| How to Make Eggnog Posted: 12 Dec 2016 04:00 PM PST Nothing says "holiday spirit" like a glass of eggnog! It tastes like Christmas, and when you combine just a few simple ingredients, you have a treat the whole family can enjoy. Learn how to make easy eggnog for your family, a traditional batch large enough for a party, or a glass of iced eggnog to enjoy on your own. EditIngredients EditSimple Eggnog Makes 8 servings - 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup (240 ml) milk
- 1 cup (240 ml) cream
- ½ cups (120 ml) white sugar
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) cinnamon
- ¾ cup (180 ml) rum or brandy
EditTraditional Eggnog Makes 24 servings - 12 large eggs
- 4½ cups (1 L) milk
- 1½ pints (710 ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1½ cups (360 ml) sugar
- Ground nutmeg, to taste
- 3 cups (710 ml) bourbon, brandy, or dark rum
EditLight Iced Eggnog Makes 2 servings - 1 to 2 cups (240 to 480 ml) ice cubes
- 2 small eggs
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) cinnamon
- ¼ cup (60 ml) agave nectar
- 1½ cups (360 ml) almond milk
- 3 fl oz (90 ml) cognac
- 3 fl oz (90 ml) rum
- 2 fl oz (60 ml) cream sherry
EditMaking Simple Eggnog - Create the milk mixture. In a large saucepan, combine the milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Cook on medium low heat until the mixture comes to a low boil, stirring occasionally.
- Failing to stir the milk mixture as it boils can cause it to burn and stick to the bottom of the pan, which may ruin the taste of your eggnog.
- Make the egg mixture. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and the sugar, and beat or whisk until fluffy.
- If using an electric beater, beat the egg mixture on low speed for one or two minutes.
- Add the milk mixture slowly to the egg mixture and cook. Whisk the milk mixture into the room temperature egg mixture until the ingredients are well incorporated. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan. Cook it over medium heat until it becomes thick, which takes about three to five minutes.
- Eggs must be tempered, which means it's important to add the milk mixture gradually to the room temperature egg mixture. Combining them too quickly or adding the eggs directly to the hot saucepan can cause the eggs to curdle and ruin the eggnog.
- Remove the eggnog from the burner. Let it cool at room temperature for about an hour or two, or until the mixture itself reaches room temperature
- Add the remaining the ingredients. Stir in the cream and rum or brandy. Mix the eggnog well.
- Feel free to skip the rum/brandy for a non-alcoholic version.
- Cover the eggnog tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it overnight to let the flavors combine, and serve with a dash of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick garnish.
- The eggnog is best if enjoyed within several days. Refrigerate unused portions and toss it after a week or if the eggnog develops a foul odor.
EditMaking Traditional Eggnog - Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Crack each egg in half over a bowl and gently transfer the yolk from shell to shell, letting the white drop into the bowl. Transfer the remaining yolks to a separate medium mixing bowl.
- It's a good idea to separate the whites from one egg into a small bowl and, if the separation is a success (no yolk gets in), pour the whites from that egg into the large bowl. Repeat this process for each egg to minimize the risk of adding unseparated yolks or shell fragments to the main mixing bowl.
- If you get yolk in the whites, save that egg for breakfast: whites will not whip when contaminated with egg yolk.
- Beat the egg whites and sugar. Using an electric beater set on medium speed, beat the egg whites until they turn white and frothy. Add half the sugar and beat just until soft peaks begin to form.
- You can technically use a whisk instead of an electric beater, but the process will take more time and energy.
- "Soft peaks" should just begin to hold their form when you remove the mixer, but they'll melt back into the whites after a second or two.[1]
- Mix the egg yolks with sugar. Mix the remaining half of the sugar into the egg yolks in a separate bowl. Beat the mixture with a whisk until it is well blended.
- Combine the egg mixtures. Gently fold the egg yolks into the beaten egg whites using a spatula, pouring slowly. The goal is to keep the fluffiness of the whites, which means you can stir too quickly or press too hard.
- Add the rum, milk and cream. Slowly pour the rum into the egg mixture, gently folding it in with your spatula. If you're serving the eggnog to children, you can leave out the alcohol. Next, add the milk and cream slowly to the bowl, gently stirring them in.
- Start with 4 cups (1 L) of milk, then add more later to adjust the consistency. If you're adding alcohol, you may not need any more milk.
- Some cooks recommend heating the milk and cream before adding to the egg mixture to help thicken and slightly cook the eggs. If you're worried about eating raw eggs, follow this step.
- Taste the eggnog and decide whether to add more alcohol.
- For thicker eggnog, reduce the amount of milk by half.
- Whip the eggnog. Beat the reserved half of the cream in another medium bowl until nearly stiff, then gently fold the whipped cream into the mixture. Transfer the finished eggnog to a large punch bowl for serving.
