Learning to read...

[grantd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hello folks, long time no babble,

I've been reading all the mail on the pros and cons (are there any?) of reading
music notation.

I can see that being able to read music is a big plus if you want to do anything
serious with your harp. Imagine an actor who has unfortunately slipped through
the educational net without learning to read. How would he perform? He would
need to see the drama performed at least once by someone else and could then
only try to emulate that performance. Would he remember all his lines? I feel
that he would be far to busy trying to remember the dialogue to actually put
any real feeling into his part. 

Although I admit that playing the moothie is just a little different to acting,
I hope you can see the parallel, and what can be gained from learning music -
the confidence and freedom of knowing exactly what HAS to be played, allowing
one to put some of oneself into the performance.

Now, it may come as no surprise that I for one do NOT read music, and thus the
question - How long do you think it takes to learn to read music? Hours? Days?
Years? Frankly, if its the latter, I think I should sue my parents for not
FORCING me to learn some sort of instrument while at school. Looking back, 
I can't for the life of me understand why I didn't jump at the chance of dodging
a double geography lesson (which has since proved to be the most useful subject
I studied - NOT!) to learn to play guitar or something.

I have, since around 8 years ago, been learning harp and acoustic guitar (all 
on my ownsome), and although I've progressed, I would still like to be "good"
at one of them.

Your comments and opinions are greatfully received,

Goobs

(aka)
--
    Grant, dr. Douglas M.                  
    Philips Research Laboratories
    Building WAY4 047, Prof. Holstlaan 4, 5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Phone: +31-40-742468	 E-mail: grantd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx