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Who doesn't read music?

#141
I have been playing for 40 years and do not read music nor do I really understand theory. I have toured and write and do music for several television shows. I have tried to learn to read several times and despite having an IQ of 147 and being a member of Mensa, I just don't get it. My business partner is the Chairperson of a department at Berklee College. He made a couple of comments regarding my playing. First, he told me that if I learned theory and learned to read music, that he feels that I could play with anyone. Second, he told me that I probably do understand theory otherwise I wouldn't be able to play the way I do and I wouldn't be able to write music. He said he believes I understand theory very well, it's the terminology that I need to learn.

Many musicians do not read music, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Lindsay Buckingham, Gene Simmons, Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson are just some of them. In an interview in 1980, John Lennon said, “None of us could read music… None of us can write it. But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they [Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr] are as good as anybody.”
 
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#142
In defence of tab... I've I been thinking recently that I shouldn't be ashamed to use tab. The thought came to me that a number 3 on a bottom line of tab is no worse representation of G than a blob on a line of a stave - if you know the fingerboard and don't need to share a score with other instruments.

Background: although I learnt the mechanics of reading notation, really I started with tab on guitar as an easy shortcut to learning songs. Then figuring out accordion parts by ear I used notation to write them down for my own use. But I still can't sightread. Now my favourite is probably a score with notation and tab.

The ideal would be to be able to sightread, no doubt. For this casual time-poor dabbler though, I'm thinking I might stick to tab and stop feeling bad about it...
 
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#145
I can read bass clef notation, but not fluently enough to sight read new material on a gig. In any case, it is virtually never needed for the gigs I do. On the other hand, I read chord charts fluently and often do so on gigs when necessary. For my main band I much prefer doing the bulk of our material from memory.

FWIW, I have a guitarist friend who has been a mainstay in the Nashville studio world for over thirty years. I asked him if he reads music. He said “Yeah, but not enough to hurt me none.”
 
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#146
Kmonk said:
I have been playing for 40 years and do not read music nor do I really understand theory. I have toured and write and do music for several television shows. I have tried to learn to read several times and despite having an IQ of 147 and being a member of Mensa, I just don't get it. My business partner is the Chairperson of a department at Berklee College. He made a couple of comments regarding my playing. First, he told me that if I learned theory and learned to read music, that he feels that I could play with anyone. Second, he told me that I probably do understand theory otherwise I wouldn't be able to play the way I do and I wouldn't be able to write music. He said he believes I understand theory very well, it's the terminology that I need to learn.

Many musicians do not read music, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Lindsay Buckingham, Gene Simmons, Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson are just some of them. In an interview in 1980, John Lennon said, “None of us could read music… None of us can write it. But as pure musicians, as inspired humans to make the noise, they [Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr] are as good as anybody.”
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You definitely understand theory. You know what a perfect cadence is, you've probably played a ton of them, you just maybe didn't know it was called that
 
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#149
Although I have a ludicrous amount of formal education, none of it is in music. I'm self-taught in just about everything musical (which explains my atrocious hybrid upright technique), although I audited some courses on music history, orchestration, and theory when I was a doctoral student in science and the Faculty of Music was willing to humour me. Although I started out playing country and rock, all by ear and not knowing a lick about music theory or practice, I made a decision about 10 years in to learn to read music. That grew into a long history of playing with big bands and in music theatre, both of which I continue today, as much as anything to keep my reading chops sharp. My current big band sight reads a lot of material while sorting out performance repertoire and I'm happy to be able to do that as needed, especially to be able to read jazz rhythms without having to think about them—it's all kind of hard-wired memory now, not computing on the fly. The music theatre stuff is very different: often not in the usual flat keys for jazz and often in oddball, moving time signatures and so on. I'm rehearsing Seussical The Musical at present and it seems to mostly be in 5 flats or 5 sharps, moving back and forth between cut time, 4/4, 3/4, 12/8 and often a few bars at a time. Again, I enjoy being able to do that on the fly. By contrast, in small ensemble jazz I start out reading charts and quickly memorize the changes so I don't need to look at them, other than for arrangements and to remember what key we're in. When I get eyes up I can find fluid lines through changes and have a prayer of sounding semi-competent in a solo. In my rock cover band, I'm the only guy (other than my drummer buddy who doesn't read) who keeps no notes and works entirely from memory through a big song list. Is it good to be able to read? Yeah, certainly for certain kinds of things where it's the minimum standard to be able to do the gig. It's not for everything, though, and I really enjoy not doing it, just feeling the groove, and enjoying the moment.
 
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#151
I learned to read some music when I played cornet in middle school band, but I've forgotten most of it. All those Italian words. . . .now I just say "faster" or "slower". I can figure out the time signature of most songs, except maybe some jazz. I play 99% by ear, though.

If you are going to be a classical musician, it's a must. For most of us, I don't think it matters that much. I'll take a player who feels it over a player that reads it any day. A lot of classically trained musicians can't improvise.
 
