blog posted by
David James
 |
September 19th, 2006 @ 7:30 pm GMT |
|
|
Why Should I Learn To Read Music?
by David James
There is a lot of confused thinking out there when it comes to the subject of reading music.
I want to examine what some of this confused thinking is, and how people get this confused thinking into their heads, and why it stays there. Why do some people think they shouldn’t learn to read music, when they should? Why do some people think they should, when they shouldn’t (at least not right away)?
Some people are very “natural” musicians, they learn to play by watching and listening to other players. And that is fine, in fact, that is great. The ability to just watch someone do something like play, and somehow “learn” how to do it yourself, is a great ability. However, every strength can also be a weakness, and that is true here.
Often, the person who is able to learn this way starts to get an “attitude” about the more formal aspects of learning music, things like taking lessons, or learning to read music. They begin to form certain belief systems about the subject. And these belief systems can be dangerous, because they prevent the person holding them from growing and developing as they otherwise could.
In general, everyone can only benefit by learning to read music. Believe me, if you do have talent, if you have something to say as an artist, you are not going to lose it by developing your mental understanding of the “theoretical” aspect of music. The only people who will lose their artistic ability by education in music are the ones who didn’t have any artistic ability to begin with.
If you Don't have much natural ability for music, or much experience in playing music, then learning to read can open up a whole world of understanding for you. It can give you the keys to understand the “mysteries of music”.
Whether or not to learn to read, and how far to take it is up to you. But it is certainly a subject you should make an informed choice about, based on careful consideration.
The views and opinions in this blog post are those of its author.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
