. More to come.

[@blmenden]

Hey Tim, I just had a lightbulb moment after viewing this lesson on odd/even intervals....and now find it freakin easy to read notes on ledger lines, using this "tool." Thanks so much!

[@invinciblesticks]

Agreed. This is a small, but incredibly useful bit of knowledge to have!

[@sylvia4425]

Hey Tim...That's the part that I don't get how we can use this to our advantage? Odd/even intervals that are close to each other, i can kind of see how that could be helpful...but when they're further apart??? Or maybe I missed the whole point. Can you share your lightbulb info with me? lol thanks. 😊

[@BizarreAvenir]

@@sylvia4425 i also didn't get it 🙈 but I just started music theory. What does odd or even mean?

[@chrispaul6290]

@@BizarreAvenir Just like arithmetic, even numbers are evenly divisible by 2, and odd numbers are not. Call the lowest note 1. If the next note is only one note higher, it is 2, which is an even number. If it is two notes higher, it is 3, which is an odd number. Continue on, with 4 even, 5 odd, 6 even, 7 odd, 8 (octave) even.

[@soniadobricanin8361]

You are amazing teacher!! Thank you 💕💕

[@mikewellwood1412]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned in any of these basic how to read music videos is a little tip I learned somewhere years ago: An alternative name for the Treble Clef is the G Clef. You will notice that the upper tail curls around one of the lines of the staff, and that's the G line. In the Bass Clef, also called the F Clef, those two dots are above and below the F line. In the early days of musical notation, those symbols were forms of the letters "G" and "F" respectively, and it's been passed down to us, although we now just see them as symbols. So, any time you might have gotten lost on the staff, and temporarily forget the "Every Good Boy deserves Fruit" or "All Cows Eat Grass" mnemonics, looking at the clef for the staff gives you a little anchor to fix the rest of the notes on to.

[@demerion]

Yes, I wanted to comment that myself! I never learned to call it the "Treble Clef" or the "Bass Clef", but was taught "G Clef" and "F Clef" (that said, the German equivalent".

[@elementarynurse1ges232]

Mike W Ellwood Hahahahhahahahah hahahahaha good evening 🌆 is your birthday 🎁 was a time to be safe today and I have been to this morning

[@praveenanookala4457]

Yes, that's right. I read about it in Alfred's Adult Piano Course book

[@ヤスミン-n7p]

yes I watched it on hoffman academy lessons

[@suedetree970]

This was how I used to read notes because I kept getting lost

[@GodwinBencini]

I am an adult absolute beginner, and I find this video to be exceptional. Thank you

[@jessicaguzman4272]

As someone who has never tried to learn to read sheet music, I understood everything. Your explanation was really good. Now I want to learn how to properly read music.

[@marshhen]

Such a useful lesson to those of us who are slow when trying to read music. I really like this sped up method. Instead of analysing each note, looking at their spacing/intervals. So helpful and clear.

[@TitaniumSubscriber]

Yep I agree completely with the octave trick, almost every piece I've seen does that very high-up notes and 99% of them are octaves. And it's nice that I've known most of the trick here already, I'm making a huge progress on reading sheet music

[@zildjiancasurao3134]

I learned music by ear, Learned music theory, learned how to mix my sound and tones both my elec guitar and keyboard, Learned how all the concepts of sound and scales, chord shapes, chord patterns, chord progressions, developed fluent pitch by ear by studying all by myself but I never knew how to read notes and stuff so It felt like something is missing Ive been involved in a church music team for years and this video unlocked something in me that I did not discover 10 years ago Thank you man now I have a new thing to do for my daily practice and study.

[@l.a.c.l.5663]

omg ive been struggling reading music sheets when i was a kid and i am watching it right now for a refresher, thanks for helping

[@progressiverockman5346]

Lies, that Em7b9 sounds luscious.

[@ciousli]

Hi Rockman, jazz police here. Do you know why I pulled you over?