- Stiff peaks should be firm and should not collapse into themselves when you pull away the mixer.[2]
- Serve in clear glasses and top with whipped cream. Grate or sprinkle some nutmeg on top for a pretty touch.
- You can safely save leftovers in a sealed dish in the refrigerator for a few days or up to one week.
EditMaking Light Iced Eggnog - Blend the milk and ice. Fill the blender half full with ice cubes. Pour in the almond milk. Blend the milk with the ice until it becomes smooth and frothy.[3]
- Almond milk makes this version of eggnog appropriate for lactose intolerant guests.
- If desired, you could swap the almond milk for soy milk, dairy milk, or other nut milks for a slight twist.
- Mix the eggs, agave nectar and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and the agave nectar with a whisk, making sure they are well incorporated. Stir in the cinnamon.
- Since you won't be able to heat this recipe, it's crucial to use pasteurized eggs to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
- Blend the remaining ingredients. Pour the egg mixture, the cognac, the rum, and the cream sherry into the blender. Puree the ingredients until they reach a smooth consistency.
- Skip the alcohol if serving this to minors or if you prefer non-alcoholic eggnog.
- Serve the eggnog. Pour the eggnog into a glass and serve with a straw. This iced eggnog makes a delicious Christmastime treat when you're in the mood for something light and fresh.
- It's best to enjoy this eggnog shortly after making it since the eggs are still raw, but you will likely be able to store it in a sealed container in your refrigerator for a few days if there are leftovers. Discard the eggnog if it takes on a strange odor or texture, however.
- If you want to make non-alcoholic eggnog, simply skip the rum and the bourbon. Then folks who want to spike their nog can add liquor to their cup as they like.
- If you're having a family get-together, double the ingredients and make one alcoholic batch and one regular batch.
- Be gentle during the entire mixing process. Don't over-beat the eggs or the cream; the whipped cream will begin to taste like butter when whipped too long.
- Add milk to change the consistency of the eggnog if it is too thick.
- After a while, the mixture starts to separate to make a heavy fluid with a fluffy head, so when serving it, make sure you get a representative sample of each.
- If you add alcohol to the eggnog, be careful. If someone drinks too much, make sure that the person stays in for the night. Be vary of an hangover.
- While eggnog is a holiday tradition, increased awareness that consuming raw eggs has the potential to cause foodborne illness has led to some advocating cooking your nog. If you want to enjoy raw eggnog without the worry, you may buy pasteurized shell eggs from many grocery stores. Raw, non-alcoholic eggnog made with Davidson's Safest Choice™ Eggs is safe for your entire family including children, pregnant women, and older adults. Davidson's Safest Choice® Eggs are pasteurized in an all-natural warm water bath to eliminate the risk of Salmonella. [4] The traditional explanation concerning the safety of eggnog is that the liquor is strong enough to kill whatever problems the eggs introduce. Food poisoning studies show that the risk is reduced with strong liquor. However, the FDA does not advise counting on alcohol to kill all the bacteria. [5]
EditThings You'll Need EditMaking Simple Eggnog - Large saucepan
- Mixing spoon
- Large mixing bowl
- Whisk or electric beater
- Plastic wrap
EditMaking Traditional Eggnog - 2 medium mixing bowls
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric beater
- Whisk
- Flat spatula
- Plastic wrap
EditMaking Light Iced Eggnog - Blender
- Whisk
- Medium mixing bowl
- Sealed container
EditRelated wikiHows EditSources and Citations
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| How to Read Music Posted: 12 Dec 2016 08:00 AM PST Music is written on a "staff:" five horizontal lines and the spaces between them. If there is a treble clef symbol, the lines represent the notes E G B D F from the bottom up. In bass clef, the lines are G B D F A instead. Each note symbol's shape and color tells you how long to play the note. Vertical measure lines divide the music by number of beats, helping you keep the rhythm. Practice the timing and rhythm with quarter notes (1–2–3–4), then with eighth notes and combinations of notes. Once you're ready, learn the scales and key signatures to complete your basic training. EditThe Basics - Get a handle on the staff. Before you are ready to start learning music, you must get a sense for the basic information that virtually everyone who reads music needs to know. The horizontal lines on a piece of music make up the staff. This is the most basic of all musical symbols and the foundation for everything that is to follow.
- The staff is an arrangement of five parallel lines, and the spaces between them. Both lines and spaces are numbered for reference purposes, and are always counted from lowest (bottom of the staff) to highest (top of the staff).
- Start with the Treble Clef. One of the first things you'll encounter when reading music is the clef. This sign, which looks like a big, fancy cursive symbol at the left end of the staff, is the legend that tells you approximately what range your instrument will play in. All instruments and voices in the higher ranges use the treble clef, and for this intro to reading music, we'll focus primarily on this clef for our examples.
