Unpopular opinion: Knowing how to read music is not that important.
I catch a lot of flak for this opinion with the more traditional/classical crowd, but I firmly believe it.
Before we get too into the nitty-gritty, I should clarify a few things. When I use the word 'important', I am referring to how likely it is that this skill set will further a long-term career/presence in the music industry.
Let's back up a few years. I attended a local university for jazz studies and music education. For those of you who don't know, I ended up dropping out before my fourth year. I spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not this was a good move at the time, and I can't really say I regret doing so. Aside from my beliefs that higher education needs some SERIOUS adjustments before it's a practical option for the arts, a lot of what I learned there I either already knew, or have not used since. One of those things being reading music.
For those of you fighting to keep an old tradition/style alive, hey, I can't knock it there. But let's call it what it is. Is that going to help you get a job? No. Freelancing? No. Music licensing? Nah. Even studio work and playing live, not really. The uses are so abysmally small nowadays, that I think we really need to address how much time we spend teaching it, and how important we deem it.
The music industry is constantly changing. I know how to read music, and it's been almost a decade since I've had to. I work 3 jobs in music - one full-time, and two part-time (including @steemmonsters) - none of them require me to do it.
So naturally, when I get the smug, elitist, backseat-teacher individuals who are shocked that I don't teach my kids how to read music (in the first few years), I can't help but roll my eyes a bit.
I like put a lot more emphasis on ear training, understanding music software and basic theory, and the music industry itself.
Especially with how fast tech moves nowadays, I think it's really important to regularly reanalyze priorities in the school system, and even after-school. Some things that were 'important' a few years ago are completely obsolete now. And music, for instance, is quite possibly one of the most outdated teaching models of them all. We've completely lost relevance and our ability to relate to the young crowd. Not only that, but as I said, a lot of the theory and methods we teach do not actually have a long-term impact on the modern career path in music.
So why hold blindly to old habits? Again, not to say reading music isn't helpful, or cool - in a lot of cases I think it's great to know - but if we're talking about practicality, it's more important to get behind something you can get modern hands-on experience quickly. A lot of kids lose interest before they can even memorize the note names.
Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Hope you're all having an awesome start to your week!
Also if you think about making money off music, you don't need to know notes at all!
Look at all the rap/hip-hop producers. They earn so much money by doing what? Knowing music theory? Hell no! They have right connections in the industry. Networking.
For the longest time I thought that I wasn’t musically inclined because I didn’t know how to read music notes. Thank you for posting this my dude and of course thank you for helping me break through the shell and be confident in my musical abilities
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Of course dude! I won't say that it never comes in handy, but there are hundreds and hundreds of very successful musicians who do not (or can not). Personally, I'm all in on music theory over performance skills, but obviously both can be useful depending on the context!
I completely agree! Although I do know (or used to in school) how to read music, most musicians I know do not know how to. And I've known some amazing musicians in my life so far. I also believe that it just depends on the type of instrument you plan to play and in what career you plan to play it.
For instance, orchestra musicians more than likely need to know how, but one's who write their own music do so by ear and music theory. You understand what notes and chords go with what and go from there.
On the other hand, more knowledge in something never hurt anything... But I really think that it shouldn't be the first and most important thing that teachers should focus on. Great post dude!
Yep you nailed it! Well said!
Yeah man! There’s an old saying that sums the whole reading music I think ... “horses for courses”
I learnt how to read drum music about 10years a go and for me it was a pivotal part in learning the drums . For a while there almost anything I wanted to play I needed the sheet music to sight read to play to. One of the first bands I played in did mostly covers and I remember spending hours and hours transcribing audio to paper and during rehearsals I was the weirdo with a music stand sight reading haha! I did eventually learn to just remember the music and use more of an improvisational approach. So I guess reading music is a good skill to have that can be beneficial but it’s not the be all and end all for all musical applications.
That's really interesting dude. You don't hear about a lot of people learning to play drums in that order haha. Almost all the drummers I know went by ear first. That's awesome though!
Reading music is definitely useful, for sure. And truthfully every time I have this conversation, that's usually the point I have to reiterate and defend lol. Not that I don't think it's useful/good to know, but just that we emphasize it too heavily in your run-of-the-mill music curriculum (while licensing, business, ear training, making simple chord progressions, etc. are often overlooked until much later). In my opinion, you should just learn anything you can get your hands on!
Yep! Very well said my friend!
I am a musician who never formally learned to read music. I am a fantastic singer and never thought I would need to.
I was SO wrong. I think a lot of this depends on where you live. Where I am, you can't really make much money doing studio work, or playing live or anything that might involve not needing much formal training.
Where the bread and butter is for musicians here is lessons, training, classes, teaching etc. Most of my musician friends perform for fun and teach to eat. They are at a significant advantage over me, because of my piss-poor abilities to read and play piano. I can play things by ear, but that does not help me when I have a student come in and need me to accompany them in a song book.
My hubs on the other hand is not as strong of a singer/performer but he has the formal training to lean on, which has proved to be much more profitable.
I REALLY wish I had learned more at a younger age. It's a lot harder to go back now and try to!
Just my two cents!
See that's really interesting. I appreciate the perspective!
When I was looking to teach because of how, I guess, 'unsatisfied' I was with my formal training, I built curriculum excluding it rather than letting it dictate what I could participate in personally. This meant I had to start my own private organization, and technically I am not 'certified' on paper. But I've gotten 100% positive reviews from parents and students on my kind of unconventional style. There are pros and cons for sure, but one of the pros being I have a much easier time keeping kids engaged, which I think is huge.
I think there are most definitely benefits to being able to do it - I'd never argue that part of the equation - but I think the emphasis on it is so heavy so early, and unless you want to be a classical/jazz performer, it's not abundantly helpful. Not to say I don't teach it at all nowadays - I teach note names, piano theory 101, etc. - but the act of reading itself I mostly leave out.
Bottom line, it's a fun conversation to have for me. I like to get perspectives on the matter.
Nice to hear from you @bethwheatcraft! Hope you're doing well!!
I don't know how to read music, I kind of know now how to prepare the score for the violin and cello players to read my arrangements but unable to read real time and I'm sad because when learning new instruments most of the materials requires it... I would have loved to learn but I was put in an academy just for one month to learn organ as a child and they took a month to find out I was playing by ear and not really learning to read... my parents considering it expensive and fruitless moved me to typewriting and then I had to learn all I know on my own.
First of all, you're amazing @yidneth in everything you do, so I wouldn't change a thing in that formula! lol
But I do see where you're coming from for sure; it's not at all that I think we should exclude it entirely, but I always struggle with engagement in music classes because it's so difficult to relate the old methods to new music. I think it can have some long-term benefits for sure (and music theory I feel entirely different about, extremely important).
Although I do feel strongly about this opinion, I don't feel it should disappear in the least, just moved down the ladder of what to learn and when.
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