So... I've decided that I want to take up a few instruments and I figured that the first place to start would be to learn to read and understand notation. There are a lot of instruments   I would really like to learn to play, but the ones I'm most interested in are Piano, Violin and Tin Whistle. Now, I do not currently own any of the above instruments, but I'm most likely going to get a Tin Whistle very soon because they're only about $15 each. I'll likely be getting it in the key of high D.

Anyway.. if anyone can help me learn how to read music, it would be very much appreciated.

Make friends with Google and youtube. I've been doing the same thing. If you want to learn guitar or bass, I will plug Rocksmith for this. In a couple of weeks my playing was improving greatly.

I know there's some really good piano tutorials on YouTube. I don't know about tin whistle (because I'm uninformed on what it is and I haven't googled it yet), but I'm sure violin will be there as well.

But I'd probably start with basic music theory. On that you can find a million resources.

There is enough information on YouTube and those people take their tutorials seriously. I wonder how much of the music reading can be learned without interacting with another person in a room with you. It's like martial arts, there's not much you can do without an expert or a trained instructor showing you and making corrections.

But if you play for fun and you enjoy it, go have fun, even if you're not 100%. YouTube is your best bet because I learned how to build a small cottage, with water and electrical, from YouTube demo videos. They literally taught me everything from digging the foundation, putting up the rough frame, I mean all of it.

Watch some videos, take the time to understand, and see if you like a particular teacher on there. They all have a series of instruction.

I suggest checking out MacGamut. It's $40, but it's an amazing tool for mastering the basics. My mother even used it in college. I used it to learn for classes. There's a lot to it. It's an intuitive tool that many love to hate. But such is the truth for many tools like this. ALEKS, another program I find very intuitive, received similar hate. People ignore the potential in these tools that can help them learn because they don't like the programs. Don't listen to them. If something works, it works. If something is good, it's good. Do what you need to to learn, whether it means getting this program, looking up Youtube vids, finding cheaper/free tools, whatever.

Another tool I've heard of is EarMaster. It's more expensive, but a review I read today said it was much better than MacGamut. If that's the case, it must be a wonderful tool indeed. I got so much out of using MacGamut. Results, of course, vary from person to person, but this tool may prove more productive overall.

Here's a site that lists ear training software, including free ones: http://www.trainear.com/Ear_Training_Software_Comparison_07_2008.php

Whatever you choose, I hope you gain the learning you need to fulfill your dreams. Go for it!