[@progressiverockman5346]

@@ciousli lay it on me

[@ciousli]

@@progressiverockman5346 the chord you're driving lacks a minor third, hard to believe the registration says it's an Em7b9. Well, I let you off just this once, but don't forget to turn on your minor third next time, alrighty?

[@progressiverockman5346]

@@ciousli Fair enough. With extended chords the 5th and 3rd are usually the first to go. I questioned it myself and then I used my ears instead of my brain and it felt like phrygian to me!

[@clayandannasteinwinter8747]

I disagree. The root is going before the 3rd. You need the 3rd for chord quality. The bassist can pick up the root, though...no need to double...

[@ericevans1196]

I used to play from piano tutorials and now i'm trying to learning sheet music, thank you so much for making this video! It's so helpful!

[@trippiechaos]

I just came to say thanks for sharing your knowledge on such a widely accessible platform!!

[@PotatoFarmer656]

You’re an incredibly good teacher, wow. This made note reading a more easier system for beginners like me, damn. I’m trying to get back into playing after years of hiatus and this video helped a lot.

[@violetviverson8340]

Thank you so much for this! I’m teaching myself for about a week now and this is probably the best video I’ve seen on this

[@JhazeldeVera]

Wow, this answers all my nightmares.. I will be having my first piano lesson tomorrow. Thanks :)

[@TheRemyD]

Mind = Blown I have always read sheet music as intervals but no one ever explained it as that. Teachers were always getting mad at me because I couldn't tell them the letter... now I am grasping both concepts

[@alandougan4689]

im a one year learner. this is excellent! Thank you.

[@courseofpolish]

Thanks! I'm struggling with reading notes for a long time. I was trying to remember where each note is and I was reading them individually hoping that one day I will be fluent at this. It seemed to me that you need some kind of super brain to read it at an acceptable speed. I will try your method now, but I can already see that it was the missing part :)

[@barbaramunford5472]

The lightbulb came on! Great!!

[@pacificnorthwestpilots6050]

I started playing on 10/11/20, love this channel!

[@maiacorbin7879]

I took lessons 20+ years ago and at one point could play Debussy, but always sucked at sight reading as I barely paid attention to intervals. I basically rote memorized everything from watching or recordings and spot checked my memory with awkward sight reading, because I never really bothered with theory very much. I'm trying to get back into it now after not playing for a decade, and I expect just the first few minutes of this video have already made me dramatically better at sight reading! Thanks so much =)

[@anab.t.1262]

You are a SUPER-DUPER teacher. Thank you so much, Tim ! :)

[@lucimaramenezes317]

I love all your lessons. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@tswanson23]

I have been doing piano lessons for a year and playing longer on my own I am in John Thompson grade two and my piano teacher said to work more with intervals ! Thank you so much fun for sharing this !

[@doubleslash6243]

"Im going to show you how to read music... first you need to know how to read music"... useful.

[@rhyfelwrDuw]

Scales and intervals rock! I remember learning a Mozart piece on my flute and I had a light bulb moment when was playing a D Major arpeggio, thinking - so that's why scales are important, they really help with playing pieces and especially fast scale/arpeggio runs in them! I think if somebody is good at discovering patterns or seeing them, then that helps - I am rubbish at spotting patterns, unless I really study something! This video has been helpful - thanks for posting it!

[@eliebman2]

i like the comparison to more "real world" examples as in ~11:00. Would like to have heard more about dissecting the each treble and bass note using the technique.

[@amzad1979]

blablabla

[@lovelybird_9338]

I’ve been playing piano for awhile now, and I found this to be very helpful in reading sheet music. I have improved a lot thank you.

[@russell.w1452]

This lesson is great. These intervals tips are definitely helpful. I can already feel how I can read notes faster

[@palenvencatachellum4229]

Thank you very much your explanation is very clear easy to capitulate. So keep it up may God bless you.

[@hostvind]

Again little new in this video for me, yet I'm pleased to confirm I was right there and there and even there. Thank you, master!

[@paulmitchell5349]

Thanks.As a guitarist I think in intervals,not single notes.Will help my confidence.

