First of all, hello. Please help me, I have a few questions about the piano.

First, let me give you a background of myself. When I was little, my mother had these songs that her mother teach her (from memory, not from reading notes). I did the same thing as well, memorizing which keys to press. When I was in 7th grade, I finally finished learning The Entertainer by means of the piano with red lights to tell you which keys to press. I wanted to learn how to read notes, so I took a class for 2 years. I learned quite a lot. But I quit because I quit for some reason, even if it has been a child-hood passion.

Now in 12th grade, after watching Disney Channel's High School Musical, I decided to go back to piano, and pour my soul into it.

Ok, I was pretty good back then. But Back then, when I read the notes, I didn't know what the note was, I just memorized it's placement on the grand staff. Now, I printed Kingdom Heart's Hikaru, and I decided to learn what note was what on the lines by writing it down on the paper above the note. I can now, If I look at each note individual, can name what note that was in a snap. But when I finished lettering off ALL the notes, it was still kind of difficult (I know I am taking on quite a challenge it being a piece as Hikaru at my stage in the game, just re-picking up piano). But let's say someone givces you a new song, how will you read it? By the note, or by seeing it's placement on the paper? Because I can, if I didn't learn the notes, can do well just by playing the note on the placement, even though learning each note by letter is very fundamental.

I asked my friend who is passionate about piano, how someone can be given a new song that is hard, and just play it like he is always been playing it, she said it was possible. It's hard reading two notes at a time, when one is on the top(cleff note) and one on the bottom (bass note). Please, any tips? What should I learn.

Here's the thing about reading notes on sheet music.
The reason why we learn notes is so we reconize them and reconize their placement on the sheet music.
If you are familier with the notes and where they are suppose to be. You dont' need to write the letter beside each note for each piece. You can probably tell what note is what depending on the placement.

In my opinion, you need to familierize with where the notes are and practice many pieces by NOT writing down the letters beside the notes. Instead if you don't know what certain notes are. COUNT from middle C or something. If you do that, you'll remember where the notes are pretty fast, because you don't want to keep wasting time counting where each notes are, so it will prompt you to remember some of the common notes.

Tips about reading 2 notes at one time...at the beginning you don't really want to do that. Do the trebel clef, then do the bass clef, then combine them. Practice more and more this way, and if you want to read 2 notes at the same time, my advice is to look ahead, ALWAYS look ahead.

Another tip is, look through the whole piece before you start. Look for patterns, moving notes (eg. C,D,E,F,G...) or something like that.

Hope that helps

Thank you very much.

I was wondering about something. Let's say I take the first bar, and practice it. When I practice it enough times, where my hands go and such for the particular bar is "memorized." I find myself, even though I memorzied it, "pretending" to read it even though it is in my head. Is that what we are suppose to do, no "pretending" I mean. Memorizing and familiarizing yourself with a song until you memorize it, but use the notes to show you which note to do if you forget a part? One more thing, how often do you guys find yourself looking down on the keyboard? is it bad too? I mean if Stevie Wonder(boy is he good) can technically "not look down" because he is blind, should practicing not looking down be applied?

It is always better to read the bass clef first then the treble cleff. Another tip of sight reading is to read the entire bar instead of individual notes. Get urself accustom with this 2 habits you will find urself playing much more fluently. Of cos abt the keyboard framework, playing scales and arpeggios (3 octaves) 30mins everyday and gradually increase the speed, with this practice u get urself familiarise with the keyboard frameworks, playing with ur eyes closed will not be a problem at all. These are my suggestions for sight reading on piano. Try playing piano etudes to improve on your techniques too. Abt playing musical pieces, it is really practice practice and practice.

Usually, you would only want to memorize the parts of the peice that are too difficult to sight-read, or which require more practice to get through. The easier parts of a song shouldn't require memorizing if it's easy enough to sight-read, but eventually as you learn the song you'll know what each bar is. So, in part, you're right; you should memorize the notes to familiarize yourself with the song, but only on the parts where you need to. Otherwise, you should be able to get good enough to sight-read easy places. As for looking down... it's best if you don't have to look down, because then it's easier to sight-read. You should eventually be able to not have to look at your fingers. But for now, for practicing, I wouldn't worry too much about it until you have the basics of sight-reading down.

Thank you very much.

