Simple Tips for Learning to Read Sheet Music for Kids (+Where to Find Sheet Music for Free!)

When kids start taking music lessons or even just wishing they could play a musical instrument, one of the first things we (or they if they’re old enough!) do is start looking for sheet music for kids.

The problem is, sheet music can look scary. Even like it’s a different language. But, by using a few tips and tricks you can help your child begin to interpret it!

If you read through to the end, I’ve also given you a list of good places to find free sheet music for kids online!

Choose the right sheet music

My first, and maybe most important, trick to reading sheet music for kids is to choose the right sheet music.

It’s so easy to find the perfect song your child loves, and think they’ll have a great time playing it. But… if they don’t already know their way around their instrument and know how to read music, tread carefully. You might just get them discouraged or frustrated! And that’s not what any of want!

Choose Easier Sheet Music

The answer is to not get overexcited. If your child doesn’t know how to read sheet music that’s just fine – that’s what this article is here to help you with after all!

But, if that’s the case, let’s choose something easy to get started with. Look for music labelled beginner, primer, or for young children (even if your child is older).

If it’s piano sheet music you’re looking for, my Guide to Kids’ Piano Sheet Music will help you choose just the right level of sheet music for your kids.

Easy sheet music isn’t a bad thing. In fact, easier is better when it comes to learning to read sheet music for kids!

Choose Sheet Music for the right Instrument

The second tip to choosing the right sheet music, is to choose music for the instrument your child plays. If your child plays the recorder, you don’t want to give them guitar music, and likewise in reverse. This sounds obvious, but it can be important. Some sheet music can be played by different instruments, but do double check your child’s instrument can plays the music before you give it to them.

 Note values

Once you have the right sheet music for your kids, the next tip is to recognize the note values.

Note values are represented visually. Each note value represents a different length of time to hold the note. For example, a note that receives 2 beats should be held twice as long as a note that gets 1 beat.

The most common note values in sheet music for kids are the quarter note, the half note, the dotted half note, and the whole note. Use the image below to learn the note values for each of the most common notes.

Clefs

Let’s get onto actually reading the sheet music now! The first thing to notice is the clefs. The clef is written at the very beginning of the music staff. There are two clefs used most often: the treble clef for higher pitches, and the bass clef for lower pitches.

The piano uses both the treble and the bass clefs. Many other instruments use just one of the clefs. For example, the flute, violin, and recorder use the treble clef only. If their instrument only uses one clef, your kids can learn the tricks to read just those notes for now.

The lines and the spaces

The clefs and the notes are placed on the music staff. The staff consists of 5 lines and 4 spaces. Notes are on a line if the line goes through their middle.

 Note names

The next tip for reading sheet music for kids is to help them recognize the note names quickly.

The simplest way to remember notes’ names is with mnemonics. You may be familiar with some of these, or similar ones if you ever took music classes in school.

In the treble clef the spaces spell face. “FACE in the space” is a good way to remember these notes.

In the lines on the treble clef, remember that “Every, Good, Boy, Deserves, Fudge”. Some kids might find the mnemonics easier to remember if they create their own saying instead.

In the bass clef, the spaces are “All, Cow, Eat Granola, Bars”. The lines in the bass clef are “Good, Boys, Deserve Fudge Always”.

These tricks give kids an easy way to remember the note names before they’re able to recognize them by memory. And even once you have a confident reader, every once in a while we all draw a blank, and need a trick to help our brains remember!

If your child plays the piano or would like to read music on the grand staff (both the treble and bass clefs), check out the printable activity cards for young children in How to Read Music for Beginners.

Should you write the note names into sheet music for kids?

This is a common question when kids are just getting started reading sheet music. It seems like writing in the note names would be a great trick to help them learn faster. And, as much as the teacher part of me cringes to say, it might be a useful trick. BUT, that depends a lot on the goal.

Writing each note in will make the sheet music easier in the short term, but prevents your child from learning to read music on their own as quickly in long term. So, if your child wants to play one piece of sheet music quickly, you might write the notes in. But if they would like to learn how to play any sheet music they like in the future, it’s best to limit writing in notes to (at most) the first note in the piece, or perhaps an especially tricky one once in a while.

