How to read music

How to read music notation is an important part of playing the flute well. Is it hard to learn and what's the best way? And why bother?

To answer the first question, no, it's not hard at all!

1) Do you know the alphabet from A to G?
2) Can you tell the difference between a white circle and a black circle?

If you answered "yes" to both questions, then you have what it takes to read music!

Why bother?

Many people ask that question. Some just want to make up their own music or play by ear. If you're one of those people, that's fine. There aren't any rules, you can do what makes you feel good!

But there's a whole world of sheet music out there just waiting to be played. You don't want to miss it!

So what are the ways you can learn how to read music?

Learn to play piano first...
In my opinion, this is the easiest way to do it and it's how I learned as a child.

Learning to read music while learning to play piano is so much easier than while you're trying to learn how to play the flute.

There are so many things to keep in your mind while playing the flute--breathing, fingerings, and how to hold the flute, to name but three--and learning music notation at the same time makes it tough and slows down the flute-learning process.

When you're playing the piano, you just have to press down a key to get the notes out. Now we're not talking about becoming a concert pianist here, just getting notes to speak. It's much easier on the piano.

Get an instruction book...
There are plenty of books on how to read notes.