Reading the stave/staff and understanding pitch. You can think of music notation as being a little bit like an X/Y graph; from left to right, you are provided with information that dictates rhythm.

The Merits Of Reading Music By Ryan Wasoba. Jan 3, 2013 at 10:31 am ...

If you listened carefully when you read that passage aloud, you can see that your reading had many of the same qualities that music does. There was a melody —that is, your pitch went up and down.

2. Eddie Van Halen. The guitar virtuoso of Van Halen fame couldn’t read music, which is kind of crazy considering all the classical runs and flourishes that turn up regularly in his playing.

We go back to basics and make a pitch for reading music. Here's the first part of a new series. We go back to basics and make a pitch for reading music.