What is the fastest way to learn to read music?

[young_chopin]

Hi, I am new to this forum.
I am 16, and I enjoy playing my Samick upright. I used to take lessons several years ago.
Recently I have taught myself the Moonlight Sonata via YouTube. It took me several months to finish it, but I did. I greatly enjoy playing the lovely song. I can also play To a Wild Rose, the beginning of Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.2. I absolutely love this song and I am currently trying to learn how to play it via youtube again.
If only I could learn to read music. I want to take lessons, but I'm afraid I just dont have the time to spend on lessons, nor the money. So does anyone have any advice?

Thanks =]

[nanabush]

Find sheet music for pieces that sound like they'd be easy.  Learn A LOT of pieces like this, maybe buy an adult beginner book and try playing through it.

One of the best ways to keep something down is through repetition (but not monotonous repetition).  So, if you start by playing through half page or one page pieces that are not actually that tough for you technique-wise, you'll start seeing the similarities between the staff notation and the keys on the keyboard.  Playing one very difficult piece will get you no where.

Print a page or two of scales, and as you play them, look how the notes are moving up and down the staff.  Name them as you play them (aloud or in your head); learn a few basic chords to see how multiple notes stack, and what they look like on paper vs. what they look like on the piano.

If you are able to play the Moonlight (I'm guessing the first movement), some of the Chopin and To a Wild Rose, then you have some pretty decent coordination.  Use this, go back a few steps, and pick some stuff that you think you can learn without spending a year cranking out one note by one note.

[faa2010]

Find sheet music for pieces that sound like they'd be easy.  Learn A LOT of pieces like this, maybe buy an adult beginner book and try playing through it.

I agree with this idea, reading music is like reading in another language: start with books where the words (symbols) are easy to identify: bigger, clearer, neither with complicated vocabulary nor a lot of pages to read.

[naumdar]

Also, like any language - you can't pick up poetry and stories from the get go. I am a huge believer in pieces as the focal point, but a grammatical base if you will, is necessary.

oviously you must learn the staves, which you may already - this information is pretty easy to obtain and there are all kinds of memory-devices to remember.

Then definitely get Alfred's Level 1 Piano Method or a similar method book. This way you will at least have a structured way to learn the piano and you can simultaneously work on pieces.

Money I understand - but time - make no mistake it, will take a lot of time, one way or the other.

[pianowolfi]

Hi, I am new to this forum.
I am 16, and I enjoy playing my Samick upright. I used to take lessons several years ago.
Recently I have taught myself the Moonlight Sonata via YouTube. It took me several months to finish it, but I did. I greatly enjoy playing the lovely song. I can also play To a Wild Rose, the beginning of Chopin's Nocturne Op.9 No.2. I absolutely love this song and I am currently trying to learn how to play it via youtube again.
If only I could learn to read music. I want to take lessons, but I'm afraid I just dont have the time to spend on lessons, nor the money. So does anyone have any advice?

Thanks =]

If you don't have the time to take lessons you won't have time to learn reading either. In the lessons (at your age, I'm not talking about kids) you learn the principles and the teacher can correct you and give advice, but you will have to practice reading for more than only the usual lesson time of 30 or 50 or 60 minutes a week if you really want to progress.

[quantum]

I agree with wolfi.  Money is one thing, time is another.  If you want to improve your reading, you must dedicate time to the effort.  Learning to read music is not something you can do well by casually poking at the piano for 5 minutes a day.  You will need to seriously devote yourself to learning to read music, especially if you wish to play pieces at similar level as the Moonlight or Nocturne. 

One hour with a piano teacher may be worth weeks of self-work, especially for someone just starting out.  You may wish to reconsider taking lessons, especially since you state that you are short on available time.  If you cannot afford weekly lessons, consider taking lessons every few weeks, or monthly.  It is much better than no lessons at all. 

[young_chopin]

Thank you all for your helpful advice!