Improve Your Musical Handwriting 

can't believe I just got Rick rolled watching a music notation video wow next level

I've never been Rick Rolled in such a romantic, classical way

"this was so bad" newspaper clipping in the same folder: *sixth grader writes graduation song* but seriously, so helpful! thank you for this!

The bravest thing I've ever seen is someone writing a first draft of music using a pen rather than a pencil.

Drawing the note heads definitely speed up time. Then again, I once had a Berklee assignment where I sent in a sketch, and forgot to draw the note stems after. So yeah make sure to check your note stems first kids

2018, still getting rick-rolled

Allways pencil is better than any software... Thanks for your nice videos. Greetings from Spain!

this applies so much to me - i don't know what i've even been doing when i look at notes ive written out - it really does look like a child wrote them- - hanging my head in shame - and happy to have a new system - thanks aimee!

Your life has been fantastic Aimee great box! I have one too, now my kids create their own boxes. Great musical notes, thanks so much!

Thanks! Gotta love the Trapper Keepers and their folders! 😂 Mine in 5th grade had horses on it. 🐎

Thanks Aimee! I've been using software my whole career but there's something calling me back to handwriting and this video was just what I needed! 😊

Making a piece of art with some bass lines written out. Thanks for this, it taught me all I needed!

Realizing that I should have commented on this a while back, this video did WONDERS for my notation. I showed it to some friends in my harmony class a couple days ago who were struggling with their own musical handwriting and it definitely helped them too :)

Thank you very much! I study music at the moment and nobody told me how to write sheet music easy and fast. And also I couldn't find some german information about that subject with fast googling. At the moment I apply your tipps and it is so much easier for me to write sheet music. I don't know, why no teacher ever helped me with this simple and easy tipps. At the university, it's more work at home, so it is okay. But in school, teachers should teach this methods.

this actually helped me quite a lot, it's hard to find this topic covered on other websites, I had to go back and find your video

Have you ever heard of Alpheus Music paper company? It was run by Judy Green, who later opened her own company. In 1981 (I was in college at the time) I participated in the Alpheus Music competition for Music Copyists. I mailed in my entry, and then was later selected as a finalist. I was one of four people who showed up in person to sit down to a timed competition with pen and ink. I took First Place! As a 23-y.o., I was so jazzed. Not long after that my music professor made me his official copyist for all his compositions whenever he needed parts copied. That gig lasted a few years, up until his passing in 2015. Of course, now I use Finale. Your early music manuscript from the 6th grade reminds me of what mine looked like when I was 16.

I did start with chicken scratch method and and built a note head around it. Thank you for this it helps a lot.

Amazing work, I'm just really starting to take notating and transcribing seriously but also practicing my theory on blank sheet music

This came up as a recommendation at the right time, as I've been trying ot get more serious about notating adn reading traditional musical notation. Thank you.

I was dreading having to copy a Hallelujah as was sent to me in a pdf. Now I feel confident that i can do this. Your very first instruction of dividing the measures from half to fourth is a stroke of genius as far as I'm concerned. You have empowered me to be the best college student. Thanks for taking the time to teach college level penmanship.

So much bonus content, love it.

Great lesson! Very useful. However, I can't believe you get to 100k followers and then rick-roll everybody. Thanks a lot. (We built this city... we built this city...) haha

Great video! Congratulations from Brazil!

Awesome video. Thanks a lot!

Thank you, this helps me a lot !! Thanks alot

Thank you! Great video

Aimee you are amazing!

Wonderful - thank you so much!!!

the video editing skillz are coming out here! fun lesson!

Such useful videos. These are tips that bring average people into the world of the pros.

you are awesome in your enthusiasm and delivery, such an important foundation before even considering buying digital apps. Worth practicing old-school techniques first and keep things simple with just piano part without orchestration. You are very cute too.

Recently visited Elgar’s birthplace museum. He wrote all crotchets as just dots like full stops. Quick and no confusion on what line etc. Why bother with filling in circles or dashes that are easy to get on the wrong line.

Dear Aimee: I will never give you up. I will also never let you down. And, I’m not gonna lie, i’m going to share this video with all of my students. TROLL!!!!!

I WAS RICK ROLLED! Nice to have this happen for the first time in a decade...

