Familiarize yourself with the music staff you'll be using for your particular vocal range; for most singers, this will be the treble clef. There are five horizontal lines and four spaces on the music staff. Each line and space represents a specific note. The lines are E-G-B-D-F. The spaces are F-A-C-E. Melody, or vocal lines, written in standard piano/vocal sheets are usually written on this staff and range from the first line below the staff to between one and three ledger lines above the staff. Singers who use these sheets to sing will typically read the notes in this range and then adjust the pitches as they sing to fit their voices.
Read ranges for soprano, alto, tenor and bass (SATB) music as written. If you're reading choir music, tenor and bass will be written on the bass clef, soprano and alto on the treble clef. The notes for the five lines and four spaces on the bass clef are G-B-D-F-A and A-C-E-G. When reading a piece of music for choir, you will only need to be concerned with reading your part of the vocal, whether it is harmony or lead melody.
Familiarize yourself with symbols often used in vocal music. The number 8 written beside a musical phrase indicates you should sing an octave higher than written. This notation is often used to keep music notes on the music staff instead of having to write a lot of notes on lines and spaces above the printed staff, which makes sheet music harder to read. Other familiar symbols used in vocal music include left and right carets to indicate a gradual increase in volume, a curved line drawn under or over a series of notes to indicate the passage should be sung smoothly, or a squiggly line to indicate vibrato.