People who don’t know staff or simplified musical notation usually say: “I don’t understand music theory.” In fact, it should be said that "I don't know music." Because not being able to read music is indeed a sign of not understanding music theory, but people who can only read music may not necessarily understand music theory.

Anyone who has studied music theory systematically knows that basic music theory is divided into three parts, one is notation, the other is intervals and chords, and the third is mode and tonality. It is obvious that the problem of reading music is only a small part of notation. Open several units about notation, including note value combinations, natural/varied semitones, whole tones, enharmonics, basic tone levels/varied tone levels, etc. The content is not limited to (note height, duration, dotted rest, etc.) notation and music reading. The problem of reading music is only limited to recognizing music, not the study of music theory. Therefore, reading music is not really a difficult task.

1. Talk about staff notation and simplified musical notation

Some people think that "staff notation is more difficult to learn and recognize than simple musical notation", but this is not necessarily true. More people think that five-line musical notation is more scientific than simple musical notation. For example, whether you use the fixed-key reading method of the staff or the first-key reading method, you can directly see the specific pitch position of the note. That is to say, the note in that line or space of the staff always corresponds to the fixed position of the note on the keyboard. This feature is very convenient for learning to play keyboard instruments. When you see the note head written on which phone position, just press that key on the keyboard.

However, for middle-aged and elderly people to learn keyboard instruments, it will bring about a confusing problem. Except that the notes of C major and A minor can correspond to the melody in the mind, other keys For songs, the notes (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, xi) written on the score are inconsistent with the sounds heard by the ears. For example: when playing a piece of music in the key of F, the score reads fa and the ear reads do. Then the eyes and ears began to fight. It is necessary to strengthen the fixed pitch concept of fa and weaken the modal pitch concept of do.

This situation is very common for adults who have not received professional music training. They must find ways to make the two concepts less or less likely to fight. Therefore, for simply training keyboard instrument operation skills, strengthening fixed pitch reading and performance and temporarily hiding modal pitch hearing is of great benefit to quickly improving technical ability.

Simplified musical notation belongs to the first-key notation method. Do (the tonic of the major key) and La (the tonic of the minor key) change with the pitch, and other notes also change accordingly. In this way, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, and xi will follow do or La everywhere. The more adjustments there are, the more difficult it will be. This is the reason why it is best to first read the music in a fixed key when learning keyboard playing.

2. Basic music theory knowledge:

Elements of musical language: including melody, rhythm, beat, speed, intensity, range, timbre, harmony, mode, tonality, etc.

Melody: refers to an organized series of musical tones of different lengths, heights, and strengths. It is the foundation and soul of music.

Rhythm: refers to the length relationship of organized sounds.

Beat: refers to the regular alternation of strong beats and weak beats of equal duration.

Dynamic: refers to the strength and weakness of the music.

Vocal range: refers to the range of vocals or music in a certain work. It is usually divided into treble area, midrange area and bass area.

Timbre: refers to the acoustic characteristics of different voices or musical instruments.

Harmony: Modern refers to the simultaneous combination of sounds and their continuous progression.

Mode: refers to several tones forming a system according to a certain relationship, with one of the tones as the center (the main tone). This system is called mode.