[Harp-L] Reading Music

["Aongus Mac Cana" <amaccana@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for this "Iceman"
My problem is trying to get the motor skills to read music like I can read
"the New York Times"
As you say theory is just the 'icing on the cake' where you can get an
intelectual buzz instead of or as well as an emotional one from the music.
Beannachtai
Aongus

-----Original Message-----
From: The Iceman [mailto:icemanle@xxxxxxx] 
Sent: 31 January 2011 17:08
To: amaccana@xxxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Reading music


Learning theory/reading music creates "mental block" in a lot of people.
Sort of a frozen fear of the unknown. 


It helps to remember that music came first. The theory/reading came later to
try to quantify the music. Theory is not set in stone, as so much of what
you learn theory wise you also learn the exceptions to the rules. 


Don't approach it as a monumental task. There are music appreciation courses
on CD and at community colleges that can introduce you to this arena (mostly
through classical music) with a minimum of anxiety. It becomes big fun as
you start to develop a sense of ability to hear "inside" the music and
understand what is going on from an emotional/intellectual combination.


To me, music is all about tension/release. I learned Shanker Layer Analysis
of music in college. By backing up layer by layer, almost all great
symphonies can be analyzed as a V-I progression, the ultimate simplified
tension/release musical state. (V-I sounds like "A-men" - the religious
musical endings many of us are familiar with. The tension is produced by
singing the "A" part, which doesn't release the tension or resolve till you
sing "men").


This is a good place to start.