I was wondering about something. Let's say I take the first bar, and practice it. When I practice it enough times, where my hands go and such for the particular bar is "memorized." I find myself, even though I memorzied it, "pretending" to read it even though it is in my head. Is that what we are suppose to do, no "pretending" I mean. Memorizing and familiarizing yourself with a song until you memorize it, but use the notes to show you which note to do if you forget a part? One more thing, how often do you guys find yourself looking down on the keyboard? is it bad too? I mean if Stevie Wonder(boy is he good) can technically "not look down" because he is blind, should practicing not looking down be applied?


I dont' believe in memorization, but most people do it at an early stage. What i mean was familierize with where NOTES are, so when you see it you know what note it is, and you can play it. I'm not directing to a specfic song, where you familierize with the notes IN THE SONG. I'm talking about familierize where the notes are in sheet music IN GENERAL. How you do that is play simple pieces, and practice a lot of simple pieces. It really doesn't matter if it's Etude or not. Right now you would want to improve your sight-reading skill, cuz i think that's your biggest problem.

personally, when i was still a newbie in the piano, i play by reading the notes first, then "memorizing" the placements. it took me 3 weeks to study just one piece ^_^ but after a few exercises, this and that, i can play intermediate piano pieces at first sight(w/ a slow tempo, but accurate). i keep on practicing scales(both major and minor) and also the root, first and second inversion chords. it works pretty well. its like when you see a piece, you kinda feel the notes. when it comes to chords, it's like your filling a gap, you can play it very well. hope this helps :heh:

its weird, but i follow a totally opposite way.
I am never good at sight reading too, and I am trying to learn how to do that. However, once I learn how to play a whole page, I immediately memorize them and no longer need to keep looking at the sheet. (All of the peices I play are memorized and for some reason I always play them correctly.) So I just often look at my fingers when I play. And my memorization is really good, making me able to remember the peice forever as long as i practice it time to time.

Also, I have a question. There are some peices where the base clef would go really high enough to be a few lines below the treble. Those notes are really hard to sight-read and only those notes I put the letter next to them. Is there anyway to help me familiarize them more easily?

For large amounts of ledger lines in between the two clefs, read them as if they were on the other clef. You know the first ledger line above the bass clef is middle C, so the second ledger line above the bass clef is identical to the bottom line of the treble clef. Similarly, the second ledger line below the treble clef is identical to the top line of the bass clef. For the really far out ledger lines, try to read the ledger lines in octave or fifth clumps. Also trust your theory; if you're playing something with "normal" harmonies, that can help you narrow down the possibilities for what the next note would be.

As for improving sight reading in general, try purchasing books specifically designed for sight reading. If you'd rather not spend money on it, take an easier song than what you're used to and force yourself to play it up to speed, both hands, putting in all the details, without ever stopping. (You don't need to do the whole song.) The first couple of times you do it, it will sound awful; however, if you keep at it, you'll get better at it, probably at a faster rate than you would if you practiced sight reading by playing it slower first.

And as for "semi-memorizing" (i.e., "pretending to read"), you'd be surprised what happens the moment you take away the music. Songs that I hardly ever have to look at the music to play will fall apart when the music is actually removed. It's probably because (1) you actually see more than you realize, (2) the reality of the music not being there will stress you out, and (3) a single mistake has a much greater chance of snowballing into a disaster, as you can't "recover" by glancing at the music.

Omg, thank you all for you wonderful posts.

tanonev, I couldn't find the words that I was looking for, but you nailed them. "semi-memorizing," and that when I tried playing a piece, I totally lost all instructions from the get-go when trying without the sheet. Maybe I do see more than I realize, and should give myself more credit.

One more thing, let me tell you guys something. Have you guys seen Disney Channel's new movie called "High School Musical." I abosulutely fell in love with the songs, each being accompanied only by a Piano (and drums if that is important.) There was this one part where during they were on the stage, the Piano player kicked the chair, and played the piano while standing up, getting lost in the music. That's how I want to end up playing. I am currently been for the past week trying to get the sheet music for "breaking free" "what i've been looking for(reprise)" "start of something new" that are all in high school musical. I would pay anything for those.

