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Why cant we all read?

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#101
shadow_FIX said:
Uh, well I plan on settling down eventually, and I plan on having all of those things you mentioned. I plan on getting a graduate degree once I get my undergrad, which in itself would land me a full time career at a university if I wanted it. I do my 3 hours in addition to going to school more than full time, working part time, and having a mild social life.

It is possible, you just have be really good with time management.
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...and have no other hobbies, and hopefully a non-working wife (or at least a very understanding one), etc.

Normal schedule for me...

6-6:30
get up and get myself ready for work.

6:30-7:20
Get the kids up, get the kids ready for school.

7:20am - everyone out the door

7:20-5:30 WORK

5:30pm-7pm
Get home from work, eat dinner/clean up, check/help with kids homework (and on tuesdays coach kids basketball team)

7:00-7:45
house cleanup with kids, washing dishes, other household chores

7:45-9pm
More cleanup, get kids stuff ready for next day, household projects (yard work/maintenance, car maintenance, etc.), prepare lunches for next day, do laundry, etc.

9-11pm
If household chores/cleanup finished = wife interaction time

11pm - sleep.

Now squeeze some gigs and rehearsals in there, kids basketball games on saturdays, kids school events, family events, doing repair work on my mother-in-laws house/car/everything else...
 
#102
Tampabass said:
No point/counterpoint needed. Yet another tiresome thread on a subject beaten to death.
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Being found wanting is tiresome, isn't it?
:D

If you genuinely believe that learning to read music doesn't open doors for any musician, and that the benefits don't outweigh the costs, then I can't help you.
Click to expand...

I don't need your help and if that's what you got from gleaning my posts vs. actually reading them, thanks for not helping. Your incorrect use of absolutes is the issue as I pointed out. You continue to do it with this post.
:D

Do you understand what the word "any" means? That would include all musicians. Your need to deal in absolutes nullifies your position.

I've said it COULD help. You say it WILL get you work. In fact more work. Sorry, that's just plain silly.

You're welcome.
:D
 
#103
Brad Johnson said:
I would think that Kraig was referring to playing the note that was needed vs. actually naming the interval through theory.

Then again this could be one of those situations where the different sound of the diminshed 7th vs. the major 6th would be debated.
:cool:
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i have no intention of debating anything like that. im too busy reading music ;)

just kidding. i guess my example only matters to people who want to learn some theory without reading.
 
#105
Reading is needed for a career in music???

That's pure balderdash and poppycock.

Paul McCartney can't read a note, and last I checked, he seemed to be doing relatively well, career-wise.

Chris Squire of YES doesn't read at all, and yet music is his career.

Geddy Lee doesn't read, and yet I haven't seen him having to clip coupons for this weekend's sale at Walmart.

There are way too many other examples as well. Saying that reading music is a prerequisite for a career in music is utter nonsense.
 
#106
It's pretty simple: people who see the need and have the desire do, while people who don't see the need and don't have the desire don't.

Some people are perfectly happy playing 3-chord songs in their garage. Some of us want to go farther and do/be something.

Personally, even though I'd like to make my living playing music, I don't have a lot of desire to give up my engineering career or the time with my family to play professionally (the few pros who live in NM travel probably 85% of the time). However, I DO have the desire to play with the best local players and that means reading.

And while I believe it's a great tool, I'm not gonna bash the next guy who's ignorantly bliss as he pushes out roots notes to CDs in his living room. Just means more opportunities for me.
 
#107
Lateralus_cl said:
Those for which costs exceeded benefits, they choose to keep on playing without learning how to read. And THAT's why very few people who know how to read music tell you it isn't worthy.
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Except that if one chooses not to learn to read then they have very little information with which to draw a conclusion. On the other hand, if someone takes the time and effort to learn to read and says that the costs exceed the benefits then they do so with the requisite information and experience.
 
#108
Aborg, I probably won't practice 3 hours a day for the rest of my life. It's what I need right now, to give myself the best possible chance of getting for myself what I want from my career. I used to have hobbies all over the place, like skating, working on cars, tinkering with electronics, among other things. I pushed these out to make room for my lifelong love of music. Yes, my wife will have to be a patient understanding person, but professional musicians have personal lives too. It's just a matter of finding the right woman, and she is somewhere...will probably end up being another musician at the rate I'm going. ;)
 
#109
SactoBass said:
Reading is needed for a career in music???

That's pure balderdash and poppycock.

Paul McCartney can't read a note, and last I checked, he seemed to be doing relatively well, career-wise.

Chris Squire of YES doesn't read at all, and yet music is his career.

Geddy Lee doesn't read, and yet I haven't seen him having to clip coupons for this weekend's sale at Walmart.

There are way too many other examples as well. Saying that reading music is a prerequisite for a career in music is utter nonsense.
Click to expand...

You've cited a few examples that happened to make it in their niche of music. You increase your chances of making a career with music exponentially by reading.
 
#110
zenman said:
I can read, but I rarely have the need to do so and consequently I'm not very good at it.

However, I've played a lot of gigs without ever having been handed a sheet of music. In fact you would have a hard time even finding sheet music for most of the tunes that I know. Personally, I think a good ear is a much more valuable skill.

