Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're taking our site reading skills another step further by adding clefs.
'See?'
'The Cliffs of Insanity!'
No, no, no, not cliffs, clefs.
See?
The Clefs of Insanity!
Ahahahahaha!
Okay, I have no idea what just got into me there.
So, where was I?
Oh yeah: clefs.
Let's come to the Clefs of Insanity to get started.
So as you can see for sight reading today, we have a treble clef,
and recall that any time we have a treble clef what that's telling us
is any note on this line that goes right through the middle of the treble clef swirl
This line is
the G line. So any note on that line would be G.
My middle C is this yellow, which makes my treble G right here with the blue.
So anytime you see a note on the treble G line, this is the note you'll play.
Now some of these notes are on the line, some are below it, some are above it.
Can you point to all the notes that are actually on the G line? Let's find them all.
Can you point with me?
We've got one here, here.
This one's below than the line, so it's not a G.
We've got a G here, and another G here.
With this, this, and this being a step above the line.
Now, let's go through one note at a time, and can you say with me
the steps, skips, and repeats? So we'll say start for the first note. Ready?
Start, repeat, step down, step up, step up, repeat, step down, step up.
Great.
Now let's do it one more time and this time say the letter names.
Since we know any note on this line is G, we can say G,
G, now we're gonna go a step below G
which would be what?
Can you tell me?
If you said F you're correct.
Then it steps back up to G.
Now we're going above G which is what?
That's right it's an A.
A G A
Now let's try to play down on the piano.
So when you sight read you'll often see over certain notes a number
which tells you which finger should be playing that note.
So you can see that over that first treble G you'll see a finger 2.
So, take your right hand finger 2,
place it on treble G,
and then we'll try and play these notes.
What I'd like you to do is say out loud how the notes are moving as you play.
Like this: We'll go start,
repeat, step down, step up, step up, repeat, step down, step up.
Now, press pause and you try to sight read this on your own with finger 2 starting on G,
and then say out loud how the notes are moving as you play.
Remember, keep your eyes on the notes not on your hands.
Press play when you're ready to go on.
For this next example,
I've placed the treble clef on a more traditional five line staff
which is what you're going to be generally seeing whenever you play
a song written in sheet music.
Now when you're on a five line staff the treble clef line
is always going to be this line number two from the bottom.
I'm going to color it blue just to kind of remind us where
the G line is
always going to be line number two because that's where the swirl is positioned.
Now, if you look at this carefully you'll notice these are the same notes we just played.
It just looks a little different now because we're on the five line staff.
Since we just played these notes,
I don't think we need to play it again. So let's look at the next example.
Here's our next example.
I'm going to go and color the G line
which
You can also do in your music as you're getting used to finding that G line,
eventually you'll just recognize where it is,
but let's point and say how the notes are moving whether they're
stepping up, stepping down, or repeating.
Say start for the first note with me and try and stay together.
Start, step up, repeat, step down, step down, step up, step up, step down.
Great, now let's try to say the letter names.
Can you say it with me? We've got G,
then it steps up to what?
A, A, then steps down to what?
G, now we're on the G line again, then
F G A G
Great, now let's try to play it on the piano.
Okay, once again it's asking us to place finger 2
on G, and since we're in the treble clef we'll usually use our right hand,
so let's place right hand finger 2 on treble G.
And then now say with me out loud how the notes are moving.
We have start, step up, repeat, step down, step down, step up, step up, step down.
Now on your own press pause,
and try playing and sing out loud how
each note is moving, then press play when you're ready to go on.
Alright, here's our next example.
I'll go ahead and color the G line.
Kind of highlight line number two so we know we're treble G is.
Now, what do you notice this time?
Our first note actually starts a step below the G line. Can you tell me the letter name of this note?
If you said F you're correct.
Let's go through it and say the steps, skips, repeats, first.
Can you try it by yourself this time? Say start for the first note, and go.
The correct answer is start, step up, step up, repeat, step down, repeat, step down, repeat.
