Re: [Harp-L] question?



Reading music is not important per se. It is important as a tool. 

As a kid taking weekly piano lessons for five years I never got a 
Certificate of Accomplishment when I finally learned to read music (somewhere in the 
first year). And I never heard anybody say: I can read music, that makes me 
better than you.

As Mike Peloquin says: Music is about as hard as third-grade math.     

Despite what you may have heard, reading music is not any harder than 
reading harmonica tab. People get used to reading tab, they can get used to 
reading music. In both systems   the player has to convert the symbol Bb on the 
musical staff or a bent note to the right spot on the harmonica without 
looking. 

Music reading comes in handy in communicating with other musicians who do 
read. It comes in handy when the harpist needs to play an arrangement of a 
tune right now. A harp player is more likely to see a lead sheet than a page 
of harmonica tablature when showing up at a gig or studio date.

If you can read music -- and know the layout of your harp -- you can tell 
at a glance at sheet music or a lead sheet whether you can play a tune 
without bends, with bends, a half-valved diatonic or overblows are needed. I can 
tell my Harmonica 101 students in a few seconds whether they can play a 
certain song -- just by glancing over the music. A harp player can do the same 
thing by looking over a sheet of tab -- but not every song is tabbed. 

Reading music is like touch typing (not looking at the keys) on a qwerty 
(computer) keyboard: I learned to touch type 50 years ago and never stopped 
all thru high school, college, three newspapers as a reporter and copy editor. 
I could take verbatim dictation over the phone on a manual typewriter. Not 
because I wanted to brag or show off but because it made my job easier. I 
can still do a pretty good job. Many people use the hunt-and-peck method. They 
get along fine. But I think touch typing is easier. 

Anybody can learn to read music in about five minutes. "Every good boy does 
fine" covers the lines on the treble staff and "FACE" covers the spaces. 
Getting proficient at it takes a little longer -- just like reading tablature 
with bent notes or overblows.

BTW: A piano keyboard is the perfect graphic representation of how music 
works. Looking at a C scale (the white keys startinng with C) tells you all 
you need to know. The C harmonica comes standard equipped with the white 
notes. Bends, overblows (the black notes) are extra.

Phil Lloyd






 






In a message dated 10/16/10 4:48:56 PM, 3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> On Oct 16, 2010, at 4:11 PM, gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > So harmonica players would get more respect if they read music?
> 
> No, not necessarily but in THIS particular case it may have been 
> true. Inasmuch as the more 'studied' musicians have given me the vibe
> (s) that they feel that since they have paid their dues (so to speak)  
> with years and years of study. Sort of like how people who went to 
> college for a particular subject feel that they are either more 
> qualified or whatever because of their dedication.
> 
> > Then spend $50 on a portable keyboard.
> 
> I have one. Mine is slightly better.
> >
> > Your key of C harmonica plays the white keys--and those notes are 
> > all in order on the staff! From low to high . . .
> > Play them on one, then the other--so you will hear what you cannot 
> > see on harmonica (but can on a keyboard).
> 
> I learned a different way. I learned to read by WRITING. Since I was 
> always changing the keys from my Bb trumpet music (written in 
> consideration of 2 flats), to C. Then I started re-writing that music 
> in other keys. I used a 'cheat sheet'' to transpose..at the 
> beginning. I eventually picked it up. I STILL don't read well as I 
> play most everything I do in draw keys (D, F, Eb). So I switch 
> harmonicas a it.
> >
> > When you change harmonicas, the location of the notes on the lines 
> > and spaces changes, but not the relationship.
> > Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
> 
> 



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