Hello! My name is Rossella and today I am going
to help you read confidently the musical notes
in ALL 7 clefs.
Should I memorise all the notes or is there
a trick I can use? How can I read fluently?
Is there a way to learn it quickly?
These and other questions will be answered
shortly.
Today we are going to talk about how to read
the musical notes in ALL the clefs.
If you have watched my previous videos, you
should know why clefs are important and should
have learnt how to write them. If you need
to revise these topics again, you can find
the direct links in the description below.
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Now, back to the clefs.
There are 7 clefs in music:
Treble Soprano mezzo-soprano alto tenor baritone
bass
Like the human voices in choir
Each clef gives the same note a different
name. Therefore, being able to read is key.
Let me give you an example.
This is the score of the super-famous twinkle
twinkle little star.
Its tune was taken from an old Franch song called 'Ah! vous dirais-je, maman', and it sounds like this.
 
If I swap the treble clef with … the tenor
clef the same tune would sound like this.
Oops, I am not sure that it is still Twinkle
twinkle little star.
So, if we don’t want to be too… innovative
we MUST be able to read so we can use the
right clef for our tunes.
As we said in the previous videos, the position
of the clefs on a stave gives us the name
of one key pitch, from which we can name all
the other ones.
For instance :
The G clef (treble clef) tells us where G
is.
This is G, the G above middle C,
Consequently, the other notes would be A,
C, F, E and so forth.
The F clef (bass clef) tells us where F is.
This is F and this (IMPORTANT) is middle C.
So this F is the one just below middle C.
From that, we gather that this is B, G, D
and so forth.
The C clefs (soprano mezzo-soprano alto tenor
baritone) tell us where middle C is.
We must look at where the two bubbles meet.
All these notes represent only one pitch:
middle C.
So by counting from middle C, we gather that
these notes in alto clef would be D, A, B.
In the baritone clef, they would be called
differently: G, D, E.
Are you following me? Remember, you can always
pause the video and take time to think or
go back to the beginning of my explanation
and revise it.
First, make sure that your eagle eyes learn
how to immediately detect the key note, G
F or C. Then, as an exercise, write random
notes onto a stave and add the clef that you
want to practise.
Read the notes aloud as
many times as you can, and as you gain confidence,
try to get faster.
You can also time yourself
and try to beat your record!
If you want to boost your confidence, practise
it in reverse. Write random note names below
a stave, add a clef and enjoy drawing the
notes. And remember that you should always
keep in mind where middle C is so you can
relate the note names with a pitch area.
Do you want full marks in your next exam paper?
Remember this
There is another technique that you can use
to make your reading fluent, particularly
with the alto and tenor clefs.
You can try to transpose the notes by eye
or through a mathematical operation. Think
of their names in the treble clef and add
or subtract 1.
For example, in the alto clef we transpose
the notes one key up.
It is like instantly calling numbers adding
always 1. Therefore here we see 2, 4, 7, 8,
but in fact we'd call them
3, 5, 8, 9
Similarly, we can subtract 1 when we have
the tenor clef. So these numbers would be
read:
1, 3, 6, 8
And these notes, in the tenor clef, would
be A, B, F, G.
In the case of the bass clef, you can add
2 to the treble clef notes.
This is instant transposition, or transposition
by eye. It is particularly useful in sight-reading,
but you should remember that the pitch is
in fact one octave lower.
In the case of the bass clef, the octaves lower are 2.
Feeling confused now?
Let’s go back to our ... funny version of
Twinkle twinkle little star.
If we compare the two scores, it is notable
that the notes on the stave are the same.
However, whereas in the treble clef we are
using the middle register of the keyboard,
in the tenor clef we must move onto the lower
side because middle C sits on the forth line.
I hope this video has helped you learn how
to read notes in all the clefs. The two exercises
will give you the opportunity to improve your
confidence. Some skills can be mastered only
through practice and require time and patience.
Didn’t you take some time to learn how to
read and write in your own language?
Thank you for sharing and liking this video.
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Virtuoso!
Ciao
