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Well, let me throw this at you. There are only 3 notes between the Treble and the Bass clef ..... (B,C,D). That is all. The C is on a line and the B and D are on spaces.
Since there can be more than one ledger line below the treble clef and above the bass clef this doesn't seem relevant to reading notes on those lines.
Just something to think about: If you are not playing a lot of music with ledger lines, why worry about them now? They can wait until you start seeing them in your music. Only one? Pencil in the note name.
Spend your time now reading music: both to learn the notes on both staves, but to play the rhythms. Lots and lots of music.
Ledger notes will be there later.
Very wise, indeed.
Agreed and @bennevis good points as well. Reading music has been a challenge in the past. I've tried twice and given up but this time I'm digging my heels in. I know it will come with time. However I would like it to be as short a time as possible. I have made it further now than anytime in previous attempts. I took a music theory course at Thinkspace and learned a lot. I guess the rest will just be experience. I know how that works and I'm okay with that.
Last edited by Bob A; 02/28/2109:12 PM.
"An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can't get it wrong." Julie Andrews
"Music is not a add hot water and stir kind of thing. You have to practice." Mr. Katz my junior HS music director (He was a cool guy)
Read through music (don't discriminate - unlike books, all piano/keyboard music is fair game for reading) for fun like you'd read trashy novels (or these days, more likely trashy stuff in links sent to you by friends & foes on social media) and you'll be surprised how much improvement you make in the space of a few months.
And always remember - reading music consists of 'transferring' notes on staves straight to keys on keyboard.
I tried sight reading books in the past (10 years ago). I do think the best way is to read lots of music as Bennevis mentioned. I recommend 60 progressive music you liked to play. I started from the page 1 five years ago. It is quite enjoyable. Not sure this book alone made difference but it has certainly helped to become better reader.
The notes that are "in between" treble & bass clefs are not usually notated with many ledger lines. Some sheet music you'd see notes moved up to the other clef or there would be a clef change to avoid notating with many ledger lines. Some sheet music would notate very high / low notes with 8va or 8vb to avoid many ledger lines.
By the visual cues you have to rely on the notes that you know and count a few more notes up or down. A note is found on either a line or space. You count every other note. For instance, you see a high note on the treble. If it has a line thru you use the high F as reference and count every other note. If it's above a line you use G as reference. You see a low note on the bass you'd use either a G (on the line) or F (below the line) as reference.
In the tonesavvy.com site there are other exercises including intervals & chords recognition (major, minor, augmented & diminished). You have the option to turn the sound on. In a typical chord exercise when I can hear what was played than simply looking at the notes, I can easily get a score in the 90% range with few mistakes.
If the note recognition exercise would playback a note before you choose the letter name, it's easier for someone who has good sense of pitch (even without perfect pitch). If 2 of the notes close to each other, after getting the first correct, there is a high probability you'll get the second correct since you can use the note before as reference.
In real life you rarely see a high notes in sheet music out of the blue. A lot of music are composed with a melody played with lower notes and repeated with higher notes. You can use the sound of the melody as your reference.
The notes that are "in between" treble & bass clefs are not usually notated with many ledger lines. Some sheet music you'd see notes moved up to the other clef or there would be a clef change to avoid notating with many ledger lines. Some sheet music would notate very high / low notes with 8va or 8vb to avoid many ledger lines.
Two or three ledger lines below the treble and three lines above the bass clef are quite common.
+1 on what bSharp(C)yclist said. No shortcuts, just do it.
I don’t think that the OP is looking for shortcuts. I wasn’t when I created a similar thread.
I think we're just looking for a few hints on how people memorised a few reference points similar to what dogperson gave.
I’m sure that we'll 'do it' eventually but it would be nice to have a helping hand along the way.
Sorry if I came across as flippant. I've read the books and tips, but in the end what strikes me (and what's worked for me) is just to read a lot of music and keep at it. That's mostly how the people I've read about or known that were good at it, did it. The rest will follow. For me, (and I'm an amateur and still learning, always will be) the main things have been developing instant recognition of notes, patterns, intervals etc. Also, keyboard/body mapping - i.e. confidence in hitting the notes without looking, knowing the hand structure to form for a particular group of notes, anticipating fingering and grouping, etc. Also, knowing musically and harmonically where you are in the music and anticipating where you are going. I'm convinced that's why Liszt was so good at sight reading. I'm not much good at structured exercise. I'd rather make it fun and musical and just play music out of whatever book I pick up. As always, YMMV, free advice worth what you pay for it. p.s. My thinking is that if you can't play it in time, you're playing it too fast or it's too hard for you.
knowing musically and harmonically where you are in the music and anticipating where you are going. I'm convinced that's why Liszt was so good at sight reading.
Yes, Liszt could sight-read anything, even Chopin.
Here he is sight-reading Chopin's Op.53, and shaking hands with the composer at the same time :
These days, of course, they'd just do an elbow bump.
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