Reading Music Notation - Ukulele Method

By Alexandr Nilov

In order to become a good performer, it is not necessary to know music notation, music theory and be able to sight-read music. If you want to perform, you can analyze a piece of music using tablature or pick it up by ear, and what you need the most is to master your instrument and have a good memory. But when it comes to arranging music yourself, you cannot do without knowing how to write down the rhythm, read notes of various instruments (piano, vocals), chord structures, harmonic progression and more. You can memorize the notes on ukulele fretboard, and this will certainly help you understand some theoretical knowledge. But without the ability to read music notation, you will spend plenty of time on practical implementation of the theory.

 

A good music notation contains a lot of information about sound and aspects of playing: the pitch and duration of a sound, the tempo and manner of performing, dynamics, fingering and much more. In this book we will focus on the most important: the pitch and duration of a sound. This is my first book on reading ukulele notation. We will study here a wide range of notes on almost the entire ukulele fretboard. This knowledge will help you play not only the ukulele notes, but also read the notes of other instruments, such as guitar and piano. At the end of the book you will find a small anthology which includes music pieces of different genres. The book does not include pieces of music that are difficult to play, so it can be applied by both beginners and experienced musicians.

 

In this book you will find 76 rhythm exercises, 26 exercises on reading music notation and playing techniques, 26 etudes (small pieces of music) as well as notation of popular and famous music pieces. After completing this course, you will be able not to limit yourself to notes from this book only. Notation has been used by musicians since ancient times, so you will be able to easily find the notes of a very large number of music pieces. Also, having mastered musical notation, you will be able to read and understand literature on the music theory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexandr Nilov
• Release date: Jun 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393817802

Book preview

Introduction

In order to become a good performer, it is not necessary to know music notation, music theory and be able to sight-read music. If you want to perform, you can analyze a piece of music using tablature or pick it up by ear, and what you need the most is to master your instrument and have a good memory. But when it comes to arranging music yourself, you cannot do without knowing how to write down the rhythm, read notes of various instruments (piano, vocals), chord structures, harmonic progression and more. You can memorize the notes on ukulele fretboard, and this will certainly help you understand some theoretical knowledge. But without the ability to read music notation, you will spend plenty of time on practical implementation of the theory.

A good music notation contains a lot of information about sound and aspects of playing: the pitch and duration of a sound, the tempo and manner of performing, dynamics, fingering and much more. In this book we will focus on the most important: the pitch and duration of a sound. This is my first book on reading ukulele notation.

We will study here a wide range of notes on almost the entire ukulele fretboard. This knowledge will help you play not only the ukulele notes, but also read the notes of other instruments, such as guitar and piano. At the end of the book you will find a small anthology which includes music pieces of different genres. The book does not include pieces of music that are difficult to play, so it can be applied by both beginners and experienced musicians.

In this book you will find 76 rhythm exercises, 26 exercises on reading music notation and playing techniques, 26 etudes (small pieces of music) as well as notation of popular and famous music pieces. After completing this course, you will be able not to limit yourself to notes from this book only. Notation has been used by musicians since ancient times, so you will be able to easily find the notes of a very large number of music pieces. Also, having mastered musical notation, you will be able to read and understand literature on the music theory.

All the practical tasks in this book are accompanied by the links to the video guidelines. While doing the tasks, don’t rush to immediately follow the links. First, try to do the task yourself and only then watch how I complete this task in the video.

How to practice effectively

Sing rhythms and notes out loud. First of all, you need to understand that a professional musician hears how the music sounds even before playing the instrument, just by looking at the notation, and only then his hands begin to make the necessary movements on the instrument to embody the music. If you sing everything you play, you will learn to write down the notation of a certain piece of music just by listening to it. By singing I don’t mean your vocal skills. First of all, you need to reproduce the name of a note and its duration with your voice. If you have good intonation, your voice will match the note; it is the most perfect situation. If your intonation is not so good, it doesn’t mean you don’t have an ear for music. It just means that you badly master your vocal equipment and have a passive musical ear. A small recommendation for those who realise this is their case: in everyday life, try to talk with an exaggerated intonation like actors in the theater. People who don’t have the ability to distinguish which of the two sounds is lower or higher basically do not exist.

Learn notes little by little. The entire book consists of small lessons. In each lesson, we learn two or three new notes. Plus