Good, now can you tell me the letter names?
We've already said the first note is F,
and can you say the rest of them?
Try it. F, now you go.
The correct answer is F G A A G G F F
Great, let's try to play it on the piano.
This time it's asking for a finger 1 on the note a step below treble G which is F.
So I've got finger 1 on F.
Now, this time instead of playing it for you first,
I'm going to have you try it first on your own so press pause,
try and play this melody and say how the notes are moving: stepping up or stepping down,
then press play when you're ready to try it with me.
Okay let's try to play this melody together
and we're going to say the letter names as we play it.
Once again, keep your eyes on the notes not on your hands,
and let's name the letters as we go the first one is F.
Ready, go:
F G A A G G F F
Great!
For this next example we have our Base Clef of Insanity
and you'll recall that the line that goes through the two dots is the F line.
So let me go ahead and color that line green now.
Whenever you see a note on that line,
whenever for the rest of your life you see a note
on the line that goes through the two dots of the base clef, that note is going to be base F.
If middle C is here, then base F would be right here.
Now, taking a look at this example can you point out all the base F's?
Find the notes that are on the base F line.
We've got two right here, and two way over here.
These two are a step above the F line and these two are step below.
Now, let's point to each note and say how it's moving: stepping, skipping, or repeating.
Try it along with me. Say start for the first note, go.
Start, repeat, step up, repeat, skip down, repeat, step up, repeat.
Now can you tell me the letter names. It starts on an F. Can you say the letters? Go.
The correct answer is F, F, then it steps up to G because G is a step above F, G
then it goes below F which is E. Now we have E, E, and then back to F, F.
Now let's try playing it on the piano.
So, whenever you play in the bass clef you're
generally going to be using your left hand.
So let's take left hand finger 2
and place it on bass F. Finger 2 because I'm just looking at that first
note and see that number 2 over the first note head.
So finger 2 is on F.
Now, can you press pause and try to play this on your own while saying out loud
how the notes are moving? Press play when you're ready to try it with me.
Okay, let's try it one more time now.
This time we'll say the letter names out loud. I'm going to start with finger 2 on F.
Ready, go, F F G G E E F F
Great, now if that didn't go well you can always pause, rewind, and try it again.
If you're ready to go on let's keep going.
Alright, now we've placed our bass clef
on a five line staff just like we did for the treble clef,
and you'll see that the F line is this second line down from the top
just like our treble clef G line was the second from the bottom.
I'm going to color this bass clef line green.
This bass F line I should say.
Now, can you point out any notes that are on the bass F line?
That's right, we've got three bass F's in a row right here and then one more right here.
Now, on your own can you point to each note and tell me if it's stepping, repeating, or skipping?
Try it by yourself, go.
The correct answer is start, repeat, repeat, step down, step up, step up, repeat, repeat.
Now, can you name the letter names?
It starts on F. Now you try the rest by yourself, go.
The correct answer is F F F, then it steps down to E, back up to F,
then steps above F to G G G.
Now let's try to play it on the piano.
Okay, this time it's saying to place finger 3 on bass F.
So I've got my left hand finger 3 on F.
Now, press pause and see if you can play this on your own
while saying out loud how the notes are moving.
Then press play when you're ready to try it with me.
Great, now together let's try playing the notes and naming their letter names while we play.
Finger 3 on F is the first note. Ready go.
F F F E F G G G
Great!
Nice work doing some sight reading with
the Clefs of Insanity!
Right..
If you'd like even more practice with sight reading,
you can purchase my sight reading trainer book from our website,
which gives you dozens more sight reading exercises to practice
or as a premium member of our website you can use our staff crawler
online game to take your skills even further.
I hope you have an insanely fun time practicing your sight reading,
and see you next time.
Chef, you have a great gift for rhyme.
Yes, yes, some of the time.
Oh, hahaha
Enough of that you two!
Chef, are there rocks ahead?
If there are we'll all be dead.
No more rhymes now, I mean it!
Anybody want a peanut?