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music theory

Piano Sheet Music Confidential

by Tania Gleaves on May 22, 2013

Piano sheet music has been around since the birth of the piano. It is the diary of the process of the composer. All of the heart and soul of piece lies within the notation of the sheet music.

Sheet music can be used to record or to create a musical score. Musicians often use it to analyze details in music that aren’t always heard with the naked ear. Sight reading would not be possible if without the miracle of piano sheet music.

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The ability to read sheet music is a form of literacy. Musical notation is much like reading a foreign language. Each not and beat is another word and punctuation to add to the sentence also known as a musical phrase.

A piano reduction is a type of piano sheet music. It is a transcription for the piano of a score that was intended for many instruments, as in a symphony. These kinds of arrangements are made for a piano solo or a piano duet.

How Do You Read Sheet Music?

Sight reading for sheet music can take a little time to master. This is a skill in and of itself that gets easier with time and practice. The raising and lowering of the notes on the staves causes the eyes to bounce up and down across the sheet.

A common strategy when reading sheet music is to break the score into chunks or movements. This would be like reading a long sentence an breaking it into smaller parts to make it easier to remember.

When sight reading the focus is on instantly playing the notes as you see them. This is most challenging task for new musicians who are used to playing by ear. The timing and refixation of the eyes from instrument to sheet music does improve over time.

The Nuts and Bolts

The parts that go into making sheet music can be confusing at first, but become clear once you understand their purpose. The five line staff is used to create the basis for the notation. The placement of the notes on the staff dictates the pitch of the music.

The staff starts of with the clef which looks like a fancy letter “g” that is flipped backwards. The clef lets you know the range of the pitches that will be played throughout the piece.

The key signature identifies what key the music was written in. The key signature can also lets the reader know which notes will be flat or sharp in the piece.

The time signature follows the key signature. Music gains its character from the time signature. Measures or “bars” break the music into smaller chunks called beats which are dictated by the time signature.

Piano sheet music is read from left to right just like a standard book. Now that you know the basic structure of sheet music you can search at your local music shop and find some that you want to perform.

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Dotted Notes

Dotted notes are the exact opposite of flagged notes. The small flag that follows a note decreases that note’s duration by half, whereas a small dot that follows a note increases that note’s duration by half. A dotted half note would therefore become three quarter notes (one half note equals two quarter notes). A dotted quarter note would therefore become three eighth notes (one quarter note equals two eighth notes), and so on and so forth. Since it isn’t easy to see a dot on a line, dots are placed within the spaces of a staff.

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Just like flagged notes however, dotted notes vary music. By itself, music can be quite static if it isn’t spiced up a bit with a few pauses, longer durations, or shortened stints. Flags and dots are just two tools we use to make music come alive with personality. We also have staccato notes to play with.

Staccato Notes

Dotted notes like staccato notes are indicated with a dot placed at their very tops or bottoms. When you run across a staccato note, you must play it with a short and crisp emphasis. Since the space between each is short and silent , staccato notes sound as though they’re spontaneous additives and they’ll liven up a song while filling the audience with anticipation.

They really lend variety to a song when played within a section that leads up to a legato section. Legato notes are played as though they’re connected. There are no distinguishable breaks between each pitch. But when played right after or right before a staccato section, the end result is an exciting combination that comes together in a pleasing way.

Click Here For More Information About Dotted Notes And How They’re Used!

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Piano Lessons Made Easier – How To Read Music Notes

April 17, 2013

One of the basic lessons of learning to play the piano involves how to read music notes. Reading music notes is like learning your ABC’s. Effectively reading music notes requires you to learn the basic parts of a music sheet; sometimes they call this song sheet. If you look at the music sheet, you will [...]

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How to Read Music – Definitions to Help You Learn

April 15, 2013

L earning how to read music is like learning another language. It has its own letters, syntax and grammar. Whether you are learning to play the piano through the classic method or the chord method, you’ll have to be familiar with how to read music. A page of music has a lot of symbols and [...]

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Understanding The Circle of Fifths

April 5, 2013

The circle of fifths, introduced by Johann David Heinichen in 1728, is a visual arrangement of related keys. Although its name gives the impression that it’s a difficult concept to grasp, it’s really just an easy way to remember the number of sharps and flats in a key signature and the major and minor key [...]

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Top 5 Myths About Learning To Play Piano

April 3, 2013

You have to be born with natural ability. As one of the top 5 myths about learning to play piano, this myth may have you condemned before you even start! Everyone and anyone can learn to play piano as long as they exercise the required amount of patience and practice. The piano in fact, is [...]

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Learn To Read Music – A Gentle Introduction…

March 23, 2013

Figuring out how to learn to read music may seem intimidating — especially if you’ve never paid any attention to sheet music before. But once you learn the basics, you’ll discover a whole new world that paves a road of confusing symbols with a coat of comfortable, natural, and perfect logic. This article serves as [...]

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Music Bar Lines

March 12, 2013

Introducing the Bar In order to represent pitch and tone, music notes need a staff. If you’ll remember from our other lessons, the music staff is a system of five horizontal lines and it provides a foundation for all the beautiful music that we hear. Notes sit on, above, between, and below these lines. But [...]

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Various Notes

March 8, 2013

Beaming Notes Music beams are lines that seemingly connect a series of various notes. Since they’re thick and horizontal (as opposed to thin and vertical), they’re more noticeable and intimidating to beginners. Rest assured that beams are nothing to fear – even when sheet music is plastered with them. Music beams actually make notation easier [...]

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Beginner Lessons For Piano – Helpful Tips

January 13, 2013

Beginner lessons for piano will take you far in your quest. But supplementing your lessons with some ‘outside’ or unconventional training will shorten the time it takes to become an expert pianist. It goes without saying that practice makes perfect. However, there are a few additional things that you can do to improve the quality [...]

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