30: Basic Note Reading for Homeschool Parents: Part 1 of Mastering Music 101 series

Get your Mastering Music 101 free download here: https://ichoosejoy.activehosted.com/f/327. See all links and resources mentioned in the episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/basic-note-reading/

Welcome to the Music in Our Homeschool podcast, where we explore the fascinating world of music education right from the comfort of your home. I'm Gena Mayo, your host, a homeschooling mom of eight and a seasoned music teacher with over 30 years of experience. Whether you're a homeschooling parent brand new to music education or looking to brush up on your skills, this podcast is for you.

In today's episode, titled "Basic Note Reading for Mastering Music 101 Basics for Homeschool Parents Part 1" we'll delve into the foundational elements of music theory and note reading. This is the first part of our three-part series designed to help homeschool parents understand essential music concepts. Today you'll learn about the staff, grand staff, treble clef, bass clef, and how to determine what note is on the staff.

Make sure to download the "Mastering Music 101 Printable Pack" to follow along (See link above.) Our series continues over the next two weeks with an overview of music history and an introduction to musical instruments. Don't forget to check out the accompanying YouTube video (https://YouTube.com/genamayo) for a more visual learning experience.

Strap in and let's unlock the world of music theory together.

Get your Mastering Music 101 free download here: https://ichoosejoy.activehosted.com/f/327. See all links and resources mentioned in the episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/basic-note-reading/

Please follow/subscribe to the podcast and leave a 5-star review and comment if you liked this episode! Find all courses at https://Learn.MusicinOurHomeschool.com ,free music lessons here: https://MusicinOurHomeschool.com/FreeMusicLessons , and lots more links here: https://linktr.ee/genamayo !

Transcript

Basic Note Reading for Mastering Music 101 Basics for Homeschool Parents Part 1

Get your Mastering Music 101 free download here: https://ichoosejoy.activehosted.com/f/327. See all links and resources mentioned in the episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/basic-note-reading/

[00:00:00] If you're a homeschool mom who has never studied music, you are going to love my new series on Mastering Music 101, Basics for Homeschool Parents. Today is Part 1, Basic Note Reading. Let me say, however, that as the homeschool parent, you do not have to master these concepts in order to help your children learn them.

I just want to give you an overview today and you can continue to learn more as you learn alongside your child. The next two weeks we'll continue with the Mastering Music 101 series with a music history overview and an introduction to musical instruments. But let's begin with the basics of music theory and note reading today.

You'll want to download the Mastering Music 101 printable pack, the link is in the show description, and you will be able to take some notes and see some printables about the things I am [00:01:00] talking about. Also, if you are listening to this on a podcast, you might want to head over to the YouTube video that accompanies this podcast episode.

And by the way, I do have a YouTube video with every single podcast episode. If you prefer that it's at my YouTube channel:@GenaMayo, G E N A M A Y O. 

All right, let's get started. So how is music organized? By about the year 1600, music was organized in a way that is similar to how we write and read music today.

Music notes are written on a staff of five lines and four spaces. You can see right here, we've got five lines, and then in between, four spaces, and if there is a brace that connects the staff, right here, this little symbol. is called a brace. And [00:02:00] see how it's connecting this staff and this staff? So if you have the staffs connected with a brace,

that's called a grand staff. A treble clef would be on the top. And the bass clef on the bottom. Let me show you what those look like bigger.

This is the treble clef.

This is the bass clef. So the grand staff is the type of staff organization that a pianist would use or a choir would sing from. The higher notes are on the treble staff and the lower notes are on the bass clef staff. Each line in space is numbered counting from bottom to top and every single line and space has a particular note name which is determined by the clef whether you're using treble or bass clef.

Let's learn what those are called. The bottom [00:03:00] line in a treble clef staff is called the E. So right here's the bottom line. So this is the E and we number them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Those are the five lines, and the spaces are in between, as you can see here, 1, 2, 3, and four. 