Great video Aimee. I once was given a guitar piece of handwritten music that was professionally written by a composer. It look just like the format you describe in this video (chicken scratch) and he gave it to me at the early age of 14 yrs. I could not understand why he gave it to me at the time but now I know from watching this video. It was just an example he wanted me to eventually measure up to.

Thanks for your insight on using slash marks to score quickly. I had been puzzled about a movie called, "The Devil's Violinist." Where a music teacher along with his students went to one of Niccolo Paganini's concerts. Each student was given a blank manuscript and pencil to transcribe the performance. I tried it myself - talking about chicken scratch...

this might be the most outrageous rickroll in the world

This was such a good video

That's excellently clean and shipshape, and I like all calligraphy Trivia: Here's how to write Jazz in Chinese: (loanword) 爵士楽　 JUÉSHÌYUÈ Characters: 爵 JUÉ - (used in feudal titles) (for example, count, duke, baron...nobility etc) 士 SHÌ - scholar 楽 YUÈ - music, glad, happy

That hand written music that you have there Aimee is priceless. My mother used to say, "Save that, it will be worth something someday." She was right about a couple of guitars that I got rid of back in '87. Oops. Should have held onto them. They would be worth thousands now!

I love playing music, I love writing by hand, the connection you feel to the ideas you are trying to express, the immediacy of it, just picking up a piece of paper. When you are clicking and typing things don't flow as well, if you are writing down notes in a lecture you often have to think about what you are writing where typing is very mechanical. I have heard people forever talking about the shortcomings of Sibelious and it's clunky control panels and the difficulty in finding certain, sometimes commonly used notations. I am interested in writing my own music and learning to transcribe, as well as improving my fluency when reading music, I think for that, nothing is likely to compare to doing it by hand, in the same way as with writing. I understand that maybe if you want to make copies and be sure that other musicians can read it easily (as if anyone will be playing anything I write) why one might use software but for the actual process of writing it down. My sight reading isn't very fluent, I understand what the symbols mean but I still find it slow, it's only lately that I started really learning to read music, always thought it was beyond me but not only did I want to learn to play the violin, where it is absolutely the best way to learn, but I find, even with the difficulty of it, that I can still learn even guitar pieces faster when I have sheet music (if I can find it) than with tabs, probably because I can parse the information faster and see intervals in chords and melodies quickly, even if I don't consciously process every note. I think writing it, especially by hand will really help develop this skill and my musicality in general!

TY!!

Where were you about two years ago?! This would have been so useful! Instead, I had to have my musical friends laugh at me, for me to realize I need to learn to write more pretty. It was totally kindergarten notation xD

For chords with notes separated by a second, the stem goes between the notes, with the lower note to the left of the stem and the higher note to the right (independent of stem direction).

Excellent video - confirms that my BMus wasn't a total waste - at least I know how to squish and slant my noteheads! haha By the way, you are hilarious with the video clips in this video. Thanks for the giggle!

Fledgling composer here, and I want to get away from relying on notation software, so this was perfect! Thank you for the video. Also, am I the only person who never minds being Rick-rolled?

It's also helpful to give more space following a half rest to visually indicate its value.

This was the best rick-roll I've ever experienced. Not only did I not see it coming, I was so intently paying attention hoping to recognize the song, then BAM it was too late! Well done, had to pause the video to type this.

Great video as always Aimee! Have you ever thought about making a video about finding your own voice on your principle instrument (whatever that may) also with a story on how you found your unique voice on piano? That’d be really interesting. Anyways, keep up the great work!

I had to transcribe an English horn part for a local high school production of Pippin to play on clarinet. You really notice the difference in style between published and handwritten notation when you take those cues into the book. My notation gradually evolved to the correct firm, but I could have used this a month ago, Aimee.

That's great stuff. Now, if you have a video on how to put them on the staff in the right order, the right spacing, and the right values to create hits.......that would be most welcome. :)

It really makes all the difference; strange how much of an impact using slanted ovals has! Good video, and very entertaining! Not writing in the clef is a pet peeve of mine, but I know it's not too uncommon in the world of jazz... it's not as bad as not writing in the time signature, though; I get given a fair bit of music without a time signature, and it always makes me twitch a little.

Thanks so much! This made me so much faster instantly!!! But i’m still unsure how to flag my eighth notes 🎵

"Rick Rolled" love it !

