Going to give you the old school advice for getting to sight reading. First off, no YouTube. Second, no memorizing. Third, only see hands in peripheral vision. Fourth, get a graded beginners book and go through those lessons. Once you have finished that book, go on to the same course”s book 2. By then you pick up a book of easy piano popular or classical music that is BELOW your current study level. You randomly pick out one piece from that at each practice session and sight read it at as slow a tempo as you need. Keep with the graded course as well. Answer from Even-Breakfast-8715 on reddit.com
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Music Theory Academy
musictheoryacademy.com › wp-content › uploads › 2011 › 08 › How-To-Read-Sheet-Music-in-7-Easy-Lessons.pdf pdf
How-To-Read-Sheet-Music-in-7-Easy-Lessons.pdf
August 8, 2011 - the centre of a piano. (In order to find a C on the piano look for · the white note to the left of the 2 black notes. In order to find · middle C look for the one which is nearest the middle of the pi- ... Learn to Read Sheet Music!
Discussions

Learn to read sheet music as a beginner
Try one of the adult series of books, probably Alfred's or Faber. I'm using Alfred's and it gets you reading sheet music fairly quickly. The book gets progressively harder and teaches you the relevant theory as you go. Each song reinforces the lesson. Much easier than finding all your own sheet music. I'd also recommend a teacher so that you know you're actually playing the music correctly. There are lots of YouTube videos of each song though if you really can't get a teacher. Record yourself playing the song and compare it to theirs to see if you've got it right. Problem is a beginner doesn't necessarily have the ear to tell if something is right/wrong but it's better than nothing. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/pianolearning
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September 18, 2023
What’s the best method for learning to read sheet music?
Going to give you the old school advice for getting to sight reading. First off, no YouTube. Second, no memorizing. Third, only see hands in peripheral vision. Fourth, get a graded beginners book and go through those lessons. Once you have finished that book, go on to the same course”s book 2. By then you pick up a book of easy piano popular or classical music that is BELOW your current study level. You randomly pick out one piece from that at each practice session and sight read it at as slow a tempo as you need. Keep with the graded course as well. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/pianolearning
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January 2, 2025
Free resources to learn how to read piano notes?
https://www.musictheory.net -- the website is completely free, and the lessons teach you fundamentals, and you can practice them with their exercises. Hoffman Academy is a great Youtube channel for learning piano, though it's aimed a bit more at younger kids. So long as you don't mind that, the content is solid and it's essentially a complete video method book. Personally, so long as you don't mind buying a book, I'd suggest picking up either Alfred's Basic Adult All in One or Faber's Adult Piano Adventures -- both of those will help you learn piano from the ground up, and they'd set you back maybe $15-20 for the first volume of the series that you chose. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/piano
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April 13, 2022
Tips and Tricks for Learning to Read Sheet Music
I found this to be very useful. It's worked really well for my kids. There are variations on this, but the basic premise is good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSOU-J9KHbg More on reddit.com
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April 4, 2021
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Pianofun
pianofun.com › downloads › notes.pdf pdf
How to Read Music Notation IN JUST 30 MINUTES! American The New School of Music
Read · Music · Notation · IN JUST · 30 MINUTES! American · The New · School of · Music · 2. THE PIANO · KEYBOARD · A typical piano has 88 keys total (including all · white keys and black keys). Most electronic · keyboards and organ manuals have fewer.
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Hal Leonard
halleonard.com › bin › MiscEducationalKeyboardTeacherguide1.pdf pdf
Piano Lessons Book 1
Start your sheet music search with Hal Leonard, the world's largest sheet music publisher, with publications for learning every instrument & song imaginable.
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UFL
ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu › AA › 00 › 01 › 16 › 39 › 00001 › ReadingMusic.pdf pdf
Reading Music: Common Notation By: Catherine Schmidt-Jones
person (for example, the right hand and left hand of a piano part) may be grouped together by braces or ... lines for similar instruments - all the violins, for example, or all the strings - may be marked with braces ... CHAPTER 1. PITCH ... The rst symbol that appears at the beginning of every music sta (Section 1.1) is a clef symbol...
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K&M Music School
kandmmusicschool.com › home › how to read piano sheet music quickly and easily
How to Read Piano Sheet Music Quickly and Easily | K&M Music School
November 16, 2024 - Learn to read piano sheet music: master notation, rhythm, and sight-reading with step-by-step techniques for beginners.
Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/pianolearning › learn to read sheet music as a beginner
r/pianolearning on Reddit: Learn to read sheet music as a beginner
September 18, 2023 -

I'm a total beginner wanting to learn to play songs on the piano but I have been using Synthesia which I feel actually hinders any progress. I want to be able to find sheet music and be able to understand at least what is on the page.