Sometimes we teach kids to memorize a sentence like a mnemonic device to remember the notes of the treble clef staff. When I was a kid, I learned every good boy deserves fudge or every good boy does fine. E G B D F. I don't particularly like that technique because it adds an extra step. You have to think every, that's an E, So the first note is E, or that note that I'm looking at when I'm playing the piano is E.

And it's much quicker if you can learn it as a chant, like this, E, G, B, D, F. [00:04:00] E, G, B, D, F. Those are the lines of the treble clef. So then you could just look at the note that you're talking about and go E, G, B, B. And it's much faster than saying every good boy, boy starts with a B, that's a B. See what I'm saying?

Okay. So for the spaces of the treble clef, it actually spells a word. F A C E. It spells the word face. So that one is very easy. F A C E. 

Now let's talk about the bass clef staff. With the bass clef, again you're counting from bottom to top. This is one, two, three, four, five. lines, and one, two, three, four spaces. The lines of the bass clef are G, B, D, F, A. And again, we want to do it with a chant. G, B, D, F, A, G, B, D, F, A, the lines of the bass clef all [00:05:00] the way. And then for these spaces, you've got A, C, E, G, A, C, E, G, the bass clef spaces, wowee. 

So there you have the way to know the notes of the treble. and the bass clef staff. Now, as you're looking at those notes, you may notice a pattern.

When you go from the line note to the space note that's right above it, it's going in order of the alphabet. You've got E, And then we start all the way back over at A. Because in music you only have A, B, C, D, E, F, G. So that it would be E, F, G, A, B, C, D, And so it's just going in order like that. And that's how it works.

Go to the page where you can see. the grand staff with treble [00:06:00] and bass clef and the piano notes above. So what happens with the grand staff, if you start down here with this note, so that is in the second space on the bass clef, so that is A C E G. That is C. As you're going from space to line note up the staff, you're going higher, higher in pitch and higher in letter in the alphabet.

So it'd be C D E F G A B C. Now when you get to C, you'll notice that you've got this little line through a note above the staff. If you're looking at bass clef, it's in red on my paper here, or for treble clef, it's right below the staff. And that is exactly the same note, whether you're looking in treble clef or bass clef, that is called middle C.

If you look on a piano keyboard, and if you have the full piano keyboard, [00:07:00] which has 88 keys on it, pretty much right in the center of the piano, there two black keys, notice the pattern of three black keys, two black keys. So if you look at two black keys and you go just to the left of it, that's C.

It's the fourth C on the piano, and that is middle C, which corresponds to this note and this note. So that's a very important note because a lot of times when you're learning to play the piano, you want to start there and then you can figure out any note above it or any note below it.

If you're going the opposite way, that direction, down, then you're going backwards in the alphabet. Let's start up here. So this is the third space of the treble clef, spells face, F A C, so that's a C, and as we're going down, so you've got C, B. A, then go to G, F, E, D, [00:08:00] C. There you're back to middle C.

So that is the basics for reading music. And it's very simple. It just takes practice just like anything else. I hope you enjoyed learning about some basics with music theory today. I have lots more music theory podcasts that I have done and that I'm planning to do.

I've already done one on dynamics, which is loud and soft in music and tempo, which is the speed of music. I have another one coming up, which talks about key signatures, but I would love to know if you have any specific concepts that you'd like to learn about. Maybe you've heard about intervals or chords or, anything else, please look in the show description and there's a place that says, Click to send Gena a message, or you can leave a comment, or you can email me at Gena@ musicinourhomeschool. com, and that's Gena with an E. 

[00:09:00] I have had so much fun talking to you about basic note reading today. I love music theory, and you can find three music theory courses if you or one of your students would like to learn more. Two of those are inside my Music in Our Homeschool Plus membership. I have Basic Music Theory for elementary students and Advanced Music Theory for high school students, which is a very advanced, it's a freshman college level AP type of course.

But I also have Beginning Music Theory for Teens, which is available separately. And you can head over to learn. musicinourhomeschool. com to find all of those. So until next time, when we talk about an overview of music history, keep the music alive. 

Get your Mastering Music 101 free download here: https://ichoosejoy.activehosted.com/f/327. See all links and resources mentioned in the episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/basic-note-reading/