"There is no such thing as a universal note."

[Charlie Tuna]

Sounds like he is saying don't just sit down with the notation and learn the notes in your head. Instead, sit down with the notation while you have your instrument in your hand and make that be the reference. My daughter started lessons with a recorder (flute) a few years ago and she learned the staff and instrument one note at a time. I thought it was kind of silly when she would tell me, "I don't know that note yet" when I asked her to play a tune in her book. What seemed like a slow process ended up really linking her to the instrument and she can read much better than I can now.

The author in the FB post says "Notes aren’t just symbols — they’re physical maps." He/she is just saying, "the notes are telling your fingers (or other body parts) where to go and the mechanism of playing that note differs between instruments." So we should look at the written notes with a clear mind in order to better connect them to the instrument, without the mind first having to translate them via abstract note names (G-D-F#-E-D-A-C#-B...). Physical map on each instrument vs. abstract notes in the brain. Eliminate the middleman (the mind).

Related but not the exact same as mapping, HOW you attack or play the notes will not be the same between instruments, so a note written for one instrument is not universal for all instruments. The written note is a 2D representation of sound but sound is not just 2-dimensional. Thus, if we look at it from the perspective of "treat written music as unique for each instrument" then we will alter HOW we play those notes to make it more appropriate for each instrument as well.

 

[Scottgun]

For me it's what self-defense guru Malcom MacYoung would call a "puddle profundity". Or another way to put it: something interesting but untrue or true but uninteresting.

 

[Scottgun]

 

[KevInDaBassment]

View attachment 7414249

Props for The Young Ones reference!

RIP Mr Mayall

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Ehhh...I picked "Kinda Disagree"

This is one of those Facebook posts where someone appears to just be "Stuffing a Strawman". Making a statement that is either common knowledge or intuitive (so we don't ponder on it a lot) and trying to make it sound profound. Like "I BETCHA DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT!" or whatever...

To me it's sort of like saying "There is no such thing as a universal vehicle speed, because some vehicles are larger and face more wind resistance. Other vehicles have poor tires and make for a bumpier ride. Still others seem to glide through the air because of great aerodynamics or smooth acceleration." We're all aware that driving a Ford F-150 and a Ferrari are completely different experiences, but we don't stop and go "Wow, the speedometer says I'm going '50 mph', but am I REALLY experiencing it that same in this minivan as I did in my Mustang?"

Perhaps this seems a lot more impactful to a general Music Theory student or Composer in training, who is using books more than instruments...but playing 2 or more instruments, this will not seem like the new revelation the FB poster is trying to pass it off as lol. "Bombastic" is the term I think suits it best

 

[gln1955]

Each instrument is played differently and sounds different. This is a tremendous revelation!

I don't know about anyones else, but each time I learn to play a different instrument I don't have to relearn standard notation, I just have to train my body to make notes on that instrument. That is the cool thing about our notation system and why serious musicians should make the effort to learn it.

 

[metron]

AI generated nonsense. It might not be worth dissecting.

 

[waveman]

Notes are still notes. The thing missing is the expected transposing ability of the player to figure out where it fits the instrument and the role it is playing.

 

[turf3]

On the 2 x 2 quadrant this one falls in "Neither Important Nor Urgent" quarter.

I think the terms of art are "truism" and "tautology".

Or in more colloquial terms: "THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!"

 

[Lobster11]

Notes written in standard notation are very much not "physical maps." On a bass, for example, you can play any particular note in multiple places on the fretboard. For stringed instruments, TAB is a "physical map" and has a different purpose.

So, I completely disagree with the abstract/theoretical argument here. However, the practical advice might be sound: i.e., that you can learn to read faster if you consistently apply it to a particular instrument.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Notes written in standard notation are very much not "physical maps." On a bass, for example, you can play any particular note in multiple places on the fretboard. For stringed instruments, TAB is a "physical map" and has a different purpose.

So, I completely disagree with the abstract/theoretical argument here. However, the practical advice might be sound: i.e., that you can learn to read faster if you consistently apply it to a particular instrument.

That is a very good point, and perhaps that is what the OP was trying to say, except in Klingon?

 

[el murdoque]

I don't really follow. I thought this was leading towards those weird (for the uninitiated) notation kinks the horn players have.
But then the author references to Bass, Guitar and Piano - and there is no dispute. A note, in bass or treble clef, will be the same thing on all these instruments. With one exception: While the piano only has a single key for any given note, a stringed instrument might have multiple ways to play that note.
You can play that particular G by playing the open G string, the D string 5th fret, the A string 10th fret or the E string 15th fret on a regular bass. If you have a five string, you could even do B string 20th fret. The context will usually tell you which note to pick, but even though there a a few notes you can play in four different positions on a regular 4 string bass guitar, they are all the same note.

If you can sight read on a bass guitar and play complicated stuff right off the sheet, you actually employ three things:
1.your technical ability on the instrument,
2. your knowledge to read music
3. your knowledge of where to find that music on the fretboard.
These are three independent things.

 

[mambo4]

"no pure note" is just a poorly communicated way of saying
"some instruments are played transposed vs the literal notated pitch."
anyone who plays a horn or went through a chior class would have no trouble with the concept.

I agree that learning to read with instrument in hand is preferable
But at some point, especially as a beginner. you have to resort to Good Boys Do Fine Always to get it right - and get past such mnemonics.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

"Universal note". This is the first time I've heard of such a thing. It sounds like some New-Agey kind of thing. Should I be grabbing some tin foil for a hat and cleaning my navel for a deep gaze?

 

[Smooth_bass88]

First off, fB is full complete idiots. Unless the person pushing this false narrative is an esteemed music teacher, ignore them, log off of fB, and go learn how to read music from a REAL music teacher

 

[J Wilson]

If that's true (NOT), then it must be a real party in a symphony orchestra, what with the slide 'bone player, the tympani drummer, and the flutes reading . . . the same notation for their various instruments and their parts in a given piece.

I've played with everything from master-degreed North TX grads to utter garage band hacks for over 40 years, and this is the first time in my life I've ever heard the phrase 'universal note'.

I was trained as a classical pianist and at one time years ago, I read both clefs as easily as a newspaper. When I began to learn bass guitar, my Chuck Rainey method books were all written . . . in the same notation. Hmmmm.

And today was going so good . . .

 

[Element Zero]

 

[lestratele]

"no pure note" is just a poorly communicated way of saying
"some instruments are played transposed vs the literal notated pitch."

I also wonder if this was "poorly communicated" way of saying the bass is a transposing instrument.

 

[J_Bass]

Doesn’t make any sense.

A note is a frequency. If you put a tuner and play the same note in different instruments, the tuner will always give you the same answer.

 

[KidAmnesia]

Kinda disagree, Not strongly, because the existence of transposing instruments kinda makes a point for the not universality of notes; but otherwise, this is a weird take.

If you can already read music, you don't have to learn how to read again every time you pick up a different instrument.