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

Michael Rubin michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxx
Wed Jul 26 09:01:33 EDT 2017


I want to clarify.

I rarely ever teach my students to read music unless they ask or
information is not being understood any other way.  However, timing is
essential to any type of musician and so we all learn to read written
timing.  It generally takes one year of lessons before I present the
Bellson book to the student.
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com

On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 8:14 PM, Michael Rubin <
michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx> wrote:

> 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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