Wondered if there are many like me who struggle to read ledger lines on sheet music.
I taught myself to read (and to play) and have been having a go at a new piece these last couple of days.

Despite being self taught, I read quite well considering and automatically play what I read without having to think about it but, the moment I go above A on the first ledger line, I have to think about each note.
My present piece goes up to 4 ledger lines and, having suffered with quite a lot of bars in a row above the first ledger line and also hindered by old eyes, I have had to resort to a ledger line drawing to speed me up a little.
I know there are many good professional musicians on the forum but are there many like me who find it hard work.
Also any tips from the properly taught pros?
Tony

There are quite a few YOUTUBE videos on the subject.

Here is one with some hints to remember the order.



Regards,

Jerryghr

Using 8 v.a. And other options to change an octave work well, yet some publicists indeed prefer ledger lines..


Its a reason i prefer real sheet music versus the normal ipad... its just to small on the ipad (unless you have the 12" version.. keep struggling reading them on the ipad, but not on most sheet music..

Bachus I am using OnSong and RealBook apps with Ipad sky 2 9.7 inches. Changing from vertical to horizontal makes a big difference; lyrics and notes are larger – easy to read.

8Va means to write the same notes one octave below in the staff. Very few people like reading little ledger lines above or below the staff. My Encore program allows me to transpose the song to a different key or raise or lower motes one octave –placing them within the staff. What songs are you playing that places notes more than one or two ledger lines above the staff?

Piano players are good readers, I think they take a mental picture of what they are playing. They do not look at notes one at a time; they look at notes in groups. We do the same thing when reading a book. “Going to the movies” is one thought.

John C.

The problem is not the Music reader apps, they are quite moddable

John, i am using a lot of bough sheet music from the ibooks store im apple's ibooks app... it cant be transfered to any other apps..

When you place the ibooks app horizontally it displays two pages and makes things even smaller.


when i answered this question, i answered it specifically for the sheet music i bought, just works better in real paper format then in the ibooks app..


and since i am a home player, i dont mind having paper versions, only using them at the home...


I barely use the ipad for sheet music any more (used to do so quite a lot in the past), i even tested and played with all the apps...over the last year i made a habbit of printing my digital sheetmusic on paper when needed.. My ipad is mostly used as an extra sound module.. Another problem with turing the ipad horizontally might be flipping pages, which would probably require assigning a pedal to it.


Yet however, i am considering a 12"ipad pro, for music reading... i just need the bigger format to make it usefull, might be my bad eyes...

Thanks Jerryghr,
Went on You Tube and had a look.
What I learned was quite helpful - just need practise now.

My present piece was not by a music publisher but someone helping me out because the dots were out of print.
I've found a lot of classical music just as bad and it gives you a headache when you see it in Musescore.
The price I pay for not playing by ear.
I use a Lenovo 14" convertible for reading music, using Power Music Pro, and it's fine for reading most scores - just the odd piece gives problems.
Tony