[Harp-L] we're here for a good time-trooper

[Michael Rubin]

I second the Bellson book. Required for all my students.

On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 7:26 PM Rick Dempster <rickdempster33 at xxxxx>
wrote:

> I found Louis Bellson's "Modern reading text" and Ted Reed's "Syncopation
> for the modern drummer" invaluable for learning to read.
> Bellson's book, for example, has what amounts to the same rhythmic figure
> written in several different ways. Because you are reading only time and
> note
> melody, it really simplifies things.  I also learnt heaps from
> transcribing melodies and solos in dots (ie music notation; is there a
> "correct" word for it?)
> probably more than just trying to read.
> RD
>
> On 25 July 2017 at 23:09, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> My experience teahing reading music is that understanding the concepts is
>> very easy. Getting to where one can easily tead the notes is almost
>> instantaneous.
>>
>> Learning to read the timing tends to be very challenging. Spending an hour
>> a week with a guiding teacher is not enough to master the skill. Only the
>> students who practice a lot outside of the class master timing.
>>
>> Michael Rubin
>> Michaelrubinharmonica.com
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 7:43 AM Richard Hunter <rhunter377 at xxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Rick Dempster wrote:
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Seconded. I never learnt a thing off tabs. Not only that, but despite
>> > > having taught myself to
>> > > read music (very slowly) it takes me forever to learn by heart a
>> piece of
>> > > music delivered to
>> > > me in 'dots'. Like tab, it just doesn't 'sink in', even if I can
>> actually
>> > > play it from the sheet.
>> > > If I learn it by ear, it's there forever; and yes, you get better at
>> it
>> > > quite quickly.
>> > > Even if you memorise from tab, it won't help you improvising, or
>> picking
>> > > things up, generally.
>> > > No harm, in writing your own tab, however, as a memory helper.
>> > >
>> >
>> > I'm sorry to hear that you have some kind of mental block where learning
>> > from sheet music is concerned. For the record, one of the most important
>> > reasons to learn to read--to read standard music notation, that is, not
>> > tab--is that it makes the process of learning a new piece of music go
>> much,
>> > much faster.  The larger and more complex the music is, the more helpful
>> > reading is to learning it.
>> >
>> > I've said a lot about the value of reading music in this forum on other
>> > occasions, so I'm not going to lay it all out here again. But the idea
>> that
>> > reading music makes it harder to memorize music is a personal issue,
>> not a
>> > natural fact.  The experience of literally millions of musicians says
>> the
>> > opposite.
>> >
>> > If you don't need to read to play the music you want to play, fine by
>> me.
>> > It's your choice. To claim that reading music is an obstacle to learning
>> > music is something altogether different, and it could do some damage to
>> > people who otherwise might be inclined to pick up a very useful skill,
>> one
>> > that expands both their musical skills and their career options.
>> >
>> > Regards, Richard Hunter
>> >
>> > --
>> > Check out our 21st Century rock harmonica record "The Lucky One" at
>> > https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/richardhunter
>> >
>> > 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
>> >
>>
>
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