[@wahooooh]

Cool ! This will really help me instinctually read sheet music! I’ve been improving lately so this video is really exciting!

[@judyjascomb7742]

I have a B.A. in Music (voice), and you taught me things I'd not noticed! Thank you for this valuable lesson!😁

[@duedino7734]

More on applying these techniques please, similar to what you started at 12:50. Thanks for the great tips!

[@marloz8599]

great never thought of reading music this way

[@MrsBethany1107]

That made learning to read music not seem as intimidating. Good lesson. Added to watch later to keep referencing

[@adhamhisham2133]

Thank you so much this helped me a lot because I was a little bit worried about sightreading but now I know how to read faster.

[@ASSEENBYSB]

youre an incredible teacher

[@ASSEENBYSB]

your lessons are awesome

[@FunnyBunnyShowNYC]

I already knew most of the stuff in this video and I till picked up some new tips. Great work, Tim.

[@jowildcat40]

Learned this by trying to figure out the easiest way to play a piece on the guitar. Life got easier when I found some music where they would notate what position or what string a note was suppose to be played at, such as with the circled number, and eventually it just felt natural to look ahead and see chord shapes usually within each measure. A phrase then became easier to figure out when I followed the bass notes, to now I spend more of my focus on the tempo since I'm not straining to have to decipher everything note by note like when I first started.

[@dollyislam1993]

Fantastic technique!

[@p3rrypm]

Yes!!! This is exactly what I’ve been trying to explain to people!!!

[@tashatchek8232]

Wow, thanks for this lesson! I feel like this has unlocked something in my brain and i can now play way more easily. 🙏

[@gyurendakke1984]

Oh my god, this trick is actually hecking useful! Thank you!

[@SteveTaylor68]

Thanks for sharing that, best I've seen on this

[@thewoodnote7660]

A quality lesson for sure!!!

[@moo_sigma6485]

Hey thanks! I am a piano beginner and can barely read the notes on sheets in time to play (provided that I guess the right note too). Your method will surely help me to become a better sight reader.

[@GuilhermeSilva-qp3jl]

This video is the single most helpful one i have seen about reading sheet music! You, sir, a great teacher and just gained a new subscriber.

[@Andrew-cu9lf]

Fantastic lesson!

[@Giac_of_all_trades]

This is actually really useful. Thanks!

[@Carmelobrian]

Great lesson. Learning Intervals definitely accelerated my progress

[@LessonsOnTheWeb]

Glad you liked it Rich. Using intervals to read music is probably one of the most important tips on the whole channel.

[@fincityaquariums261]

Good Job = THANX This will speed up my reading immensely

[@dragandjokic5945]

excellent explanations

[@anitainterpreter824]

Really great lesson. Very clear explanation. Thank you so much.

[@antoniopizarro7670]

8:06 translates to "absolutely jazzy." Great video. Thx.

[@musictchr67]

Very helpful video. I'm going to use it in my lessons if that's ok with you. One really great tip that I learned from this is to talk about notes "matching" when explaining intervals. I always say that odd numbered intervals are the "same kinds of notes" and the even numbered are "different kinds of notes," but I'm always looking for a better way to say that because that wording can make students think about quarters vs. eighths, etc. I LOVE the idea of saying that the notes "match" and can't wait to try it out! Thanks!

[@SlimCheeze1]

I’m a self taught student for about 5-6 years I think and I still can’t read notes so thanks for this educational video!

[@ScoreNMusic]

in 11:50 please play d-flat . it’s written in A-flat major

[@sjkoroth2018]

Nice explanation, best for beginners..

[@aliqorbani8245]

Thank you.This is the best sight reading tip that I've seen 😘👍

[@djdisconap]

Great video, it was a huge help.

[@ALF8892]

Thank you so much. Do you have a second slightly more advanced video?

