made a decision on not to learn how to read music

dmajor100

dmajor100

Active member
Very frustrated with these piano lessons and trying to learn how to read music when I just wanna play and compose greater music. I know all my scales basically I know inversions,chords,7ths,9ths so I'm not sure if reading is nessecary for me to improve on what I already know. Another thing that frustrates me is that I'm a music producer/audio engineer and trying to learn several other things as well and need to focus on just making music rather than learning a new language which is more time of doing that and will only be used when reading music which most current producers don't use just musician. So should I learn just more technique,progressions,coordination exercise,theory and other things to just build on what I already know?
 
Reading music has two uses:

a) To play other people's compositions
b) you can write it so other people play your compositions

I think if you have the knowledge and like to compose that way by all means, you could also do random scirbbling of chord progressions and what not. If you work with MIDI I think that best way is to have something transcribed in midi and work from there. No right way or wrong way. Reading music is definitely an extra step not necessary
 
This is something I have been working through for the past couple years, only recently have I been taking reading seriously. My motto for 2015 is ABR=Always Be Reading. I think reading is a valuable tool if you are learning to play an instrument and learning music with the intention of working with/playing with other musicians. When I was at jazz camp last year, I had a difficult time keeping up with the other musicians during warmups because I had not practiced reading enough. It was very embarassing to be "that guy" in a roomful of players that can't keep up reading a simple line of warmup arpeggios, even though I can "read" the music-just not at the speed expected of a jazz musician. Guitar players (and drummers) already have the stigma of being poor readers. Sure, I can read lead-sheet symbols and basic quarter-note melodies easy as shit, but if you were to put some new bebop tunes in front of me with the expectation to play the melody-I could do it, but it would take awhile.

Another struggle I have is reading music to learn new tunes. Some people have suggested learning "tab", but I hate it and I never really saw the point in learning two systems, and in jazz, tab is a big NO NO, at least where I am from. The big problem for me is being able to think rhythm, pitch, and note location all at the same time without having to look away from the music. Been hitting the fundamentals hard over the past month, my objective is to be semi-proficient in time for jazz camp and solid by this time next year.
 
Wapiti said:
Reading music has two uses:

a) To play other people's compositions
b) you can write it so other people play your compositions

I think if you have the knowledge and like to compose that way by all means, you could also do random scirbbling of chord progressions and what not. If you work with MIDI I think that best way is to have something transcribed in midi and work from there. No right way or wrong way. Reading music is definitely an extra step not necessary
Click to expand...

Its also helpful for transcribing solos from other musicians. I am thinking of buying a guitar midi to help me notate my transcriptions into Finale so I can recall them easier. Right now, I learn a section of music, then record audio of myself playing it to keep track of where I am at. I don't really want to have to notate it all by hand if I don't need to.
 
Pumpthrust said:
My motto for 2015 is ABR=Always Be Reading. I think reading is a valuable tool if you are learning to play an instrument and learning music with the intention of working with/playing with other musicians..
Click to expand...

Yeah, might be my motto as well. I've simply forgotten, because although I've played with other people all the time, it's all been improvisation or "variations on a theme" kind of stuff - never any notation in sight. Just got a proper piano at home, so figured now it's time to get that skill back up to speed.
 
unlike guitar, there is no real issue with learning to read on the piano - one note on the staff can only have one position on the piano (the guitar can have up to 5 different positions) - coordinating two hands is the tough part of teh equation but even that can be done if you set your goals appropriately

notation is a double edged sword as has already been noted by others above: you can play anything put in front of you and you can write down anything you can play or hear, certainly an advantage

the thing is to set yourself achievable goals in developing your reading rather than abandoning it completely;

I'm rusty at reading but can bluff my way through most of what I have to do on guitar because I have been doing it for so long. I can sight read bass parts no problem and even do some sight transposing of Eb and Bb parts to guitar or keys or bass (read Eb sax parts as though they were in the bass clef and add three flats to the key sig, read Bb parts as though they were in the tenor clef and add two flats to the key sig - my tenor clef reading is rusty but wouldn't take long to get back to sight reading level)
 
I explained not wanting to read to my teach and now he just suggest at least learning lead sheets and we are just going over a bit of theory as far as chords. I'm confused as to what still Im wanting to do and he is having a hard time directing me cause of this. I know I can't give up what little time I have to focus on reading music cause I'm still learning synthesis,producing music,and learning electronic music. A lot of stuff seems to be stacking up on me so it's very frustrating and daugnting. I enjoy playing keys and just wanna be able to play and put together full songs dynamically
 
which in my books means being able to read so well that you can do it without thinking (10 years or more practice to get there)

i.e. your goals are not discontiguous with learning to read you have just too many goals to achieve in too small a time frame - loosen your timelines a little and you should find that it is no longer the stressor that you have made it into
 
Yeah, what bc said. I don't see a point in "declaring" you'll completely omit reading notes, but you don't have to progress full steam on every front right now.
 
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