Top answer
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Try one of the adult series of books, probably Alfred's or Faber. I'm using Alfred's and it gets you reading sheet music fairly quickly. The book gets progressively harder and teaches you the relevant theory as you go. Each song reinforces the lesson. Much easier than finding all your own sheet music. I'd also recommend a teacher so that you know you're actually playing the music correctly. There are lots of YouTube videos of each song though if you really can't get a teacher. Record yourself playing the song and compare it to theirs to see if you've got it right. Problem is a beginner doesn't necessarily have the ear to tell if something is right/wrong but it's better than nothing.
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I made a Resource Chart for folks looking for this type of info and better ways of learning to find and read Sheet Music. Here's the Resource Chart: https://imgur.com/a/FEOgDdm It's made for Absolute Beginners so hopefully you can find something that works for you. I'll leave some more links to other Resources in regards to Music Theory, To Refresh any Basics you might need, Note Decoding, Getting better at Reading the Notes for each Clef, Rhythm, so when you need to Read the Sheet Music the Rhythm won't hinder you, and a comment I made for someone else in regards to Piano Playing Fundamentals. 1 Music Theory: Music Theory.net (Understand Everything up to Minor Scales.) https://www.musictheory.net/lessons Teoria.com (Finish: “Reading Music” Tutorial) https://www.teoria.com/en/tutorials/reading/ Dave Conservatoire (Finish “Reading Music Course”) https://daveconservatoire.org/topic/getting-started-reading 2 Note Decoding Resources for Music Reading (More Clef-Reading Exercises but instead of books it's mostly Websites and Android/IOS Apps): https://old.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/13y4mu9/is_there_a_good_website_with_sightreading/jml0w64/ 3 Rhythm Rhythm Resources (Not in the Post but I'll put it here): https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Syncopation-Modern-Drummer-Publications/dp/0882847953 Common rhythms with counting and sticking for drums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkU7jXEjfOE 4 For Piano Playing Fundamentals https://old.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/146btvk/i_have_an_electric_keyboard_from_years_ago_that/jnt219p/ / Hopefully you can find something in all of these Resources that sparks your interest and gives you a guideline for where you would like to take your Practices. I wish you Good Luck and Thanks for Reading this!
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Music Theory Academy
musictheoryacademy.com › wp-content › uploads › 2011 › 08 › How-To-Read-Sheet-Music-Workbook.pdf pdf
How To Read Sheet Music Workbook
Welcome to the Sheet Music Workbook. This workbook uses a unique combination of worksheets and practical activities designed · to enable you to be able to read sheet music quickly and effectively.
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Tonebase
piano-community.tonebase.co › media › download › 185ag8 › Sight reading exercises op.45 (1).pdf pdf
Sight reading exercises op.45 (1)
Unfinished Business Challenge! Mini Challenges Lyrical Miniatures: A Sonorous Journey feat. Grieg Celebrating Tchaikovsky's Birthday! The Pillars of Piano Technique (Mini-Challenge) Celebrate Rachmaninoff's Birthday Challenge! "Music YOU Love" Community Challenge!
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Jkornfeld
jkornfeld.net › complete_theory_text.pdf pdf
Music Notation and Theory for Intelligent Beginners by Jono Kornfeld
In music notation, the accidental sign is placed to the left of the notehead. When we speak or write about · such notes, the words "flat", "sharp", or "natural" go after the note name. ... Pianists read from the Grand Staff!
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Musicnotes
musicnotes.com › blog › how-to-read-sheet-music
How to Read Sheet Music: A Step-by-Step Guide – Musicnotes
May 22, 2025 - Learn how to read sheet music and improve your skills. We include detailed descriptions and visuals of sheet music symbols to help you progress.
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Piano In 21 Days
pianoin21days.com › home › introduction to how to read sheet music (for piano)
How To Read Sheet Music (For Piano) | Piano In 21 Days
August 22, 2020 - Piano in 21 Days introduces you to the basics of how to read sheet music for piano in this step-by-step guide. It’s essential for learning to play piano.
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Flowkey
flowkey.com › en › piano-guide › read-sheet-music
How to Read Piano Sheet Music: All-in-One Guide | flowkey
Chapter 1How to Choose a Piano or KeyboardChapter 2Piano Learning MethodsChapter 3Proper Piano TechniqueChapter 4Starting to Play PianoChapter 5Reading Piano Sheet Music (the Basics) Chapter 6Piano PracticeChapter 7Piano Goals and MotivationChapter 8Reading Piano Notes, Timing and DynamicsChapter 9Piano PedalsChapter 10Piano Learning Questions and Answers ... In the last chapter we introduced the notes and how they are placed on the keyboard. This chapter will put notes on a page by introducing musical notation, the written communication of music. If you aren’t sure whether you should learn reading sheet music, then read on.
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MuseScore
musescore.com
MuseScore.com | The world's largest free sheet music catalog and community
About MuseScore · Community · Software · Social · Content · Our products · Organisations · Language · © 2025 MuseScore Ltd · Spyrou Kyprianou 84, 4004 Limassol, Cyprus
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Pianote
pianote.com › blog › how-to-read-piano-notes
Piano Notes: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Reading Music | Pianote
June 3, 2024 - Everything you need to learn how to read piano notes, including tricks and tips to read sheet music quickly and fluently.
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Hoffman Academy
hoffmanacademy.com › blog › how-to-read-piano-sheet-music
How to Read Piano Sheet Music | Tips & Techniques
Learn how to read piano sheet piano with Hoffman Academy, including tips and techniques for understanding the process of reading music easier.
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Wordpress
cookband.wordpress.com › wp-content › uploads › 2012 › 02 › how-to-read-music-notes-qlcss-pp1-9-dunn.pdf pdf
HOW TO READ MUSIC NOTES (QUICK-LEARN CHEAT SHEETS), Page 1
HOW TO READ MUSIC NOTES (QUICK-LEARN CHEAT SHEETS), Page 4 · Measure - the space between bar lines. (Bar Lines = Measure Lines.) Finding Pitches on a Piano Keyboard (A Grand Staff is below the keyboard):