READING MUSIC - AGAIN
By Kirk Lorange

Here's what I got in my email today from the feedback form at the PlaneTalk site: http://www.lorange.kirk.net

Subject: Unimpressed
Message: Lemme get this straight....You're PROUD of not being able to read?

It was sent anonymously, for some strange reason, so I couldn't respond. I would have pointed out that nowhere at my site, or in any of my columns, do I recommend not learning how to read notation, and while I may be pleased enough with the way my playing career has gone as a non-reader, to suggest that I'm PROUD of not being able to read is just plain silly...some non musician's attempt at being sarcastic. But thanks for the feedback, Anonymous, because it's sparked a few ideas off on the subject.

First of all, of course anyone who plays an instrument would be better off knowing how to read and write notation. No argument there. In the real world however, we all know that there are many musicians out there, many of them very well known, who don't read. Why haven't they learned? Because they love music so much, and their ear for it is so well tuned, and it comes so naturally to them, that reading and writing seems irrelevant. Notation to this batch of players is more of a way of storing music, not playing it. These players are probably more interested in being artists in their own right, and therefore have no need to play written pieces by other composers. They're making their own music.

(It would be interesting to see a break down of fame and literacy in the world of guitarists. I bet a higher proportion of non readers have achieved fame than fluent readers. I say that because players with a real feel for music don't need to read in order to play. They just do it. They love it so much, have such an affinity for it, that it shines through and they get listened too. They do it so well that they become house hold names.)

Players who have less of an affinity for music, less natural talent, often learn notation because they need all the help they can get. They mistakenly think that learning notation will teach them how music connects up. Wrong. I have a friend who can sight read anything and play it on her flute. Ask her to improvise a melody against a chord progression though, and she goes completely blank. She doesn't have clue what to do and finds it incredible that I can sit there all night making up melody after melody. Nothing comes easier to me.

The main reason I don't read and write notation is because I've never had a need to. The career path I chose doesn't require me to read. Any session work I've done, and I've done a lot, was done with simple chord charts. Show me a chord chart and I'll play you any number of, melodies, rhythm parts, solos etc. I get hired for sessions not because I can read what the producer has written for guitar, but because I can save him or her the trouble of having to come up with something in the first place.

Bottom line is this: I, like many other guitarists, took up playing the instrument because I LOVE MAKING MUSIC. The fact that I've made my living from playing is a bonus. I took up guitar rather than the clarinet or keyboards because the players out there doing it at the time were proof that you could play without reading notation, which seemed too much like school. I was happy to figure it out myself, and I had no desire to sight read some one else's music note for note. That to me seemed like reading some one else's poem or something. Just not me.

Since then, I've met countless players who, like me had learned by ear, and were seeking more info. Players who were wondering how music fits together, were wondering what the trick to improvising is. (Improvisation is the exact opposite of notation. You couldn't possibly explain the art of improvisation using notation as a medium.) I wrote PlaneTalk for them. There are hundreds of teaching aids for players who can read, very little for those who don't.

Anonymous, I can only feel sorry for you, that you took the time and effort to report your ignorance to me. I wonder what you do for a living. I doubt very much it's in the field of music, unless (God help your students) you're one of those non-players who teaches guitar. I went to a Mrs Ballard for lessons back in about '64, in Montreal. She told me I had to forget everything I knew, and to start over again. She got me sight read some little classical etudes, which I remembered after one or two playings. All I really wanted was to be up close to someone who could really play. I asked her at the end of the half hour lessons if she could just play me a quick piece. I wanted inspiration. After the third week and the third excuse as to why she couldn't, I realized that she was unable to. She couldn't play!! That was my last attempt at being taught by conventional methods.

One last time: any musician is better off knowing how to read and write notation, but don't let anyone tell you that you have to in order to make music. They're wrong.

If anyone had trouble listening to my off the cuff version of Sailin Shoes, it's fixed now. Go to:
http://hammer.prohosting.com/~kirk49/sailin.html

You can hear my album at http://mp3.com/KirkLorange plus a few other tunes at http://www.onthenet.com.au/~kirkclan/Songs.htm

Dropped D slide lesson and fretscapes at:
http://www.onthenet.com.au/~kirkclan/Slide_Lesson.htm

If you need a site go to http://listen.to/web-music

If you're still wondering what the trick is to understanding music and the guitar (without having to read notation) visit me at http://www.lorange.kirk.net

All the best.
K i r k