Beginner Online Piano lesson 2: How to read note
A. In order to read a music piece, we need to know the note value, and names of each
note. The following section shows us different value of note; how long each note last.
4 beats: called a semibreve (whole note)
3 beats: called a dotted minim (dotted half note)
2 beats: called a minim (half note)
1 beat: called a crotchet (quarter note)
Half a beat: called a quaver (eighth note)
Quarter of a beat: called a semiquaver (sixteenth note)
Did you get it? Now you are ready to read more notes
Music is written on groups of five lines called staves.
Notes are written on lines:
or in spaces:
Keyboard music uses two staves…
..one for the top half of the instrument. The symbol at the beginning of the line is called the Treble clef, sometimes called the G clef. In piano music, this calls for the use of right hand.
..and one for the bottom half of the instrument. The symbol at the beginning of the line is called the Bass clef, sometimes called the F clef. Bass Clef called for the use of left hand
The two staves are joined by a bracket. Usually the notes on the upper stave are played with the right hand, and the notes on the lower stave are
played with the left hand:
We are ready to move on to piano lesson 3.
Back to Piano Lesson 1 Next to Piano Lesson 3
Beginner Piano Course