- The Treble Clef, or G Clef, is derived from an ornamental Latin letter G. One good way to remember this is that the line at the center of the clef's "swirl" represents the note G. When notes are added to the staff in the treble clef, they will have the following values:
- The five lines, from the bottom up, represent the following notes: E G B D F.
- The four spaces, from the bottom up, represent these notes: F A C E.
- This may seem like a lot to remember, but you can use mnemonics—or word cues—that may help you remember them. For the lines, "Every Good Boy Does Fine" is one popular mnemonic, and the spaces spell out the word "FACE." Practicing with an online note recognition tool is another great way to reinforce these associations.
- Understand the Bass Clef. The bass clef, also known as the F clef, is used for instruments in the lower registers, including the left hand of the piano, bass guitar, trombone, and so on.
- The name "F clef" derives from its origins as the Gothic letter F. The two dots on the clef lie above and below the "F" line on the staff. The staff of the bass clef represents different notes than that of the treble clef.
- The five lines, bottom to top, represent these notes: G B D F A (Good Boys Don't Fool Around).
- The four spaces, bottom to top, represent these notes: A C E G (All Cows Eat Grass).
- Learn the parts of a note. Individual note symbols are a combination of up to three basic elements: the note head, the stem, and flags.
 - The note head. This is an oval shape that is either open (white) or closed (black). At its most basic, it tells the performer what note to play on their instrument.
- The stem. This is the thin vertical line that is attached to the note head. When the stem is pointing up, it joins on the right side of the note head. When the stem is pointing down, it joins the note head on the left. The direction of the stem has no effect on the note, but it makes notation easier to read and less cluttered.
- The general rule on stem direction is that at or above the center line of the staff, the stem points down, and when the note is below the middle of the staff, the stem points up.
- The flag. This is the curved stroke that is attached to the end of the stem. No matter if the stem is joined to the right or left of the note head, the flag is always drawn to the right of the stem, and never to the left!
- Taken together, the note, stem, and flag or flags show the musician the time value for any given note, as measured in beats or fractions of beats. When you listen to music, and you're tapping your foot in time to the music, you're recognizing that beat.
EditMeter and Time - Learn about measure lines. On a piece of sheet music, you will see thin vertical lines crossing the staff at fairly regular intervals. These lines represent measures — the space before the first line is the first measure, the space between the first and second lines is the second measure, and so on. Measure lines don't affect how the music sounds, but they help the performer keep their place in the music.
- As we'll see below, another handy thing about measures is that each one gets the same number of beats. For example, if you find yourself tapping "1-2-3-4" along to a piece of music on the radio, you've probably subconsciously found the measure lines already.
- Learn about timing, or meter. Meter can be generally thought of as the "pulse" or the beat of music. You feel it instinctively when you listen to dance or pop music — the "boom, tiss, boom, tiss" of a stereotypical dance track is a simple example of meter.
 - On a piece of sheet music, the beat is expressed by something that looks like a fraction written next to the first clef symbol. Like any fraction, there is a numerator, and a denominator. The numerator, written in the top two spaces of the staff, tells you how many beats there are in one measure. The denominator tells you the note value that receives one beat (the "pulse" that you tap your toe to).
- Perhaps the easiest meter to understand is 4/4 time, or "common" time. In 4/4 time, there are four beats in each measure and each quarter note is equal to one beat. This is the time signature you'll hear in most popular music. You can count along to common time music by counting "ONE two three four ONE two three four..." to the beat.
- By changing the numerator, we change the number of beats in a measure. Another very common time signature is 3/4. For example, most waltzes will have a steady "ONE two three ONE two three" beat, making them in 3/4 time.
- Some meters will be shown with a letter C instead of two numbers. 4/4 time is often shown as a big C, which stands for Common time. Likewise, 2/2 meter is often shown as a big C with a vertical line through it. The C with the line through it stands for Cut time.
- Get in the groove. Similar to meter and time, "rhythm" is a crucial part of how the music feels. However, whereas meter simply tells you how many beats, rhythm is how those beats are used.
- Try this: tap your finger on your desk, and count 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4, steadily. Not very interesting, is it? Now try this: on beats 1 and 3, tap louder, and on beats 2 and 4, tap softer. That's got a different feel to it! Now try the reverse: tapping loud on 2 and 4, and soft on beats 1 and 3.
- Check out Regina Spektor's Don't Leave Me. You can clearly hear the rhythm: the quieter bass note happens on beat 1 and beat 3, and a loud clap and snare drum happens on beats 2 and 4. You'll start to get a sense of how music is organized. That's what we call rhythm!
