Q: My music teacher hasn't taught us about how to read music or anything because she thinks we did it in primary school, we weren't. So I'm feeling extremely confused about music because of that, and I don't really understand anything I find on the internet.  Do you have any sources that you'd recommend?
A: i don't know any specific sources, but i can be a source. if you want to learn to read notation, i will probably want to start you off with rhythms. time goes forward from line to line. the first thing you want to do is understand beats. it's just like a steady ticking clock that ticks along with the beat all the way through a song. listen to some songs, and see if you can tap your foot along to the beat. also be aware that music notation flows left to right, and then down to the next line. left to right, next line, left to right, etc. just like the words on this page. let me know when you have found the beat for some of your favorite songs. if you look at the cowbell part for the second verse of my song 'hallelujah', that is an example of the beat. you might say i am hitting the cowbell 'on the beat'. it usually stays the same for the whole song. the songs you pick may have a faster or slower beat from that, but most of them will probably be slightly faster, because that song has a relatively slow tempo. see if you can find the beat for some of your favorite songs, then i will see if i can tell you what's necessary to start understanding what happens on the page