How To Read Music - 7 Easy Steps to Read Music For Beginners & 101 Musical Terms Dictionary with 4 Musical Charts: Read Music (Piano & Guitar Players Book 1)

This is my first encounter with a Rosa Suen publication. This book gives a total beginner enough information to barely get one's feet wet ... or, better put ... the big toe of the right foot, wet. There is some explanation of staffs and clefs, of note placement (primarily on treble clef), of rhythm, and a brief dictionary of terms at the end. I foundered at the beginning of the book, though, when I read, under Step 1, the 3rd & last paragraph in which it was stated, "My CCI method for piano players to play chords does not require you to read bass clef notations. All you need to know is to identify the notes on the keyboard and play chords with your LH. The keyboard diagrams in the lessons show you explicitly where to hit the keys on the piano so you do not need to read bass clefs at all. This is great news for all piano players."Excuse me? The good news for all piano players is that you really only need to be able to read the treble clef? Tsk - tsk. This does not sound credible to anyone who is seeking information on how to learn to read music. Piano playing includes two staves. The notes on the treble clef are usually the melody notes, played with the right hand. Now if one is only interested in playing a simple melody line, then this may be an adequate little booklet to get started. However, one of the piano's greatest attractions is that one can create and play not only a melody, but, in addition, a range of harmony to accompany that melody ... as simple or complex a harmony as one would choose. That is one of the treasures that a piano offers. By even hinting that the bass clef is not all that necessary ... well ... is not all that different, pianistically speaking ... as one would view the feasibility of a left limb.There are some note reading drills, mainly of the treble clef, but that also includes two pages of bass clef notes. The reader is asked to interpret the notes on the staff - the correct answers are on the following page. That part provides some note reading drilling, which is a big part of one learning the note positions. For someone very new at this, that section may be helpful. For anyone who is more familiar with note reading, one can just as well work through any music book available to provide some self examination ... how easily and quickly are you able to read notes. It's the constant drilling ... playing or reading ... that helps one gain speed in reading music.I debated about giving this two stars ... but chose the three star rating because the price of .99 is obviously not going to hurt one's wallet. I just don't like finding some of these alternative teaching methods that may turn some students away from more practical methods of learning. Note reading is not beyond the reach of anyone who knows the alphabet. It merely takes some time and focus and dedication to practice.

The author did a TREMENDOUS job of explaining a SIMPLE way to read Music. The Step-by-Step method of instruction provides an excellent way to learn the important aspects of reading Music to be able to actually play the musical notes on the piano properly.There are also four detailed Charts presented in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, I really appreciated the section of Definitions with over 100 Musical Terms that helped refresh my memory! The information in the Charts and the vocabulary of the language of Music in the Definitions is of great value.An Active Table of Contents and clear professional Illustrations compliment this well written Kindle book. I look forward to reading additional books as this author is definitely an EXPERT on the subject.As such, I wholeheartedly and Highly Recommend with a 5 STAR Rating!

This is a great little book for learning how to read music. However if you are using it on a fire tablet and don't know how to zoom in on the notes exampels then you will need a magnifying glass as you can't tell if the note is on the line or between the lines.

Very good book for learning to read music. On my Kindle.

Excellent reading material on the basics of music and how it works.

Great book to learn and lerean the fundamentals.

Very good book.

Easy to read and understand

I was so disappointed with this Kindle version of How To Read Music. Whoever has type set this book has not thought enough about the graphics and how they are viewed. While you can increase the font size, there did not seem to be anyway to increase the size of the music image. I just wanted a quick reference for higher or lower notes on the stave - above or below the ledger. The tiny pictures of the notes were just too small to read on the kindle. Completely puzzled by the author's comment about fake books on page 10. It would have been helpful to have more information on this term to save googling it. Download a sample before you commit.

As a grandma who sings in a choir now but never had the opportunity to learn to read music as a child, I carefully looked at all the Amazon reviews to find the best book. I can now add my own review. This is a great book, it is so clear and easy to follow and does not bewilder the newcomer with unnecessary "clutter", sticking to just what I need to learn right now without overwhelming me. If you are new to reading music as I am, I highly recommend it and it is a really reasonable price.

I purchased the kindle version of this book but have been unable to use it properly as the diagrams and exercises are so tiny. I can hardly see the staves never mind work out which notes are on them. When I enlarged the print all that happened was the text got bigger but not the music. I don't normally wear reading glasses but borrowed my husband's to no avail.

It's good but so far [I am at part six] I have found a couple of note mistakes, this could be a printer error

Elementary treatment. No depth, no substance. Waste of money!