- Imagine yourself walking. Each footstep will equal one beat. Those are represented musically by quarter notes, because in much of Western music (meaning music of the western world, not just the music of Hank Williams!), there are four of these beats for every measure. Musically, the rhythm of your walking will look like this:
- Each step is one quarter note. On a sheet of music, quarter notes are the solid black dots attached to stems without any flags. You can count that off as you walk: "1, 2, 3, 4-1, 2, 3, 4"
- If you were to slow your pace down to half that speed, so that you only took a step every two beats on the 1 and on the 3, that would be notated with half notes (for half a measure). On a sheet of music, half notes look like quarter notes, only they aren't solid black — they are outlined in black with white centers.
- If you slowed your pace down even further, so that you only took a step every four beats, on the 1, you would write that as a whole note—or one note per measure. On a sheet of music, whole notes look like "Os" or donuts — similar to half notes without stems.
- Pick up the pace! Enough of this slowing down. As you noticed, as we slowed the notes down, we started taking away bits of the note. First we took away the solid note, then we took away the stem. Now let's look at speeding things up. To do that, we're going to add things to the note.
- Go back to our walking tempo, and picture that in your mind (tapping your foot to the beat can help). Now imagine that your bus has just pulled up to the stop, and you're about a block away. What do you do? You run! And as you run, you try to flag the bus driver.
- To make notes faster in music, we add a flag. Each flag cuts the time value of the note in half. For example, an eighth note (which gets one flag) is 1/2 the value of a quarter note; and a 16th note (which gets two flags) is 1/2 the value of an eighth note. In terms of walking, we go from a walk (quarter note) to a run (8th note)—twice as fast as a walk, to a sprint (16th note)—twice as fast as a run. Thinking in terms of each quarter note being a step as you walk, tap along with the example above.
- Beam me up! As you can see with that above example, things can start to get a little confusing when there are a bunch of notes on the page like that. Your eyes start to cross, and you lose track of where you were. To group notes into smaller packages that make sense visually, we use beaming.
- Beaming merely replaces individual note flags with thick lines drawn between note stems. These are grouped logically, and while more complex music requires more complex beaming rules, for our purposes, we'll generally beam in groups of quarter notes. Compare the example below with the example above. Try tapping out the rhythm again, and see how much clearer beaming makes the notation.
- Learn the value of ties and dots. Where a flag will cut the value of a note in half, the dot has a similar—but opposite—function. With limited exceptions that do not come into play here, the dot is always placed to the right of the note head. When you see a dotted note, that note is increased by one half the length of its original value.
- For example, a dot placed after a half note will be equal to the half note plus a quarter note. A dot placed after a quarter note will be equal to a quarter note plus an eighth note.
- Ties are similar to dots—they extend the value of the original note. A tie is simply two notes linked together with a curved line between the note heads. Unlike dots, which are abstract and based wholly on the value of the original note, ties are explicit: the note is increased in length by exactly as long as the second note value.
- One reason you would use a tie versus a dot is, for example, when a note's duration would not fit musically into the space of a measure. In that case, you simply add the leftover duration into the next measure as a note, and tie the two together.
- Note that the tie is drawn from note head to note head, generally in the opposite direction as the stem.
- Take a rest. Some say music is just a series of notes, and they're half correct. Music is series of notes and the spaces between them. Those spaces are called rests, and even in silence, they can really add motion and life to music. Let's take a look at how they're notated.
- Like notes, they have specific symbols for specific durations. A whole note rest is a rectangle descending from the 4th line, and a half note rest is a rectangle resting on the 3rd line. The quarter note rest is a squiggly line, and the rest of the rests are an angled bar with the same number of flags as their equivalent note value. These flags always sweep to the left.
- We now have the basics down: the staff, the parts of a note, and the basics of notating durations of notes and rests. Make sure you understand the above, and then let's dive into the fun stuff: reading music!
- Learn the C scale. The C Major scale is the first scale we use when teaching how to read music because it's the one that uses just the white keys. Once you have that locked into your brain cells, the rest will follow naturally.
- First, we'll show you what it looks like, then we'll show you how to make sense of it, and begin to read music! Here's what it looks like on the staff. See the "C scale" above.
- If you'll take a look at the first note, the low C, you'll see that it actually goes below the staff lines. When that happens, we simply add a staff line for that note only—thus, the little line through the note head. The lower the note, the more staff lines we add. But we don't need to worry about that now.
- The C scale is made up of eight notes. These are the equivalent of the white keys on the piano.
- You may or may not have a piano handy, but at this point it's important for you to begin to get an idea of not just what music looks like, but of what it sounds like, too.
- Learn a little sight singing—or "solfège." That may sound intimidating, but chances are, you already know it: it's the fancy way of saying "do, re, mi."
 - By learning to sing the notes that you see, you'll begin to develop the skill of sight reading—a skill that can take a lifetime to perfect, but will be useful right from the beginning. Let's take a look at that C scale again, with the solfege scale added. See the "C Scale Solfege 11" above.
- Chances are, you know the Rogers and Hammerstein song "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music. If you can sing the "do re mi" scale, do that now while you look at the notes. If you need a refresher course, you can hear the song on YouTube.
