The first step to being a master at reading music is to master your musical alphabet.

Unlike the 26-

letter alphabet we use everyday, the musical alphabet has only seven letters. Once we get to the
letter G, we just start over with A and keep going. We also have to know our musical alphabet for-
wards and backwards. Most people can say their ABC’s quickly from A to Z, but they have trouble
going backwards from Z to A. The reason for this is simply that we say our ABC’s forward a lot more
than we say it backward. To help us fix this with our musical alphabet, we are going to practice be-
coming...MASTERS OF THE ALPHABET!
Set your metronome to 100 to start, but increase the speed by 10 each time you get all the way
through with no mistakes. How fast can you go?!?!?

2. When you reach the top, go back down!

A B C D E F G A
G A B C D E F G
F G A B C D E F
E F G A B C D E
D E F G A B C D
C D E F G A B C
1. Start here
and go up!
B C D E F G A B
A B C D E F G A
3. When you get to the bottom again,
move one column right and continue!
Name: maddox humphries Instrument: saxaphone

PrACtiCE
Fill in the blanks below using the Musical Alphabet. These examples will all go UP the
musical alphabet. Use the guide letters to help you. The first letter is given for you.

A B C D E F G A B C D E F

C D E F G A B C D E F G A

F G A B C D E F G A B C D

Fill in the blanks below using the Musical Alphabet. These examples will all go DOWN
the musical alphabet. Use the guide letters to help you. The first letter is given for you.

G F E D C B A G F E D C B

A G F E D C B A G F E D C

D C B A G F E D C B A G F

Fill in the blanks below using the Musical Alphabet. These examples will all go UP and
DOWN the musical alphabet. The top letter will be the same as the starting letter. Do not
repeat the top letter. Use the guide letters to help you. The first letter is given for you.

A B C D E F G A G F E D C B A

D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D

G A B C D E F G F E D C B A G

B C D E F G A B A G F E D C B

E F G A B C D E D C B A G F E

C D E F G A B C B A G F E D C