Secrets To Reading Sheet Music Like A Pro
There are a few things you should be aware of when reading sheet music. If you want to be a pro at it, it pays to learn the principles that the pros use when they read.
Reading sheet music helps you grow as a guitarist and musician, and it's an absolute must for anyone that wants to experince music as it is truly meant to be experienced. But for many students that I come across, the road to reading sheet music is paved with frustration and resignation to being a deprived of all the musical material out there, simply because of a lack of proper notation reading skills.
If you feel frustrated by the slow progress your music reading skills are making, then this article is for you. I will share some tips from our sheet music reading course with you, with the hope of helping you break out of your rut a bit so that you can enjoy the true wealth and joy that music has to offer you. After all, knowing how to read notation properly entails you access to musical treasure and the rich history of music. From the masters such as Mozart and Beethoven, to the classical guitar virtuosos such as Christopher Parkening, Segovia and John Williams, to name a few.
But enough talk about the benefits of reading. Let's get on with the lesson.
How A Pro Reads
Today we'll talk about how a pro guitarist reads sheet music. Some students might think that what's being read and what is being heard (played) are one and the same. In other words, the notes being read are the notes that are being played. But experience shows us that this is NOT the case if we want to read music properly.
Fact is that a master will always read ahead. His/her eyes will be ahead of what is being played at the moment. This creates a little buffer that allows the master to take their time and keeps the performance flowing, even if some problems creep in.
Compare this with the way most students read, where the student executes exactly what's being read. This way of doing things allows for no buffer and as such results in 'hiccups, or 'stuttering' while reading.
Once you understand the concept of reading ahead, the question should be: How far ahead?
The answer to that question depends on what stage of the process you're at.
1. Deciphering - At this stage it is hard to read too far ahead. This is the stage at which you are barely figuring out what's going on in the piece, so it's hard to keep your reading too far ahead of what's actually being played. Still, with good reading skills you should be able to have at least a small buffer. Remember that proper reading skills do not come automatically, they are learned.
2. Practice - At this stage of the game it's all about learning the piece. You have deciphered it, but you still have not mastered it. This is the point at which the reading starts to build a buffer between it and what's actually being played. In other words we aim to grow the gap between where our eyes are reading and what our hands are executing.
3. Performing - At this stage all the deciphering and the practice have been done. Your use of sheet music is more for guiding purposes rather than learning or figuring out stuff. This is where there should be the greatest gap between your reading and what's actually being executed by the hands.
But there is another principle that we must aknowledge before all this can work. This is something that I see often in my students: The tendency to always look and check what your hands are doing on the fretboard while reading. This is a destructive habit that keeps you from building good reading skills. Try to resist this and keep your eyes only on the sheet music.
The benefit here is two-fold:
1. You'll get better at reading notation
2. Your hearing will start to develop since you'll be using your ears in order to guide you.
I hope this has helped you. If you think that you're ready to take your reading skills up a notch and join the pros, then you might want to check out our award winning sheet music reading course.
Remember to practice, but like the old saying goes: Work SMART, not hard. Reading sheet music is based on principles that, if put into action, will allow you to grow exponentially.
You can try your sheet music reading skills by getting Asturias (the staple of classical guitar music) FREE instantly. Go HERE for more details.
Best wishes,
Ben
PS: Remember to check out our course HERE... and add us if you like our stuff.