Do I have to take the lessons in order?

No. Each lesson is open from the start. The order is the one the music asks for: a lesson leans on the ones before it, and its page uses everything up to it.

When does a lesson count as read?

When each thing it teaches has been answered at least twice and is right more often than not, or is already learned from drills, pieces or the check. One slip never undoes it; a lesson only asks to be gone over when something learned has fallen well back.

Why isn't the pedal or playing loud and soft in the lessons?

Clefsight teaches what it can hear you read from your keyboard: which keys, and when. Keyboards differ too much in how they send loudness and pedal for that to be marked fairly, so those signs are explained in music symbols rather than graded.

Learn to read music

The reading course

Everything Clefsight can hear you read, taught a stage at a time: 13 lessons from C position to far ledger lines, about 76 minutes in all. Each lesson explains what is new on the page, asks you to read it on a MIDI keyboard or the keys on screen, then writes you a page with it to play.

From the lowest C to the C two octaves above treble C: each note pencilled with the lesson that brings it in.

Go to lesson 1

Before the course

First pageSeven short lessons from the keyboard to a first page you play, for someone who has never read music.23 min

Level 1

1C position, both handsRead the left hand's C position, skips of a 3rd, both hands at once, and the dotted half note.6 min

Level 2 97 library pieces at this level

2Landmark notesFind three Cs at a glance and read out from them: treble C, high C and low C.5 min
3Notes around the landmarksRead the treble staff to its top and the bass staff to its bottom, a step or skip from a landmark.7 min
42nds and 3rds as shapesPlay two notes at once in one hand by their shape: a 2nd side by side, a 3rd one above the other.5 min

Level 3 431 library pieces at this level

5G position, eighth notes and 3/4Move the hand to a new position, count eighth notes, and feel three beats in a bar.5 min
6Ledger linesRead notes on short lines above and below the staves, and count the dotted quarter note.7 min

Level 4 192 library pieces at this level

7Key signatures, one at a timeRead one and two sharps or flats in the key signature, and sharps, flats and naturals in the music.6 min
84ths and 5thsRead leaps of a 4th and a 5th by their shape, and count sixteenth notes.5 min

Level 5 55 library pieces at this level

9Triads and 6/8Read three-note chords stacked in 3rds, broken or together, and music that counts in 6/8.5 min
10Inversions, syncopation and tripletsRead triads turned round, notes that start off the beat and hold across it, and triplets.5 min

Level 6 14 library pieces at this level

116ths to 10ths, and seventh chordsRead wide leaps by their shape, seventh chords, and the dotted eighth.6 min
12Keys with 3 to 7 sharps or flatsRead every key signature, three to seven sharps or flats, and name its major and minor key.7 min

Level 7 4 library pieces at this level

13Far ledger linesRead up to five ledger lines above and below, and notes written in the other hand's clef.7 min

How the course knows where you are

The course keeps no list of lessons done. Each lesson is read from your reading profile, the same record every drill, every page you play and the reading check write to. So if the check finds you read the treble staff already, its lessons are ticked; if a note slips in the music you play, the lesson that teaches it says it's worth going over, and Today offers it.

Take the lessons in order, skip ahead, or take the reading check at any time; they agree, because they read the same thing.

Questions

Do I have to take the lessons in order?: No. Each lesson is open from the start. The order is the one the music asks for: a lesson leans on the ones before it, and its page uses everything up to it.
When does a lesson count as read?: When each thing it teaches has been answered at least twice and is right more often than not, or is already learned from drills, pieces or the check. One slip never undoes it; a lesson only asks to be gone over when something learned has fallen well back.
Why isn't the pedal or playing loud and soft in the lessons?: Clefsight teaches what it can hear you read from your keyboard: which keys, and when. Keyboards differ too much in how they send loudness and pedal for that to be marked fairly, so those signs are explained in music symbols rather than graded.