Great video, Aimee, I want confess today, that I don't learn only something about music in your videos. Sometimes I learn also new english words (even though my english is okay, considering that I'm a foreigner). Today I learned the word "to slant". It,s funny, that it can also mean "opinion". Thanks.

Those half notes should have smiley faces! I have a Masters degree in music. I don’t recall anyone showing the oval notes. All my teachers (and I) wrote like you, but it wasn’t specifically taught. It’s just easier to read.

sharpies are good for those circle dots, but then you need a pilot for the bars...my quarter rests also look like lightening bolts haha

Great idea! This chick knows her stuff...😁

Thanks, Amy! It all holds true. I was taught to use a pencil instead of a pen, and considering the hardness of the pencil: to make sure to take a 3B, and not a HB or one more to the H-side. Why? Because 3B is visible on badly lit stage. I believe it makes sense.

For my handwriting quarters I do the first optin, but I do it five lines thick, like going down, up, down, up, down. This way I can see the notes better from a bit further away.

God bless you

I am the person that still writes like a kindergartener. This genuinely helped so much. Thanks!

Enjoyable video!

One of my professors writes a treble cleff that mostly like like a 6 with a line in the middle!

This was weirdly relaxing

well you gotta love Rick but check out the version of Never Going to Give You Up by Swedish jazz virtuoso Gunhilld Carling. .. bagpipe solo included

Did you just seriously rick roll us!! LOLZ ... BEST RICK ROLL EVER!

Drips AND Lightning?!! The ultimate Trapper Keeper!!!

And for something REALLY fast to scribble down, with + and - for sharps and flats 6. 7 8 7 8 7..... 8. 9 10 9 10 9. where a dot means hold the note. Single dot is a rest. As long as everything is a multiple of a half note, and only a single note needed (e.g. vocals), just this simple. Another fast thing is guitar notation, where you just write the bass chord atop.

Any tips for "accuracy"? The big mistake I make a lot is when writing notes on the lines -- in between is easy, but on the lines I often go a little too high so that it's not totally clear if its on the line or in the middle. Also, how to write consistent/professional ledger lines, mine are all over the place. Thanks!!

Teaching myself to read and write music... and my first attempt at writing it down by hand was 10x worse than your third grade attempt. All sorts of backwards notes, backwards clef... etc. LOL!

How do you write whole notes, the same way without a stem?

Best rick roll ever.

Dam I thought I recognized it😪u got me

Thanks,very useful! Is there a general rule for the stem directions?

AIMEE You are just too cool for school! I am just starting to try and write some baby step solos out and i get so frustrated because i am so slow at those dang circles. Chicken Scratch! Flattened note heads! All the note heads first! By George i’ve got it! Errr..by Aimee i’ve got it!

How could I in chicken scratch distinguish the two slashes at the two ends of the eighth note?

Shouldn't half note rests be on the middle line? And the 8th note rest on the space above the middle line?

I was very much looking forward to showing this to my class, but I'm always yelling at them about not using pencil.... that pen is probably all they'll see. Obviously for video it's better contrast and easier for the camera to see, so I get it but it still hurt me.

Do you have a scar on your right thumb Amy? cool video as always!.

There are a few tips for how to learn to write better Decide exactly why you want to learn Decide which method works for you the best. (I read about these and more from Secret Smart Scripter website )

This video busted me twice.

That rickroll hahaahhahaha

5:09 the tied dotted half notes of the nineteenth to twentieth measures seems crying

2022... And I still get rick rolled

❤️

Can you do a video on stems? Which side? Up or down? How long?

Even chicken scratch is so hard for me, cant do it. I need 1-2 seconds for each note, otherwise I place them wrong or they all look different. Any advise? :/

god damn it

Its 2020 and I still sketch my melodies, harmonic structures and overall forms out on manuscript paper with my inner ear or at the piano. Deliberate composition in this manner helps to yield a higher quality output. All the flashy DAWs are overwhelming to me, get in the way, and impede creativity and workflow. As for AI-generated music like AIVA...garbage, so I don’t even bother.

Today I learned the word "penmanship".

It's worse when u are still learning sight reading and realised getting rickrolled slowly. Slow and painful.

give you up

Make sure you don’t put your half rests too high! They go above the middle line!

..my girl...!!

3:11 got ‘em

did you just rick roll me

2:16 how dare you

I had to watch dis like😭😭

😘❤👑🙏