The reading courseLesson 2 of 13 · Level 2
Landmark notes
Find three Cs at a glance and read out from them: treble C, high C and low C.
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The landmark Cs on the grand staff: treble C and high C above, low C below.
Good readers don't count lines from the bottom. They know a few landmark notes on sight and read the rest as a step or a skip from the nearest one. You already know one: middle C, on its own short line between the staves.
Three more Cs: treble C in the third space of the treble staff, an octave above middle C; high C on the second short line above the treble staff, two octaves above; and low C on the second short line below the bass staff, two octaves below. With the bass clef's C in its second space from the last lesson, there is a C to steer by in every part of the grand staff.
Each C is the same key, an octave apart: eight white keys up or down. When you meet a note near a landmark, find the landmark first and count the steps (line to space) or skips (line to line) from it.
The guides that go further: How to read piano sheet music: the grand staff, How to read the treble clef, How to read the bass clef, and How to read ledger lines.
Pieces this lesson opens
Pieces in the library that read as ready once you know everything up to this lesson, and didn't before it.
- Exercise Piece in C, Op. 190 No. 1Louis Köhlerlevel 2
- Exercise Piece in C, Op. 190 No. 4Louis Köhlerlevel 2
- Exercise Piece in C, Op. 190 No. 12Louis KöhlerMelody and left-hand roots · level 2