- Here's a slightly more advanced version, walking up and down the C scale using the solfège notes. See the "C Scale Solfege 1" above.
- Practice singing Solfege—part II a few times, until it becomes familiar. The first couple times, read very slowly, so that you can look at each note as you sing it. The next couple times, substitute the "do re me" for C, D, E. The goal is to sing the actual notes.
- Remember our note values from before: the high C at the end of the first line, and the low C at the end of the second line are half notes, while the rest of the notes are quarter notes. If you imagine yourself walking, again, there is a note for each step. The half notes take two steps.
- Congratulations, you're now reading music!
EditSharps, Flats, Naturals, and Keys - Take the next step. So far we've covered the very basics of rhythm and melody, and you should possess the basic skills necessary that you now understand what all those dots and squiggles represent. While this might get you through basic Flutophone class, there are still a few more things you'll want to know. Chief among these are key signatures.
- You may have seen sharps and flats in music: a sharp looks like a hash tag (♯) and a flat looks like a lowercase B (♭). They are placed to the left of a note head, and indicate that the note to follow is played a half-step higher (for a sharp), or a half-step lower (for a flat). The C scale, as we learned, comprises the white keys on the piano. The sharps and flats are the black keys. Since the C major has no sharps or flats, it's written like this:
- Whole tones and semitones. In western music, notes are either a whole tone or a semitone apart. If you look at the C note on the piano keyboard, you'll see there's a black key between it and the next note up, the D. The musical distance between the C and the D is called a whole tone. The distance between the C and the black key is called a semitone. Now, you may be wondering what that black key is called. The answer is, "it depends."
- A good rule of thumb is if you are going up the scale, that note is the sharp version of the beginning note. When moving down the scale, that note would be the flat version of the beginning note. Thus, if you are moving from C to D with the black key, it would be written using a sharp (♯).
- In this case, the black note is written as C#. When moving down the scale, from D to C and using the black note as a passing tone between them, the black key would be written using a flat (♭).
- Conventions like that makes music a little easier to read. If you were to write those three notes going up, and used a D♭ instead of a C#, the notation would be written using a natural sign (♮).
- Notice that there's a new sign—the natural. Whenever you see a natural sign (♮) that means that the note cancels any sharps or flats previously written. In this example, the second and third notes are both D's: the first a D♭, and so the second D, since it goes up a semitone from the first D, has to have the note "corrected" to show the right note. The more sharps and flats scattered around a sheet of music, the more a musician must take in before the score can be played.
- Often, composers that previously used accidentals in previous measures may put "unnecessary" natural signs to provide clarity for the player. For example, if a previous measure in a D major piece used an A#, the next measure that uses an A may be notated with an A-natural instead.
- Understanding key signatures. So far, we've been looking at the C major scale: eight notes, all the white keys, starting on C. However, you can start a scale on any note. If you just play all the white keys, though, you will not be playing a major scale, but something called a "modal scale," which is beyond the scope of this article.
- The starting note, or tonic, is also the name of the key. You may have heard somebody say "It's in the key of C" or something similar. This example means that the basic scale starts on C, and includes the notes C D E F G A B C. The notes in a major scale have a very specific relationship to each other. Take a look at the keyboard above.
- Note that between most notes, there is a whole step. But there is only a half step (semitone) between E and F, and between B and C. Every major scale has this same relationship: whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. If you start your scale on G, for example, it could be written like this:
- Notice the F# near the top. In order to maintain the proper relationship, the F has to be raised a semitone so that it's a half step from the G, not a whole step. That's easy enough to read by itself, but what if you started a major scale in C#? (See above.)
- Now it starts to get complicated! In order to cut down the confusion and make music easier to read, key signatures were created. Each major scale has a particular set of sharps or flats, and those are shown at the very beginning of the music. Looking again at the key of G, we notice that has one sharp—F#. Instead of putting that sharp next to the F on the staff, we move it all the way to the left, and it is just assumed from that point on that every F you see is played as an F#. (See above picture.)
- This sounds, and is played, exactly the same as the G major scale above, with no key signature. See the Key Signatures section below for a full list of all key signatures.
EditDynamics and Expression - Get loud—or get soft! When you listen to music, you have probably noticed that it's not all at the same volume, all the time. Some parts get really loud, and some parts get really soft. These variations are known as "dynamics."
- If the rhythm and meter are the heart of the music, and notes and keys are the brains, then dynamics are surely the voice of the music. Consider the first version above.
- On your table, tap out: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8, etc. (the and is how musicians "say" eighth notes). Make sure every beat is tapped at the same loudness, so that it so it sounds sort of like a helicopter. Now take a look at the second version.
- Notice the accent mark (>) above every 4th C note. Tap that out, only this time, accent every beat that you see the accent mark. Now, instead of a helicopter, it should sound more like a train. With just a subtle shift in accent, we completely change the character of the music!
