8 Best Practices for Reading Sheet Music
Sight-reading sheet music is always a challenge. The anticipation is building as you hold the piece of music in your hand for the first time. Then, you glance over the page, turning to the next. What do you see? What catches your eye?
Depending on the tune, it may be the notes to a familiar melody that brings a smile to your face. Or it could be that all the black notes throughout the pages are too overwhelming, sending you into a panic.
Whatever your level, sight-reading is one of those challenges that you will continually face for as long as you play music. The best way to overcome it is to adopt a few best practices for reading sheet music.
1. Take a Moment to Look Over the Sheet Music
There are things that you should notice when you first glance at a piece of music. This should be the key that the music is in, the tempo at which it should be played, any repeats, and overall structure.
At the same time, you should look at the notes and rhythms found within the piece. Then, play through them in your mind and even use the fingerings on your instrument. If you can, play through any spots that may look difficult.
2. Never Underestimate the Power of Learning Your Scales
Learning, practicing, and reciting scales from memory is one of the most dreaded things new musicians face. The first scale or two may be relatively easy, only progressing in difficulty as you go.
However, what these new musicians may not understand is that those scales will ultimately give them a step up in the world of understanding music theory and compositions. By knowing scales, you learn key signatures. You can easily glance at a new piece of sheet music, see what key it is in, and automatically prepare yourself for the notes that are to come.
3. Familiarize Yourself with Key Signatures
Much like learning scales, key signatures will tell you how many sharps and flats will be found throughout the piece. This gives you an idea of fingerings for musicians – and helps remind you what is coming up as you move through the composition.
Some keys are more challenging than others but do not shy away from them. These are the ones you should be focused on even more! The more familiar you are with key signatures – and scales – the easier your fingers will flow through the notes.
4. Know How to Play Common Rhythms
When facing new notes splattered across a page, it can make some musicians nervous – especially when trying to figure out rhythms. But believe it or not, there are common rhythms that seem to appear often in music.
If you take the time to familiarize yourself with some of these, it becomes much easier to play them when reading sight music. You will be able to play the rhythms you have practiced with confidence rather than getting worked up.
5. Focus in on the Details
A piece of music does not just contain notes. It has tempo notations, dynamic changes, time signature changes, and so on. Everything can change throughout a piece of music. After all, it is not unlikely to have crescendos and decrescendos multiple times in one composition. Pay attention to where they are and what the music is asking of you.
6. Grab a Pencil and Take Notes
As you take a few minutes to look over the sheet music, make notes with your pencil. These may be key signature changes, time signature changes, accidentals, unfamiliar notes, and more.
By marking it up, you give yourself an advantage when you play through it for the first. You will not have to stop and think or get yourself hung up on something because you have already thought it through, marked it, and prepared yourself.
7. Hear the Music in Your Mind
Sit back, focus, take a deep breath, and play the song in your mind. Count the rests, find the melody, notice the climax, pay attention to areas that repeat, etc. Hear it as you move through the song. What does it sound like? What should it sound like?
As you do this, you will get an idea of what the piece sounds like. That way, when you do go to play it for the first time, it will feel like you have already heard it before. Also, it may make it a little easier to tackle from the get-go.
8. Practice Makes Perfect
As with anything in life, the more you practice, the better you become. This can be applied to math skills, golf, and even sight-reading sheet music. The more you find yourself staring down at a new piece of music and facing the challenges that come with it, the better you will become.
New music will not seem as scary or make you as anxious when you see it for the first time – if you have taken the time to practice and get yourself familiar with how to handle the new music. Every time you are reading sheet music for the first time, you are going to face challenges. It is always new and unfamiliar.
There are going to run that your fingers cannot quite get just yet, and there will be rhythms that you may not play perfectly. You will probably miss a time signature change, and there is a good chance that half of those sharps and flats are not going to exist in your first run-through of the piece.
Sight-reading is not about perfection at all. It is about getting yourself familiar with a piece of music so that you can, with a lot of practice, one day turn it into a polished piece. So, breathe deeply, then look over the music, mark it up, and hear it in your head. The more you practice, the easier reading sheet music will become – and the better your song will sound.