Re: [Harp-L] Reading Music

[sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi Bob

Please correct me if I am wrong but it appears to me that you are
conflating reading music notation and music theory. They are two
different things. One need not read music to understand music theory.

I am not asserting that the ability to read music isn't useful. It is.
I am asserting that it is often emphasized to an extent which is
disproportionate to its usefulness.

Cheers,
Daniel

>
> On Feb 3, 2011, at 2:49 PM, sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> Maybe, I guess.  The thing is reading words is an entirely different
> experience from hearing.  Indeed, I've read that the human brain has
> changed significantly with the advent of the written word. I'm not sure of
> the implications of swinging the pendulum back to a strictly oral
> tradition.  Experience has taught me that something in the middle is
> usually the best.  --Shrug.
>
>> 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.
>
> This is probably a religious issue for you so perhaps, we'll agree to
> disagree.  But as I see it, the cat's already out of the bag. Reading
> exists.  It's a very useful tool for understanding and contemplating the
> music and even more useful when playing with others.
>
>> 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.
>
> To a point that's true.  But understanding the theory opens up
> possibilities that don't naturally occur to most of us--at least to me. I
> can scat changes with the best of them but my ear will never be good
> enough for the subtleties without the intellectual bulwark of formal music
> training.  But, of course, that's my shortcoming, and perhaps not others.
> I will say that my ears have gotten better since undertaking the
> discipline of learning to read and of studying harmony.  My playing is
> starting to change as well.
>
> I think I misspoke when I said, celebrate ignorance. Rather I meant
> illiteracy.  Music isn't a magical mystical form of expression. It's a
> language. And while there is certainly an absolute necessity to get to the
> point where we are no longer conscious of the scaffolding, the grammar and
> syntax as it were, to convey meaning, literacy is assumed as part of the
> conversation between creator and recipient.
>
> It's not my intention to convince you or anyone else of my opinion but
> that's my two cents for what it's worth.
>
> Bob
>