- Play it piano, or fortissimo, or somewhere in between. Just like you don't always talk at the same level—you modulate your voice louder or softer, depending on the situation—music modulates in level too. The way the composer tells the musician what is intended is by using dynamic markings.
- There are dozens of dynamic markings you may see on a piece of music, but some of the most common ones you'll find will be the letters f, m, and p.
- p means "piano," or "softly."
- f means "forte," or "loud."
- m means "mezzo," or "medium." This modifies the dynamic after it, as in mf or mp, which means "medium loud," or "medium soft."
- The more ps or fs you have, the softer or louder the music is to be played. Try singing the example above (using solfège—the first note in this example is the tonic, or "do"), and use the dynamic markings to notice the difference.
- Get louder and louder and louder, or quieter and quieter and quieter. Another very common dynamic notation is the crescendo, and it's corollary, the decrescendo. They are a visual representations of a gradual change in volume which look like stretched-out "<" and ">" symbols.
- A crescendo gradually gets louder, and a decrescendo gradually decreases the volume. You'll notice that, with these two symbols, the "open" end of the symbol represents the louder dynamic and the closed end represents the quieter dynamic. For example, if the music directs you to gradually go from forte to piano, you'll see an f', then a stretched out ">", then a 'p'.
EditAdvancing - Keep learning! Learning to read music is like learning the alphabet. The basics take a little bit to learn, but are fairly easy, overall. However, there are so many nuances, concepts, and skills that you can learn that it can keep you learning for a lifetime. Some composers even go so far as to write music on staff lines that form spirals or patterns, or the even use no staff lines at all! This article should give you a good foundation to keep growing!
EditTable of Key Signatures - Learn these key signatures. There is at least one for every note in the scale—and the savvy student will see that in some cases, there are two keys for the same note. For example, the key of G# sounds exactly the same as the key of A♭! When playing the piano—and for the purposes of this article, the difference is academic. However, there are some composers—especially those that write for strings—who will suggest that the A♭ is played a little "flatter" than the G#. Here are the key signatures for the major scales:
- Keys not using sharps or flats: C
- Keys using sharps: G, D, A, E, B, F♯, C♯
- Keys using flats: F, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭
- As you can see above, as you move through the sharp key signatures, you add sharps one at a time until every note is played sharp in the key of C♯. As you move through the flat key signatures, you add flats until every note is played flat in the key of C♭.
- It may be of some comfort to know that composers usually write in key signatures that are comfortable for the player to read. D major is a very common key for string instruments to play because the open strings are closely related to the tonic, D. There are few works out there that have strings play in E♭ minor, or brass playing E major - it's as much a pain for them to write as it is for you to read.
- Work on the sight singing. You don't need to have a good voice, but it will help you train your ears to "hear" what's on the paper.
- If you have a sheet of music, but can't remember all the notes, start small by writing down the note letter under each note. Don't do it too often, because you want to remember the notes as time goes on.
- Be patient. Like learning any new language, learning to read music takes time. Like learning anything else, the more you practice at it, the easier it will be, and the better you'll become at it.
- Get sheet music to songs you like. A visit to your local library or music store will uncover hundreds—if not thousands—of "lead sheets" with the basic notation and chords for your favorite songs. Read the music while you listen, and you'll get a more intuitive understanding of what you're looking at.
- Try to have fun with your music because if it's just not your thing then it's hard to learn how to play.
- Try these mnemonics: For the right hand Every Good Boy Does Fine for the lines and FACE spells out the spaces. For the left hand Great Big Dreams For America for lines and All Cows Eat Grass for the spaces.
- IMSLP hosts a large archive for music performances and scores in the public domain. To improve reading music, it is suggested that you browse for composers' works and reading the music along with listening to it.
- It is very good to know both Western notes, and sheet music. Knowing Western notes eventually help you in the long run, and it's much easier to remember than notes.
- Repetition and consistently practicing is key. Create flashcards or use a note-reading workbook to ensure you build a solid note-reading foundation.
- Practice somewhere quiet or when it's quiet. It's best to try piano first because piano's easy if you practice. If you don't have a piano try using those virtual pianos online. Once you get it, you can start learning how to play other instruments! I hope this helps.
- The names of the three most common notes are crotchet, 1 beat, quaver, half a beat and minim, 2 beats.
- Practice this with your main instrument. If you play piano, it's likely you've been exposed to reading music. Many guitar players, however, learn by listening rather than by reading. When you're learning to read music, forget what you already know—learn to read first, then jam later!
- Which slides on trombone plays the sharp and flat notes.
- Learning to read music could last a lifetime. Pace yourself!