[@noobisevolving9892]

you made it vary simple ....thats woaahhh...thanks a ton

[@viragopaldas]

Thank you so much...it's so practical and simple...that it is genius.🙏 Regards from West Bengal India

[@whetulloyd6660]

Thanks so much for lesson. I have subscribed and have saved this video to my library so I can keep going back it. You are awesome 👍

[@Brian-sz2ti]

Helped so much! Thank you

[@AnnemieM]

Thank you for this great lesson. I am not a beginner but can not really play all that great either. I do understand theory very well though but still can not play that great. This is making things a lot easier for me and gives me renewed hope so thank you again.

[@tourdesource]

Clear as day, cheers!

[@alwinlee4494]

Hi Tim, I like how you make reading complex sheet so easy. But can you continue with another session where you just left off. It was getting really interesting.. Also can you spend some time in showing how to identify common pattern such as Roots chords, 1st and 2nd inversions, Major and minor cords? Thanks

[@lamaalmulhim3517]

thank you thank you thank yoooooou, this is really helpful !

[@chicoti3]

Such a great lesson. I like lessons like these, that provoke the student, they give you the trick and entice you to put it into practice

[@kirrileepearson9981]

thanks for this video. Also discovered the landmark method of identifying notes. Wish I knew this 30 years ago

[@Mutamba_]

I feel like you've saved my life.

[@ladytrad]

What is that app or software you use to write the notes on your screen? I would like to use that!

[@ellen-fs3pl]

0:30 bruh how many notes in 4/4?

[@davidfl4]

4 notes, 4/4=1 2 3 4 beats per measure

[@mateojames3231]

muninn mikan oof.

[@Sammm30]

@@davidfl4 it was a joke lol

[@RKSarathy]

Same bro

[@funkyguy99]

@@davidfl4 technically speaking it is 4 beats in a 4/4 measure not 4 notes. as you could have 1 whole note which is 4 beats or 2 half notes, 12 triplets all in a 4/4 measure.

[@udithalakmal4649]

Thanx sir it s verry good for me....

[@felixjuaton9457]

The lesson was great but yeah it was a little bit complicated for me to understand the lesson but yeah I do enjoy your quality lesson. You explain each details so that all of us could understand properly. Btw. Thank you for this video.

[@lyingcat9022]

Good sh&@ bro! Thanks for the time stamp too! I always love when content providers like you respect your viewers time :)

[@gcjpcrowder]

Hello! Yes the time stamp! You are amazing!

[@TaisiaDanilova]

Great teacher!

[@ganeshramnath3338]

Which notation program do you use here?

[@LessonsOnTheWeb]

Hey Ganesh, it's called Staffpad!

[@yilianbarrueta2065]

Piano Lessons On The Web I dont have enough money to download staffpad so what other programs can I use that are simaler to staffpad?

[@elissitdesign]

Ludwig Van Beethoven-Priorities.

[@mhunter4228]

@@yilianbarrueta2065 Go up and download white paper, pencil and ruler and you've got the tools to do notation...:)

[@benhernandez3853]

@@yilianbarrueta2065 If you want free notation software that is top notch, I recommend musescore. It's absolutely amazing, with practice you can notate pretty much anything.

[@EclecticEssentric]

That is a quality lesson. Thank you very much, from a (mostly) guitar player. This really helps! To others: if it wasn't obvious to you, count each separate note as (value of 1) and each line and space between them gets (value of 1 each). So a low note, a higher note, and 3 lines with 2 spaces is; 1 (low) 1 (high) 3 (lines) 2 (spaces), 1+1+3+2 is a 7th. 3 lines, 3 spaces between is octave, et cetera. /just trying to make this clear to newbies.

[@user-pm7tn8zp5z]

thank you my friend

[@Tiogar60]

how do you tackle quickly identifying interval quality? it's pretty substantial to play a major or minor third, and in key signatures with many sharps, flats and accidentals it can get pretty confusing, especially when dealing with intervals over B-C and E-F where there is no black keys. Trying to identify major or minor, diminished or augmented, or perfect is really hard to do on the fly here

[@sanfernvalley619]

Know your minor scale intervals vs major scale intervals

[@lucysterloff]

tysm this video was sososo helpful!!