As a music coach for decades, Teresa Young's superpower is making note-reading skills development fun. (For real!) Use her cheat sheet along with some music-note flash cards to make a timed game of note recognition, for points. 4 minutes works great.

With a teacher or knowledgeable helper as time-keeper and score-keeper, gradually progress up and down the treble and bass staves to ledger lines, over a period of a few weeks. Beat your last score each time to fire up your music-reading skills. First, make it an open book game, then set the cheat sheet aside, picking it up as needed. Next, make sight-reading actual music a game too, keeping it equally light and fun. And take little mental breaks as needed.

After all, learning any language is a neurological process, and music is no different. Using Teresa's enjoyable approach to note recognition, before you know it this foundational skill will become second-nature. Then just keep it fresh. Because, bottom line, use it or lose it absolutely applies to music-reading. The more you read, the better you'll read. So go for it, and have fun!