How to Read Sheet Music

Da capo is an Italian word found in music that is translated as “from the head/beginning”. You will often see it as the abbreviation D.C. written just above the …

What is Middle C? Middle C is the 4th C note from the left hand side of a standard 88-key piano (the 5th C from the right hand side) …

Simple meter (or simple time) is when the beats of a piece of music can be divided into twos, whereas compound meter (compound time) is when the beats divide …

Music Ornamentation Ornamentation and embellishments have been added to solo performances for centuries. In early music, improvised musical ornaments were one of the ways in which a talented performer …

Articulation in Music The music definition of articulation is the way in which a specific note or group of notes should be performed beyond the basics of pitch, duration …

The treble clef is a symbol that is printed at the start of a line of sheet music to assign the lines and spaces of the staff to specific …

The Tenor Clef is centred on the fourth line up of the stave, which corresponds to middle C. As a result, the Tenor Clef is also referred to as …

The Alto Clef is sometimes known as the C Clef because the indent of the clef sits on the middle line of the staff which corresponds to middle C. …

How to read music – Getting Started   In this beginner lesson we’re going to look at some of the basics of sheet music. The only background knowledge you …

If you’ve looked at the lesson on Getting Started then you will now know how to read sheet music for the white notes (otherwise known as the naturals) on …

Why do we need a Bass Clef? The Bass Clef always poses problems for people trying to learn how to read music. I often get asked what the point …

What are Key Signatures? Music is often described as the universal language. However, there are variations within this language. Key signatures tell us what dialect/variation of this universal language …

  What is Tempo in Music? Tempo describes the speed of the pulse/beat of a piece of music. The choice of tempo (speed) of a piece of music has …

Cadences in Music A cadence in music is a chord progression of at least 2 chords that ends a phrase or section of a piece of music. There are …

Rubato The definition of rubato is a flexibility/freedom in the performance of a rhythm. Basically, rubato is when a performer doesn’t stick to the strict rhythms written by the …

Learning how to read sheet music for piano can be quite daunting at first because it looks like a series of lots of lines and dots with several random …