Also, can someone help me on the technical stuff on it. When I was taught how to play the piano, it was at Serramonte Music store. It was a class, where when it wasn't your turn, you plug headphones into the piano, and practice on your own. When he comes to you, you just play the music, he never really explained anything deeper. You know, when at the beginnig, you put your thumbs on the middle C, then the rest of the fingers follow to the white keys next to it? That technique doesn't work, and I read that a person is trying to un-do the damage that was done when not learning proper finger placement. There is not going to be numbers on advanced pieces to tell you were your hand goes. And even though ultimately it is how you feel comfortable with, how big your hand is, I want to learn how. Is that what chords are for (I don't know what those are). I don't know what triad is, or sight reading is(is that where you read the notes without playing? or playing the piano without looking down, and working on each note) I don't know about C Major or Minor or what harmonies are or what they do to help you. Please help me, if anthing, on my fingers.

"Sight reading" is playing a piece you've never seen before. For example, I go download Hikari, put it on the piano, and start playing it without stopping (except for page turns). A sight read doesn't have to be perfect or anywhere close to perfect; it just refers to your first time through, before you start working on the piece. I recommend doing that for any piece that isn't too technically difficult, as it gives you a general feel for the entire song.

Believe it or not, there WILL be numbers on advanced pieces. Generally, they'll only write the ones that aren't immediately obvious, such as Chopin's 5-4 melodies.

As for music theory, as a twelfth grader, you can ask someone at your high school to lend you their AP Music Theory book. If not, head to your local sheet music provider and ask them for music theory books. Work through them as you would a textbook in any other subject. While at first it may seem like a waste of time, it will help you immensely in understanding why certain notes are the way they are, speeding up your music reading.

EDIT: I haven't seen High School Musical, though I'd imagine that Disney will eventually release official sheet music for it.

"Sight reading" is playing a piece you've never seen before. For example, I go download Hikari, put it on the piano, and start playing it without stopping (except for page turns). A sight read doesn't have to be perfect or anywhere close to perfect; it just refers to your first time through, before you start working on the piece. I recommend doing that for any piece that isn't too technically difficult, as it gives you a general feel for the entire song.

Believe it or not, there WILL be numbers on advanced pieces. Generally, they'll only write the ones that aren't immediately obvious, such as Chopin's 5-4 melodies.

As for music theory, as a twelfth grader, you can ask someone at your high school to lend you their AP Music Theory book. If not, head to your local sheet music provider and ask them for music theory books. Work through them as you would a textbook in any other subject. While at first it may seem like a waste of time, it will help you immensely in understanding why certain notes are the way they are, speeding up your music reading.

EDIT: I haven't seen High School Musical, though I'd imagine that Disney will eventually release official sheet music for it.

Omg, Hikari is the one and only thing I got from ichigos as of 2 days ago.

Can you answer me something.

Before I played it, I didn't know a lot of what the notes were actually. Whether it was a or b or f or g. So What I did was write down above each note what that was. It helped me immensely in learning what each note, and found somewhat of use when playing it on piano, but now, the letters are making me focusing on it, rather than on the actually note placement. Should I make a new copy, but no disregarding what I learned about what each note was?

Yeah, I would recommend making a fresh copy. You can still write in the letter names of notes that are problematic; just don't write it in for every single one. Again, force yourself to read the notes based on what line they are on. You should also practice recognizing notes in general, not just in the context of a song. What you can do is get yourself a sheet of paper, draw 5 lines on it, drop a penny on it, and see how quickly you can name the note that it lands closest to.

another tip to memorize the notes:

spell CAGE, and FACE in 4 different positions

any other words can also be used, as in BAG, CABBAGE, as long as you spell them in 4 different positions.

this is what my teacher told me when i want to memorize the placement of the notes

i'm blind in one eye, but i can sheet read and play at the same time on the flute, but would it be more difficult to read to bass and trebel clef at the same time for me?

I don't think it'd be too hard for you, but I am not blind in one eye, so I wouldn't be the one to judge that! XD If I were you, just see if you can do something easy. I think another eye just gives you more perspective and I don't think reading sheet music takes much "perspective" unless you were a Tuba or Baritone player. XD

Just try it out, I'm sure you could!

There is probably a minor mechanical adjustment to be made. Yamaha's instruments are quite reliable if they are not abused. Los Angeles Piano Teachers (http://www.findpianolessons.com/providers-Los%20Angeles-CA.html)