Chew Valley Choral Society 

The basics of reading and singing from music

Here are some helpful suggestions if you would like to improve your reading from music.

As with nearly everything, there are YouTube videos of varying complexity teaching the basics of reading music and it is worth searching for one that suits you.  (Beware of American sites which use different terms)

Ted’s List  - A very basic one for absolute beginners https://youtu.be/UJ2Qi8VX64Y?si=5Kf-AWgwE5y3lZJV  

Making Music  have produced some resources for singers which are well worth looking at:   

‘Getting started with sheet music’    Getting started with sheet music | Making Music – this shows the basics of how sheet music works. 

and ‘Reading Sheet Music in a choir’   Reading sheet music in a choir: a beginner’s guide | Making Music – This is more general and mainly directs you to other resources.  

Of course, knowing what a note is called, or what it looks like on the page, isn’t the same as being able to sing it. However, if you can sing a note which is sung or played to you, sing a tune, and know whether the next note in a tune is at a higher or lower pitch, with practice you should be able to use sheet music to guide you as to what direction the music goes in, when you should be singing it and where the words fit.  You will be helped in this by singing with other people. 

Learning the individual pieces

Everyone has their own way of approaching a piece that is new to them. Some people learn solely from attending rehearsals. The conductor and accompanist will help to an extent by ‘note-bashing’ (playing individual tricky passages) where needed, but nearly everyone has sections of the music that need a little homework.  

Quite often you can get a first idea of a piece by listening to a recording with the score.   Spotify and YouTube are good for this.

 Once you know which parts need work you can either work at it with a piano or keyboard (if you have one)  or you can try one of the following: