Piano: Reading Music: An Open Learning Guide

Music originated a long time ago. The first notations were random dots on a page. We cannot tell the pitch of them. Slowly, it developed into one line, then the grand staff we see today.

Learning how to read music is an essential part of playing the piano. If you don't know how to read music, you may be stuck trying to learn a difficult song by ear, which can be made much easier by reading the sheet music. Music is read by lines. There are 5 lines on a clef, with 2 sets of these for the piano.

The upper clef is known as the treble clef or G clef, and the lower clef is the bass clef or F clef. There are a lot of notes to associate with their particular piano keys, and that can seem overwhelming when first learning to read sheet music.

In the treble clef the first line from the bottom is E, the second line is G, then B, D, and F. Different mnemonics exist, one is Every Good Boy Does Fine, a second is Every Girl Buys Designer Fashions, a genderless version is Elephants Get Big Dirty Feet. You may also make your own. The spaces are F, A, C, E, which spells the word FACE.

In the bass clef the first line from the bottom is G, the second is B, D, F, and A. One mnemonic is Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart. The spaces are A, C, E, G. One mnemonic is All Cows Eat Grass.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Piano/Reading Music by Wikibooks contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.