Learn to Read Music!

This is for all my non-musician friends!  I am eternally grateful for your friendship and support in my musical endeavors.  I am not sure if anyone is that interested in this or not, but I thought I would put it out there with the thought that someone might benefit.  

I know it sometimes seems like music is magic, and it is in a way, but it's more linguistic than mystic.  
I want to help you read music! So here we go!

We name the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.
After G comes A and it cycles through like that forever. ABCDEFGABCDE...

Noteheads are positioned on lines and spaces, 5 lines and 4 spaces to be exact.

We will deal with treble clef first, that is what most instruments read from (Trumpet, Sax, Guitar, Clarinet, Flute, Violin) and it looks kinda like a cross between $ and &.  

The notes that appear on the Spaces, from the bottom up, are F-A-C-E.  Obviously, it spells the word 'face.'

The notes that appear on the lines, from the bottom up, are E-G-B-D-F..."Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge' is a way to remember the order.

Notice that the first line is E, the first space is F, second line is G, second space is A, next line B, next line C, etc.  See the pattern?  When you go line-space-line-space, it spells the "musical' alphabet, on and on and on it goes.


The rules for the bass clef (Trombone, Bass, Cello, Tuba) are very similar to that of the treble, just off set by one line/space.  
The spaces are A-C-E-G.  "All Cars Eat Gas."   The lines are G-B-D-F-A, or "Great Big Dogs Fight Animals."  



You might also notice that when going from line to line it spells out every other letter of the musical alphabet.  A-C-E-G-B-D-F-A....that's how it works from bottom up...if you want to read them top down, it's backwards...F-D-B-G-E-C-A-F...

If you are so inclined, there is a great app that uses flash cards to help you, it keeps score and advances you through levels.  It is called "Notes! Learn To Read Music" and is only $1.99.  Check it out, it will get you reading notes in days.  It even can help you learn where the notes on the piano are...bonus!

I hope you are inspired to learn the written language of music and thank you for your support of live music!

Peace!

James

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