Re: [Harp-L] Reading Music

[sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi Bob

> This has been an interesting and enlightening discussion and, to my mind,
> hits at the very core of how we learn to play our instrument--especially
> in blues context. This discussion sends my mind to flights of fancy.  Can
> you imagine a conversation between the aoidos poets and Homer over which
> was better: hearing the Odyssey poem performed live from memory or read
> from the Homeric Greek?  The point is everyone on this list can read.  Why
> would we eschew an important tool or celebrate ignorance?

Yes, everyone on this list can read. But if we were communicating on
this list through recorded audio instead of text then the ability to
read would not be necessary. In the days of Homer recorded audio was
not available. In the future (due to better data storage and portability
of communication devices) textual communication may wane in favor of
audio and visual communication.

One who places priority upon training his ear and ear-to-instrument
connection does not "celebrate ignorance". IMO he has recognized the
essential nature of music and is using and developing his best tool
(the ear) for the analysis and synthesis of music.

> Most of us learned through trial and error and, if we were lucky,
> apprenticeship.  Unless you've got natural talent and huge hears, this
> approach has its limits.

Listen to a piece of music and try to scat sing over it. If you can do
that then you have all the ears you need. In my experience most of us
can scat without knowing the harmonic structure of the tune and without
knowing the notes or intervals that we are using in our scat. The ear
and ear-to-vocalization connection is just that good and by the time we
are 10 years old we have recorded in our musical brains lots of musical
ideas to draw upon.