[Harp-L] Re: Reading Music

[The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>]

Steven,


This is a very lucid opinion and well stated.


Teachers that insist on making students read music are only one type of instructor (although I have found them to be in the majority). They, themselves have seen the value in reading from their own experience and quite a few of them are self realized "not geniuses". They can only teach from their own perspective.


My best teachers were ones that were well versed in theory and reading, but who also understood the potential of a natural spark in all students and wouldn't want to do anything to douse this candle. Therefore, they encouraged emotional attachment to the music first with intellect to follow - they would hook me in and make me want to know WHY. At this point, gravity took hold and I was addicted, following both paths concurrently, one fueling the other. This is what I've based my own teaching philosophy on and have spent years constantly reinventing my teaching style trying to find the shortest cut and most effective method to infuse students with inspiration.


Truthfully, I have found many ways to teach music theory emotionally, bypassing written notation, encouraging the student to sensitize himself to feel the gravitational pull that gives music its forward momentum. (You haven't seen anything until you've witnessed a class of 16 adults skipping around a room to help them understand what the basic blues groove feels like). I've even used a rubber band stretched between two hands to impart the feeling of power to hole 4 inhale bend held, slowly released and snapped back down to breathe life into this simple blues idea.


This is why I ask others how they learned or teach theories without using written notation - to increase my knowledge and help me evolve as a teacher - not to shoot them down for having a different opinion.





-----Original Message-----
From: Hellerman, Steven <shellerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: icemanle <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Feb 4, 2011 9:38 pm
Subject: RE: Reading Music


Well, obviously this thread has evoked a lot of opinions and emotions. As I'm 
seeing posts from some who teach music to, presumably, young people, I need to 
put in my two cents. 
 
I took guitar lessons when I was fifteen. The instructor insisted on teaching me 
to read music, to site read as I played (in retrospect, the very first thing the 
schmuck should have done was teach me a three chords and then to strum a tune). 
I didn't enjoy it at all, and after a few months asked him why I couldn't just 
learn how to play without reading music. "You know, by ear. Like the Beatles. 
They don't know how to read music."
 
"Well, the Beatles are geniuses, and they're especially talented. But you really 
need to learn to read music in order to play guitar. Most people really do." 
 
What I took from this, at fifteen years old, was that some people had natural 
musical talent, and some (or most) people don't. I was one of the ones that 
didn't, since, according to this instructor (who played a really mean guitar, 
btw, repeatedly impressing the hell out of one fifteen year old kid) I needed to 
learn to read music to play. And all those rock and roll stars who didn't read 
music and had "just picked it up? Well, they had that talent. But I couldn't 
just pick it up myself, so........ Hell, I even knew a few guys who played 
guitar and didn't read music, guess they too must have had that natural talent 
that I didn't have......) So, since I figured I didn't have natural musical 
ability, and since I wasn't enjoying these lessons -- and the practice that went 
w/ them -- one bit, I figured: Why bother? Meantime, I loved music, particularly 
rock and roll and the blues, bought my records, went to tons of shows (Grateful 
Dead, anyone?), but never thought to try to play anything myself. After all, I 
wasn't one of those who had been so blessed w/ the talent......
 
It wasn't until many years later, at the age of 43, looking for a substitute for 
smoking while hanging out on the couch watching the tube, I picked up the 
harmonica and learned how to play it. First I just fooled around w/ it, but 
realized that if I could play along to something in the same key as the harp, I 
could actually make it sound like something. Then I bought "How to Play the 
Country and Blues Harmonica" by  Jon Gindick (Thank you, sir!) and the rest 
is..... yeah, history. 
 