EditRelated wikiHows EditSources and Citations - Music Notation by Gardner Read
- "Harmony by Walter Piston
- Harper Dictionary of Music by Christine Ammer
- Jazz Harmony by Andy Jaffe
- Berklee College of Music
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| How to Stop Talking to Yourself Posted: 12 Dec 2016 12:00 AM PST Have you ever found yourself talking to yourself? Although conversing with yourself can actually be a sign of good health, you may also find that it disrupts your life and the lives of others at certain times.[1] There are a number of ways to learn to stop talking to yourself and to think about why you do it in the first place. EditAssessing Your Self-Talk - Figure out whether the self-talk is your own self or a different voice. If you are hearing an audible voice that is not your own, consult a mental health professional as this may be a sign of a more serious psychological issue.[2]
 - One way to determine whether the voice is yours is to determine whether you are responsible for it. If you are not responsible for the voice (e.g., are you thinking, making, and saying the words consciously?) and if you have no clue what this voice will say next, this could be a sign of a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, depression or psychosis.[3]
- Other symptoms of a mental disorder include hearing more than one voice; experiencing non-verbal thoughts, visions, tastes, scents and touches that you didn't call into existence; experiencing the voices as a waking dream that feels real; experiencing voices that are present all day and that negatively impact your daily functioning (e.g., you become isolated and withdrawn or the voices threaten you if you don't do what they say).[4]
- If you are experiencing any of these symptoms during your periods of self-talk, it's important that you consult a mental health professional in order to rule out a psychiatric disorder that could be adversely affecting your life and health.
- Examine the content of your self-talk. What kinds of things are you talking to yourself about? Are you narrating the day? Are you planning what you need to do next? Are you talking about something that happened recently? Are you reciting lines from a movie?[5]
- Self-talk is not necessarily a bad thing. Articulating your thoughts can help you organize them. It can also help you think through things more carefully, particularly when making a tough decision, like where to go to college or whether or not do buy this gift or that gift for someone.[6]
- Assess whether your self-talk is generally positive or negative. Positive self-talk can actually be good for you in situations where you want to feel highly motivated, such as a job interview or intense work out. Telling yourself "You've got this, you can do it!" can make you feel good and give you a positive boost of self-confidence before you do something important. You can be your own cheerleader! In this way, some occasional self-talk can be healthy.[7]
- However, if your self-talk is mainly negative, where you typically rebuke and criticize yourself (e.g., "why are you so stupid?", "you never do anything right", etc.), this may be a sign of an underlying psychological or emotional problem.[8] In addition, if your self-talk is repetitive and focuses on something negative that happened to you, this may be a sign of a tendency to ruminate. For example, if you were recently in a small tiff with a coworker and you spend the next two hours thinking of and talking to yourself about all the things you should have said, this is not healthy. It is ruminating and dwelling on the issue.[9]
- Assess how your self-talk makes you feel. We can all be a little nutty, and that's fine! But in order to keep yourself mentally healthy, you need to make sure that this habit is in fact just a quirky habit and not negatively impacting how you feel about yourself or how you function in your daily life. Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I frequently feel concerned or guilty about how much I talk to myself?
- Does my self-talk make me sad, mad, or anxious?
- Is me talking to myself such a big problem that I try to avoid public situations to prevent embarrassment?
- If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then you should consult a counselor or other mental health professional. A licensed mental health professional can help you reflect on why you talk to yourself and work with you to develop strategies to bring the habit under control.
- Assess how others respond to your self-talk. Consider whether and how others have reacted when they see you talking to yourself. Chances are that most people won't even really notice that you do it. However, if you often notice certain reactions from the people around you, this may be a sign that your self-talk is disruptive to others or that these individuals are concerned about you and your mental and social functioning. Ask yourself these questions:
- Do people give me weird looks while I'm walking around?
- Do people often ask me to quiet down?
- Is the first thing someone hears from me is me talking to myself?
- Have my teachers ever recommended me to the school counselor?
- If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, then you should consult a counselor or other mental health professional. In their reactions, people may be expressing concern for your well-being. However, it's also important to note that you may be disrupting others when you self-talk and that you may need to get this habit under control for the sake of your social relationships.
EditStopping Self-Talk - Acknowledge the behavior. When you find yourself talking out loud, become aware and acknowledge that you are doing so. You could keep track by tallying the number of times a day you catch yourself talking out loud. Becoming aware of behavior is the first step to reducing it.
- Think more. Try to keep the conversation in your head. As soon as you find you are talking to yourself out loud, try moving the conversation inside your head, to your internal world.
- You can even press your teeth down on your lips so you cannot open your mouth. This will help, but keep in mind that it may also look odd to those around you!
- Try chewing gum too keep your mouth occupied and not able to talk.[10]
- If it's too challenging to just start thinking rather than talking, try mouthing the words. This way, the conversation can continue on but won't be audible to others.
