Reading music and harmonica

[Rob Frantz <rfrantz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'd like to pick up the baton on this relay race on Reading and Harmonica.
Reading music arrangements, whether for stage shows or for studio 
recordings, is important for a harmonica player, but for most the
opportunities are very limited. Still, a reading harmonicist, whether
on diatonic or chromatic, can learn new music/songs from a song 
book/sheetmusic. This is so much part of my harmonica-playing life,
I couldn't dream being unable to do it. All music can be learned by ear,
but reading sure does make things easier. Some of the songs which are
a regular part of my street-busking repertoire, which I learned by
reading (and embellished later) are "Misty," "Georgia on My Mind,"
"The Way You Look Tonight," & "The Christmas Song (Chesnuts Roasting...)."
I'm always buying or borrowing (from libraries) new song books. I performed
an show of Yiddish/Ladino/Hebrew songs that would have been virtually
unthinkable without reading. And 90% of all my harmonica playing is on
diatonics, of all the different available tunings. No, I wouldn't dream 
of reading sheet music while jamming blues. It wouldn't make any sense.
But, blues too can be read and this reading helps improvisation.

Lastly, music is more than an aural phenomena. It is visual. I was a lead
singer in doo-wop groups and R&B bands for approximately 7-8 years and
I could SEE the movement of my voice in my head. The same is true with 
a musical instrument. No, I didn't and do not SEE standard music notation 
in my head, but reading that notation only enhances that visual element
of music making. Reading music will not make one a musician. A computer
can read and perform music, but I wouldn't call that computer hardware
a musician. Still, I firmly believe that while a musician can do without it
and sometimse quite well, they're missing something very exciting and 
rewarding, something definitely worth gaining, worth all the effort involved.
				Yours,        ROB