Finally, maybe its just me, but I really have a hard time memorizing a song that I've learned by reading. Songs that I've picked up by ear are no problem, but if I've learned a song from paper, I really have a hard time playing without that sheet in front of me. Anyone else find that true?
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Repitition would likely help in that case. The songs I've learned by ear have been learned largely without touching my instrument. Burned into memory (makes transposing a piece of cake). By the same token when you're playing a fresh arrangement from the page you don't really have to learn it to get by. But playing it more than once could help burn it into memory.

I'm lucky in that whenever a "secret" is unlocked (how a tune goes for example) it usually sticks.
 
#111
shadow_FIX said:
- I used to have hobbies all over the place, like skating, working on cars, tinkering with electronics, among other things. I pushed these out to make room for my lifelong love of music.
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Yeah, I used to have all of those too.

Then I had kids.

I used to:

Play in a rock band
Play in an orchestra
Sub a couple times a month
Bowl on two leagues
Snowboard 15-20 times a winter
hunt
fish
and practice about an hour a day.

Now, I:
Play in a rock band
hunt
fish

...and I have way LESS free time left over now than I did then.
 
#115
aborgman said:
...and have no other hobbies, and hopefully a non-working wife (or at least a very understanding one), etc.

Normal schedule for me...

6-6:30
get up and get myself ready for work.

6:30-7:20
Get the kids up, get the kids ready for school.

7:20am - everyone out the door

7:20-5:30 WORK

5:30pm-7pm
Get home from work, eat dinner/clean up, check/help with kids homework (and on tuesdays coach kids basketball team)

7:00-7:45
house cleanup with kids, washing dishes, other household chores

7:45-9pm
More cleanup, get kids stuff ready for next day, household projects (yard work/maintenance, car maintenance, etc.), prepare lunches for next day, do laundry, etc.

9-11pm
If household chores/cleanup finished = wife interaction time

11pm - sleep.

Now squeeze some gigs and rehearsals in there, kids basketball games on saturdays, kids school events, family events, doing repair work on my mother-in-laws house/car/everything else...
Click to expand...

Sometimes you just want to sit down and catch your breath.
 
#117
Brad Johnson said:
Once again, it depends on the career you want.
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That's an excellent point, Brad. I could be a bit off base here, but it is my perception that focusing on reading music for bass would help those interested in a career as an on-call "session" musician in recording studios, and for those more interested in making it REALLY big, the focus should be more on writing good songs and playing bass notes that fit the song the best, like Paul Mc does.....which is pure talent!!
 
#118
aborgman said:
...and have no other hobbies, and hopefully a non-working wife (or at least a very understanding one), etc.

Normal schedule for me...

6-6:30
get up and get myself ready for work.

6:30-7:20
Get the kids up, get the kids ready for school.

7:20am - everyone out the door

7:20-5:30 WORK

5:30pm-7pm
Get home from work, eat dinner/clean up, check/help with kids homework (and on tuesdays coach kids basketball team)

7:00-7:45
house cleanup with kids, washing dishes, other household chores

7:45-9pm
More cleanup, get kids stuff ready for next day, household projects (yard work/maintenance, car maintenance, etc.), prepare lunches for next day, do laundry, etc.

9-11pm
If household chores/cleanup finished = wife interaction time

11pm - sleep.

Now squeeze some gigs and rehearsals in there, kids basketball games on saturdays, kids school events, family events, doing repair work on my mother-in-laws house/car/everything else...
Click to expand...

Let me tell you mine:

Up between 5:30 and 6:00 - help kid the wife ready, make the coffee, get the kids up and ready for school.
8:00 - take my daughter to school (my son takes the bus at 7)
8:30 - 4:00 write articles for bass mags, fill CD and orders for The Art of Solo Bass, Teach privately at my home, in the studio and via SKYPE (depending on the day), practice, write new arrangements, check on social media, youtube, revamp website, follow up on bookings and sponsorships . On Fridays I also run the Music Club at my son's school.
4:00 get my daughter from school. If I have a gig that evening, I'll grab a nap.
6:30 Dinner with the family, hopefully
7:00 household chores, chillin' (if I'm not gigging)

On the occasional Friday, I'll blow off for some skiing in the winter or flyfishing in the spring. Of course, summer, when the kids are home from school it is much less hectic than that ;)
 
#120
Mike Dimin said:
Let me tell you mine:

Up between 5:30 and 6:00 - help kid the wife ready, make the coffee, get the kids up and ready for school.
8:00 - take my daughter to school (my son takes the bus at 7)
8:30 - 4:00 write articles for bass mags, fill CD and orders for The Art of Solo Bass, Teach privately at my home, in the studio and via SKYPE (depending on the day), practice, write new arrangements, check on social media, youtube, revamp website, follow up on bookings and sponsorships . On Fridays I also run the Music Club at my son's school.
4:00 get my daughter from school. If I have a gig that evening, I'll grab a nap.
6:30 Dinner with the family, hopefully
7:00 household chores, chillin' (if I'm not gigging)

On the occasional Friday, I'll blow off for some skiing in the winter or flyfishing in the spring. Of course, summer, when the kids are home from school it is much less hectic than that ;)
Click to expand...

And you have a full time musician vs. someone who's not.
 
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