I know there are lots of better harp players out there (can't help but wonder 
how I'd sound if I'd been playing 30 years or more like so many....) but I can 
hold my own since I am somewhat in demand as a sideman here in the IE, often 
asked to sit-in w/ lots of extremely talented folks (and occasionally they even 
let me sing!), and sometimes I even get paid for playing the thing. I play 
completely by ear, usually I couldn't even tell you what holes I'm playing on 
the harp (well, guess I could, but I'd have to stop to think about it.....), let 
alone what the notes are. I'm still not sure what a scale is, though I think 
that's what I'm playing a lot of. It gave me a headache when I tried to take a 
music theory class at the community college where I teach (no I don't teach 
music, ha ha), though I do know some of what I presume to be theory (there are 
twelve major keys; count up four keys to get to the 2nd position; four more for 
3rd position; four more for 4th position- the relative major, i.e., straight 
harp for the minor key........) Eventually got someone to explain what 1-4-5 
means (for a long time I used to just nod and say "okay" when onstage at shows 
and jams they would say to me stuff like "it starts on the one" or "on the 
five", actually wasn't that much of a handicap, I'd just always "come in".....). 
Couple of years after learning harp, I did manage to learn a little guitar, at 
least some first position chords. Don't play it very well, but I've figured out 
a hundred tunes or so on it. (There's that theory thing again, at least whereby 
understanding harp made figuring out tunes on guitar much easier, e.g.: Since D 
is the cross from A, and A is the cross from E.... if you're playing in the key 
of A, the root chords are A-D-E! And isn't that the 1-4-5?). 
 
The point of all this: There are a lot of kids out there who are totally put off 
by learning to read music, but are told that if they ever want to play an 
instrument, reading music is the very first step. So they either quit right 
there (maybe they figure they don't have the natural talent......) or they do 
indeed learn to read music, but at some point they quit and never go back (it 
can be so tedious.....). Think of all those little girls out there who take 
piano lessons, learn to site read, but never ever develop an ear. And most of 
them quit playing as soon as Mom says "okay, now you can quit if you want" (my 
cousin's three daughters can all be so described). Must be millions of 'em!
 
So, for all you musicians who can read notation and know your theory and all 
that: Good for you! I have to say I am indeed envious, because I never will and, 
yes, it may indeed define the ceiling on my progress as a harp player. But if 
you're teaching someone to play, don't presume they have to learn formally. Get 
them to actually play something on the instrument first. Otherwise, you just 
might be taking all of the fun out of it. Permanently!  
 
 
 
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 17:09:35 -0500 (EST)
From: The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Reading Music
To: peloquinharp@xxxxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <8CD92CF5786D449-1AC4-1E140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Interesting. As a teacher constantly working with students w/no knowledge of 
music on harmonica, I was fascinated by the idea that you don't need notation to 
teach theory, as I just couldn't wrap my head around this, as I will use 
notation (simplified) with these students. Any new easy way to teach theory will 
help me in my evolution as a teacher. More complete approaches to teaching, say, 
harmonies and voicings without using notation would be welcome to me and my 
students.





-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Peloquin <peloquinharp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Harp -l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Feb 4, 2011 11:49 am
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] Reading Music



Michael Rubin posted:
> <<I also do not think you need to read to understand and use theory.>>

Larry E. posted:
> am curious.how may this be accomplished?

I am with Mr. Rubin on this. I could "read" music at a 1st grade level for over
10 years but understood a fair amount of theory (street educated/functional
type.)
Theory is used by me in conjunction with my ear (theory trained ear) to
improvise and "play by ear."  It was only after deciding to learn to "read"
music and actually doing it constantly in ensemble situations where it was
necessary, that I would actually come to call myself a reader. I could imagine
that theory for some is totally tied to amental picture of staff notation but my
mental picture is of note layout on the instrument that I am playing.
Reading is a skill for many of us that is independent of playing and only a
tool. Real music comes from within IMO, everything plays and sounds better after
the charts are gone  if you ask me- and I love to write and have people play my
arrangements! Blind people tend to make some great music.


Michael Peloquin
http://www.usaharmonicas.com <https://owa.sbccd.cc.ca.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.usaharmonicas.com> 


http://harpsax.com <https://owa.sbccd.cc.ca.us/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://harpsax.com> 


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