Probably very easy music reading question

[ambergahill]

When you are sight reading sheet music and you see for example an 'F' note, and you see the next note to play is two slots up to the 'A' note...In your head, is it okay to just see that the next note is two spots up and maybe not immediatly know that it is an 'A' key, but you just play it quickly because you know its 2 spots up? Or is that bad? Should you know that the note is an 'A' and play the 'A' key because you know where it is, not because you just knew it was two spots up....Yikes I hope this question makes sense. As I am writing it, I think it came out more confusing then it should. Thanks! 

[dss62467]

I understand exactly what you're saying, though I can't imagine processing music in my head like that.  It seems to me that eventually it will fall apart.  What happens when you jump from say A4 to G5?   Are you going to be able to quickly calculate how many spaces are between the notes on the page and keys on the keyboard?  If you can do that... I think you should be on the Gulf spill engineering team!

You will be happier if you learn the notes as well as you learn the letters of the alphabet.   Just practice and it will come.

[ambergahill]

Thank you for your response. It is not so much that I do not know the notes or alphabet, because I do. However it is just faster as of now to do the spacing in certain scenerios. For example it might take me 1 second right now to realize that the next note is two spots up. But it would take me 2-3 seconds to realize it is an 'A' key. So as far as playing the music as smoothly as I can, it is faster to go by how many spots away it is(sometimes). With practice, will it eventually be faster for me to go by what note it is?

[scottmcc]

actually, I think that seeing the spaces and the intervals as you describe is incredibly important...for instance, if you see a 4-note chord written out with a note on every line, beginning with middle C, but ending with C instead of B, you instantly know that it's a C major chord, and you don't even have to look at the middle notes.  you still need to be able to recognize any of those notes in isolation, but as you get better and better at sight reading, you will be able to look at any common chord without having to "spell" it.  similarly, if you see a run of notes that begins with a B and goes stepwise down 5 notes, you don't have to spell it out, just do the run.  Bach's music is full of examples of where this type of thinking will save you lots and lots of time.

when we learn how to read (print), we begin by learning letters and phonemes, and then grow to be able to recognize common whole words without having to "sound them out."  this to me is an analogous process to what you are describing.

[dss62467]

Thank you for your response. It is not so much that I do not know the notes or alphabet, because I do. However it is just faster as of now to do the spacing in certain scenerios. For example it might take me 1 second right now to realize that the next note is two spots up. But it would take me 2-3 seconds to realize it is an 'A' key. So as far as playing the music as smoothly as I can, it is faster to go by how many spots away it is(sometimes). With practice, will it eventually be faster for me to go by what note it is?

Dunno, I think however your brain processes it faster will work for you.   I've never even thought about doing it by the number of spaces between them, but as Scott says... it's not a bad thing.  Maybe I need to start adding that into my mental processing.  I'm certainly not the best sight reader on the block. 

[pianowolfi]

When you are sight reading sheet music and you see for example an 'F' note, and you see the next note to play is two slots up to the 'A' note...In your head, is it okay to just see that the next note is two spots up and maybe not immediatly know that it is an 'A' key, but you just play it quickly because you know its 2 spots up? Or is that bad? Should you know that the note is an 'A' and play the 'A' key because you know where it is, not because you just knew it was two spots up....Yikes I hope this question makes sense. As I am writing it, I think it came out more confusing then it should. Thanks!  

The answer is both!!
You should recognise immediately the interval (a third, the note heads are in touch but from space to space or from line to line) and the absolute notes: F (first space) and A (second space).
The staff system is not designed for calculating or counting (that makes only sense if you are a very beginner and need to learn how it works in principle), but for seeing directly the place of the note and associating what you see as directly as possible with the respective keys!

[nanabush]

Both is good.  In some pieces I play now with really big chords, I'll just see the notes and automatically adjust my hand and plant it on the chord without having named any of them.  You'll eventually see these intervals/jumps all over the place, and if you work hard at note naming along with it then it should become more automatic.

A good test is getting someone to say "what note is the 3rd line of the treble staff".  It's harder than people think without having the staff in front of your eyes.  If you can visualize a staff in your head, and figure out the note name (using a different note as a point of origin, or just by pinpointing that note on its own), then there's no doubt you know how to name notes.  Just keep playing lots of stuff, identifying intervals/notes and it'll come!