- Allow self-talk only in certain situations. Only allow yourself to do it while at home alone or in the car, for example. Be careful with this step, because once you allow yourself to talk out loud, you might start talking to yourself at other times too. Have rules to limit your talking, and if you've followed them for a week, do something to reward yourself, such as watching a movie or allowing yourself a sweet snack. Over time, try to reduce the number of situations in which you allow yourself to talk out loud until you no longer do it at all.
- Write down your self-talk. Buy a journal for those moments when you find you start talking to yourself. In this way, you can have a written, rather than oral, dialogue with yourself. One way to do this is by writing down your thought then providing a response or answer.
 - For example, let's say you went on a date but haven't heard from the guy yet. This is one dialogue that you might be tempted to say out loud to yourself, but that you can also write down: "Why hasn't he called me? Maybe he is busy or maybe he doesn't like you. Why would you think he doesn't like you? Maybe he is just really busy with school or maybe you're just not a good match for each other because you don't have the same interests or priorities. Well, maybe, but I still feel rejected. That's an understandable feeling, but he's not the only guy in the world and, more importantly, there's lots about you that is great; in fact, what makes you feel good about yourself?..."
- This kind of dialogue and journaling exercise can help organize and reflect on your thoughts. It can also be a good mechanism to keep yourself on the path of thinking and conveying positive thoughts about yourself, and correcting those negative ones you may feel.
- Get in the habit of keeping your journal with you at all times, whether in your bag, car or pocket. There are even journaling apps for your smartphone, too! Another benefit to this writing exercise is that you'll have a record of the sort of things you talk about and are concerned with. Patterns may emerge. Creativity may flow. And you'll have something to show for it![11]
- Make conversations with people. One of the most common reasons that people end up talking to themselves is because they feel like they don't have anyone else to talk to.[12] Becoming more social will give you more people to talk to other than yourself. Remember that human beings thrive on social interaction.[13]
 - If you feel anxious about socializing and talking with others, try taking a few small steps to initiate conversations. For example, if you come across someone who seems friendly and receptive to you (by smiling at you, saying "hello" or making eye contact), try reciprocating and smiling or saying "hello" back. After a few positive experiences in this vein, you may feel ready to engage in more than just the basic pleasantries.
- Sometimes it is hard to read social cues and know how much to talk to someone. Trust is another thing that may take time to establish to converse comfortably with someone. If you feel too anxious or nervous about talking to strangers, that's okay. However, it may be a good idea to look into support groups and personal therapy to help overcome this discomfort.
- If you want to meet more people, try taking up a new activity, such as yoga, pottery-making, or dance classes. Making an effort do more activities where other people are present (e.g., a yoga workshop versus running on the treadmill in your own home) will give you more opportunities to have conversations with people who share your interest.
- If you live in a geographically isolated place, using the internet to stay in touch with people can be fulfilling. You can try chatrooms or forums where people discuss topics of interest to you. If you do not have the internet, try communicating the old fashioned way - with letters! Staying connected to others is an important part of being human.
- Keep busy. In many instances, having conversations with yourself starts out with daydreaming or just being bored, so keeping yourself busy could help. Immerse yourself in another activity so that your brain is already occupied doing something else.
 - Try listening to music. When on you are on your own or walking somewhere, give your brain something to focus to avoid the impetus to talk to yourself.[14] Music can be a nice distraction for your mind and may also inspire some new internal thoughts or bursts of creativity as well. Melodious sounds have been proven to encourage the release of dopamine in the reward/pleasure area of the brain, meaning that you will feel good while listening to music.[15] There's an added benefit to even just appearing like you are listening to music. If you are wearing headphones and realize you are talking to yourself, people may think the headphones are for your cellphone and assume you are talking to someone else.
- Read a book. Reading can help you get lost in another world and requires a significant amount of concentration. Having you mind focused on something else will give you less opportunity to talk to yourself.[16]
- Watch TV. Try watching something you're interested in on television or just having the TV on for background noise. This will help create a certain ambiance and a sense that the room is "full" and lively. It is for this reason that people who have trouble sleeping alone often turn on the TV as they fall asleep, just so that they feel like someone else is there even if it's just on the screen! Watching TV also helps focus your attention and keep your brain busy.[17]
- Remember that everyone talks to themselves for most of the day (internally) so you are probably no different than anyone else; you just happen to verbalize!
- It mostly happens when you feel alone, self deficient or missing someone. Stop talking to yourself and make yourself busy to avoid all these thoughts.
- Press the tongue against the roof of your mouth when you feel like talking. People around you won't notice and in my opinion it really helps with keeping the voices inside your head.
- If you find yourself unable to stop talking to yourself obsessively, find that most of your self-talk is negative, or think the voice you hear is not your own, these are all signs of a more serious underlying issue. You should consult a mental health professional as soon as possible for diagnosis and to discuss the proper course of treatment.
EditRelated wikiHows EditSources and Citations
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