2.6 Reading notes

How do you become proficient at reading notes? This takes time and practice. You really need to practise for a few minutes each day, identifying notes on both the treble and bass staves, including notes that are written both above and below these staves with up to three ledger lines.

However, there is a tradition with staff notation of using mnemonics to remember the names of the notes on the staves. Two of these are impossible to beat: FACE for the spaces on the treble staff from bottom to top, and All Cows Eat Grass for the spaces on the bass staff from bottom to top (Example 12).

Example 12

For the lines on the staves, from bottom to top, perhaps you could create your own mnemonic based on the letters E… G… B… D… F… for the treble staff and G… B… D… F… A… for the bass.

Mnemonics are useful and help accelerate the learning process.