Moving into Line Notes

And why this is deceptively simple

There was a study of New Year’s resolutions that found that the only effective ones were those that removed obstacles from the accomplishment of a goal. The more typical resolutions are demands we make of ourselves that imagine that external discipline is a virtue that will force us to do things, but it’s been shown that this is a temporary fix, and sometimes a long-term discouragement. Teaching ourselves or others via threats, punishments, and fear of failure is like cramming for a test: temporary achievement and long-term loss.

Our goal, then, is to learn things through internal discipline — removing obstacles, easing our path, engaging curiosity, and simply wanting the results (see the earlier article about Learning Styles).

This is done by loosening the grip our intellect has over us, and finding ways to absorb our lessons in as many ways and in as fun ways as possible (not the fake-smiling kind of fun, but the thoroughly engaging kind).

I say all this because these ideas about reading music fluently, starting with open strings, then progressing to all space notes, may seem easy and obvious to the intellect. Some adults might feel they already know this stuff and know what they need to do to read music better, but just don’t feel like trying that hard — as if anyone who can’t do something well has any idea of how “hard” it might be to learn if they do it right!

My suggestion to any who do not find reading music easy on the violin is to start with the open strings game (remember, it’s also about sound and timing, so it has multiple benefits), and after a few days or even a week, move on to the space notes for a few days or a week.

Then try the line notes, which we’ll discuss today. If you have become comfortable with the space notes game (try to avoid cutting to the chase if your mind believes this to be intellectually easy), you will in fact find the line notes easy, which is exactly how it should be.

We will transfer the sense of how seeing a line of music with only three choices of space notes (which are three notes of a chord as well) can translate directly into reading line notes.

On the violin, all line notes are played with odd-numbered fingers. The easiest and most useful way to approach them is to limit our efforts to only three choices at a time: bottom, middle, and top. If you’re starting on the D string, the bottom is 1st finger on the D, and the top is 1st finger on the A, since two line notes that skip a line between them (just like two space notes that skip a space between them) are a fifth — the higher note is the fifth note above the first note if you count the first note as number 1. Since violins are tuned in fifths, this means that the bottom and top notes of this pattern are directly across the string from each other — in this example, they’re both 1st finger notes.

If we’re working with the D & A strings, the middle note of this 3-note chord pattern is a 3d finger note. And that’s all there is to it (intellectually).

Our focus is getting the right finger to instantly play the right note. Don’t worry about intonation; that is a different job entirely. One of the obstacles our minds often throw in front of us is the demand that we do everything right all the time, instead of focusing on improving the thing we’re actually trying to do — in this case, seeing a note on paper and instantly playing the correct finger or open string, without verbalizing or finding fault with ourselves for missing something irrelevant to the task.

The examples given above are not a game or exercise; they’re just presented to give a visual reference for line notes. The real game is to mix up the patterns for these notes. Give your muscle memory a chance to practice and absorb this lesson. Again, as I mentioned in the last two articles, you can write your own exercise/game, or you might want to use mine, which I’ll provide at the bottom of this article.

The trick in moving from the space notes to the line notes is to make it as simple as possible, and to continue focusing on making a good sound right through the bow changes, perfect timing so you know exactly when the next note is going to happen and never rush it (which happens most often when people care more about getting the notes done than playing in time), and trying to see all four notes in a measure rather than tunnel-vision on one at a time. You always want to improve your ability to see patterns and relationships. This is how professional musicians are able to sightread.

On my sheet below, I limit each exercise/game to one line of music with only three choices of line notes — 1,3,1 on G & D (an A chord, by the way), the same on D & A (an E chord), and on A & E (a B chord), and then, because there’s no string above the E, the fourth line uses 3 on D and 1 and 3 on the E for its choice of three line notes (this happens to be a D chord). When I mention the name of the chord, I’m not concerned with whether it’s major or minor at this point — that has to do with whether the middle note is played high or low, and again, intonation is a separate task.

After getting comfortable with playing any of these four games (and again, don’t jump the gun just because the mind thinks it knows what to do), I provide another line or two that allows people to follow their nose, start with a line note and follow the pattern across all the strings. All you have to see is whether you’ll be moving to the same note or a higher or lower note. It’s helpful for some to reiterate that to play lower than 1st finger on one string, you have to use the 3d finger on the next lower string.

Reading all this may seem wordy or pedantic or simplistic to some folks, but really, it’s exactly what many learners need, in order to really clarify and absorb the feel of what’s going on, to get it all into the muscle memory and be able to read fluently.

Below is my sheet for practicing the line notes. Your mind can guess what comes next, but you know what? Take it slow and let it sink in!

The reading exercise/game below is offered to paid subscribers or those using a free trial.