[Harp-L] How important is it to be able to read music?

[Richard Hunter]

It's only important to learn to read music if:
1) you want to learn as much music as you can as quickly as possible
2) you want to be able to be able to quickly learn a piece of music you've
never heard before, for example in a recording situation where everybody
else is reading their parts from charts
3)  you want to be able to communicate with other musicians about the music
you want to play with them
4) You want the respect of other musicians, many of whom have put in the
time and effort to learn the basics of their craft, like reading, and don't
have a lot of respect for people who can't be bothered to do the same.

If you have no real ambitions to advance your art as efficiently and
effectively as possible, you don't need to learn to read music.  If you
have such ambitions, then you need to put in the time and effort to learn
to read at a basic level.  Wouldn't hurt to learn a little chord and scale
theory too.

I can't imagine this conversation taking place on a forum for sax players.

Regards, Richard Hunter

-- 
"The Lucky One" 21st century rock harmonica project at
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/richard-hunter-s-the-lucky-one/x/5259889#/
Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: @lightninrick­­­‪­‪­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­‪­­­­‪­­‪‪‪­‪‪­­­‪­‪­­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­­­­