 Patterns

This tip will make reading music even faster! This might seem contrary to the last tip, but encourage your kids not to identify each note as they play.

Looking for patterns in the music will speed up playing. Much like we don’t read individual letters in a sentence once we get going, but words and common patterns. Music is the same.

It’s important to be able to recognize the note names to get started and unstuck here and there. But, to become confident at reading sheet music for kids, they will have to look for patterns. It will make playing the music much easier!

The first patterns to notice are whether the notes move higher or lower on the music staff.

Many notes move by step, or to the very closest note up or down on the music staff.

Steps move from a line to the very next space, or a space to the very next line. Steps ‘step’ to the very next note. For example, from the note B, to the note C would be a step up. From the note C to the note B would be a step down. On the piano a step is the very closest key (white key to white key) up or down.

Some notes move by a skip instead. Notes moving by skip will move from a line to the very closest line (skipping the space in between). Or from a space to the very closest space (skipping the line in between).

For example, a skip up would go from A to C (skipping over the note B). A skip down would go from C to A.

 As kids read more music, they will begin to easily recognize that notes are moving up or down, and by step, skip, or a larger interval (distance). As this happens, they won’t need to stop and work through a mnemonic to identify each and every note.

Look for similarities

The easiest tip to simplify reading sheet music for kids, is to look for repeated or similar parts of the music.

Most sheet music will have parts that are the same as each other. This happens even more if they’re playing music that has words and a chorus. The words change, but usually, the music stays the same and is just written out again on the page.

Without noticing this, the length of sheet music might make it seem much scarier or more difficult than it really is. Without noticing these parts beforehand, kids might struggle through the music that they could otherwise readily play.

Recognizing that you’ve already learned how to play the last two lines just because you played the first two, is a big confidence booster for kids.

 Practice

Possibly the most effective tip to reading sheet music for kids is to practice! Like anything else, the more they do it, the easier it will become.

The best way to practice reading sheet music for kids isn’t to choose a challenging piece and spend hours and weeks practicing that piece. The best way to improve at reading sheet music is to play lots of sheet music that is easy for them.

Lots of experience reading the music will help kids start to recognize common notes and patterns in the music faster, than only playing one piece of sheet music that is much more challenging.

Summary of the steps to read sheet music for kids:

• Choose sheet music that is appropriate for your child’s level and instrument.
• Recognize clefs, note values, and note names.
• Look for similar sections in the music.
• Recognize the first note
• Look for patterns before you start playing. For example, does the sheet music start with step. Does it start with notes moving up or down?
• Read by patterns rather than note names once you get going
• Choose a short section to learn at one time. Some sheet music, especially pop, is really long. Learning a very long piece of music all at once can be very unmotivating and inefficient.
• Practice – read lots of sheet music.

Where to find sheet music for free:

Sheet music for kids is widely available for free online. Check out some of the sites below, which all have big libraries of free sheet music for kids organized by level. Many of these sites have sheet music for multiple different instruments, so be sure to browse around if you’re looking for something specific.

• G Major Music Theory
• Piano Song Download (piano)
• Violin Sheet Music (violin)
• Music for Music Teachers
• Making Music Fun
• Capotasto Music (recorder and much more)

One caveat to free sheet music for kids is that it’s not available for Pop music or current hits. This is because these songs are still under copyright, and it is illegal to post them for free. So while there is lots and lots of free sheet music out there for your kids, if they desperately want to learn the latest Disney hit or a pop song, you might have to pay a couple of dollars.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using the link. See the full disclosure for more information.

The best resources for this kind of sheet music for kids are:

• Sheet Music Plus (sheet music & music books)
• Download Sheet Music at Musicnotes.com
• Check out my Guide to Kids Piano Sheet Music for more tips if your child is playing the piano!

What sheet music is your child playing?

I hope these tips for reading sheet music for kids have helped! I’d love to hear what music your kids are playing. Are they just getting started with an instrument, or have they been playing for a while?

If you need any more tips or have questions, feel free to ask. I’d be happy to help!