#152
I know the notes on both clefs but never really studied it enough to play along with anything faster than a snail towing a hummer.
I am now practicing to overcome that. Thus far it has not been as much of a hindurance as my music theory knowledge has been and even as basic as that is, it too has not stopped me as like an earlier poster I tend to learn things by ear really well.
 
#153
My (decaying daily) reading skills:

- Capable sight reader in bass & treble clefs. (Though not simultaneously - my piano skills are uh.... wretched, I think the word is?) Had a lot of gigs back when in studio and orchestra because I was an excellent reader. Still capable, but less fluid than I once was from lack of practice.
- Can read tenor clef badly. Way out of practice - grinding away at the top end of classical db was a long time ago now.
- I'm a marginal hack at reading alto clef.
- Used to read chant notation but can no longer tell my pes from my torculus. (Learned for a class in university & summarily forgotten.)

GT
 
#154
I can read music, but not at speed anymore. It's a good tool to have even if you don't do reading gigs - it really helps with learning real book stuff or trying to work out a solo based on another instrument's chart. When I was in school, high school and college I could read pretty well in all clefs - but that was on horns. My neck gaze makes it real hard to site read on bass - at least so far. It's one of those things that gets minimal attention right now because of other needs. I have gone so far as to write out my parts for my original jazz project, but honestly other than the rhythmic notations, I recall faster by just looking at chord symbols - the sheet music can get me lost if I try to read it in time....I guess this happens after a 30-40 year layoff.
 
#155
Can read a jazz chart, and pick my way through a simple melody. But nothing complex. I'm older now and am NOW getting more and more into the theory of things and find it fascinating. I just wish I had this thirst for the knowledge of it when I was younger and could retain it better. I also like the analysis YouTube videos that are popular now from people like Adam Neely, Rick Beato and the 12tone guy. Even when they deep-dive into theory and leave me in the dust with understanding, I kind of get the "gist" of it.
 
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#156
When I took piano lessons many years ago I discovered that I am a VERY slow reader. I believe this is because I possess an (overly) analytical brain; I'm an engineer by profession. :D:(

So, I was never able to get past the step-by-step thinking process of ... the key signature is ..., the sharps and flats for this key are ..., the written notes are on the 3rd line, 5th line, etc. In other words, the instant note recognition (for lack of a better term) escaped me. Having said that, however, I do think reading one note at time (bass) would be easier than reading chords, so I'm thinking about possibly getting into reading when I retire and have the time to pursue it.
 
#157
lfmn16 said:
Now that I'm taking lessons to improve my keyboard skills I'm reading more, but one of the things that I found very useful about being able to read music was being able to write out a tricky passage. In my old age, I'm finding my memory is not what it once was, not that it was ever all that good. Being able to write something out and glance at it before I play it makes it quicker, for me anyway, to commit it to memory.
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Actually, that sounds like a good idea. I know I've seen multiple people here on TB say that writing music can be a big help with your reading skills, so that would serve two purposes.

Actually, I also heard something similar from my dad recently. He's 91, started playing his violin again 6 years ago after not playing at all for over 60 years, and joined a band after practicing for a few months. He recently started transcribing the violin charts for himself and the other violin player from the piano music the band director uses and said his sight reading has noticeably improved since he started doing that.
 
#158
What really forced me to work on my sightreading was working for a big band ( Billy Ledbetters in Houston circa 1998).

Before each gig, they would give you two large boxes of scores for your instrument. The conductor would call a chart number , you would pull it out the box, play it and put it away. Some were familiar , some were only played once. Repeat 5 to 8 times an hour. The sheet music went back in the trailer after the gig. So i read everthing I could to avoid the embarrassment of a 17 man train wreck. I got the job by playing the rehearsals and gigs the main DB player couldnt make.
 
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#159
I am a self taught bassist. I learned to read (if you can call it that) about 40 years ago. So as you should be able to tell, I am not at all good with it. Charts are a different story. I am proficient at those!My 3 guitarists, Organ player and even my drummer are highly proficient at reading, so I am the odd duck. But,I have been with them for 20+ years. I must be doing something that is acceptable
 
#160
Goofball Jones said:
Can read a jazz chart, and pick my way through a simple melody. But nothing complex. I'm older now and am NOW getting more and more into the theory of things and find it fascinating. I just wish I had this thirst for the knowledge of it when I was younger and could retain it better. I also like the analysis YouTube videos that are popular now from people like Adam Neely, Rick Beato and the 12tone guy. Even when they deep-dive into theory and leave me in the dust with understanding, I kind of get the "gist" of it.
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Yea, we don't retain it as easily, but after a lifetime of playing, you probably have a better context for understanding it. You can read about theory all day long, but if you don't have actual playing experience, it's hard to know how to apply it. To be a well rounded musician, IMHO, you need theoretical knowledge and the experience to know how to apply it.
 
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