Posts Tagged ‘how to sing’
Why you should learn to read music
The printed music is the roadmap through which all musicians adhere to, and when you learn to read music you will know the very meaning of the phrase “being on the same page”.
It would be foolish to expect that someone could speak with a Spanish speaker without knowledge of the language, why then would we expect to be able to communicate with one another without the basics of this language?
Ensembles, bands, choirs, opera, jazz all operate on the written notes first. As soon as man could sing he wanted to pass on his songs to the next generation, hence the need for written music.
Before improvisation was the written note.
It all comes down to if you cannot read; you cannot be with a group that reads. This leaves you as a performer left out of a large portion of musical performance venues.
You cannot comprehend music theory without the notes on the page. The theory of music is by necessity based on the written note. You may say this sounds very difficult and it may be, but all music theory comes from the written page and harmony, melody and structure cannot be understood otherwise.
Learn a song without any other reference. When you follow music you can learn a song without an instrument in your hand. If you can read music you can go straight to the book and get all of the basic information on your own. Have you ever learned a song from someone else and not known if you got it right or got all of the information you need? If you can read you can learn a song much faster and more completely without having to play a cd over and over and wonder if you got it right.
You can learn exactly how the author of the song meant for it to sound. It can open up new worlds when you read a song from the authors’ point of view, only to find all of the versions you ever heard did not include
the intro or coda or a repeat etc. In “Georgia On My Mind” by Hoagy Carmichael, for example, no ones plays the intro. The fact remains that just because you have heard it on the radio a million times does not mean it was written that way. It may be even better the way the author originally intended it! If you are involved in songwriting, I am sure you would want people to know the way you wrote it. Think about that for a moment.
When you can read music the discovery of new worlds awaits you. If you can read music you can open up a songbook and discover new worlds. I have found many songs this way that are favorites of mine now and if I did not read I certainly would never have found them.
Discover new music you would never know otherwise. When I was young it was hard to learn to ride a bike and I fell over a lot. These days I hardly fall at all. The same is true with any new skill, it is hard at first but soon you begin to move past that and grow.
You will only become a better musician if you learn to read music. Are you prepared to discover new music, perform with people you might never have met otherwise, speak with authority about the origins and intent of a particular piece of music or composer? Learn to read music, you will not be sorry.