Does anyone have found a good methodology to learn and memorize music notes on staves
1 Like
The classic way is to make mnemonic sentences or words.
Treble Staff lines, starting from the bottom going to the top:
E - Eat, G - Green, B - Beans, D - Don’t, F - Fuss
Treble Staff spaces, starting from bottom going to the top spells the word FACE:
F, A, C, E
or you can make another sentence like:
F - Find, A - Another, C - Cab, E - Ernie
Bass Clef lines, starting from the bottom going to the top:
G - Godzilla, B - Blasts, D - Down, F - Fifty, A - Airplanes
Bass Clef spaces, starting from bottom going to the top:
A - All, C - Cows, E - Emit, G - Gas.
If you just remember the top, middle, and bottom line notes of each staff, you could fairly easily just say the musical alphabet forward or backward as you climb or descend.
You could also personify each note as an animal or person that starts with the letter and imagine them interacting in sequence via linking. Maybe make one staff people and the other animals.
So for the treble staff:
Elephant sprays Fox with water, Fox runs frantically around Gorilla, tripping it, Gorilla falls and lands on Aligator’s tail, causing it to jump up and snap its jaws around Bat, bat flaps its wings and escapes, flying right over Cat, who swipes at it and chases it past Dog, who barks wildly which scares the Electric Eel, who shocks a Flamingo…
Create a similar story with the order for the Bass Staff.
Personally, I think the fastest and easiest method is using the mnemonic sentences when you first start out, and drilling with flashcards until the sentences fall away and the note position is reflexive to you. This should happen fairly quickly if you commit to drill for a bit every day.
Good luck and enjoy!
1 Like
Hi,
You can also look into modifying the “Guidonian Hand” method as well as per your own needs/wants.
Stefos
1 Like
Hello Stefos!
I have never heard about the Guidonian Hand! Thanks for the tips 
Thanks for the info
Honestly I think this is one case where pure repetition is far better than mnemonics.
If you want to learn how to sight read, or how to just read faster, you just have to keep doing it over and over until it becomes automatic. At least I found that going through a mnemonic every time I wanted to read sheet music was kind of a waste of time.
2 Likes
You learned the mnemonic and a short time later, because it worked so well, you did not use it again? What am I missing?
1 Like
I learned the mnemonic Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. For the treble clef lines. But that might be dating me a bit. lol
3 Likes
Armandsen,
You have to find each Clef and associate the notes together…
The example already given Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge works
Just think of associating the words to the other Clef and staves and “spaces” as well.
Stefos
P.S. You can be creative!!
1 Like
I agree with Nicolás. Start with simple songs that have few distinct notes, such as Mary Had A Little Lamb, Row Row Row Your Boat, etc. Learn those notes first. Then build up from there. Avoid the mnemonic translation.
Exercises (scales and arpeggios) can help, as well.
1 Like
No, I said that I didn’t use a mnemonic because the act of going through it every time felt like a waste of time, I just kept reading a lot of sheet music and one day I noticed that I just knew the notes without having to think about it.
2 Likes
I understand now and it makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for the expaination.
1 Like