I don't think there's any conflict. It's like language - speech is basic for communication, writing is a useful way to reach more people over longer periods.

People who can only play from music may be defensive and claim it's best, but people who can do both understand that you can only interpret and make new music well if your listening skills are fully developed, and you've therefore acquired the ability to go straight from ear to finger or voice box via the subconscious - when you want to, that is.

Playing from music is only ever a shortcut to someone else's ideas. It's practical in ensemble situations, but it encourages you to play the way someone else thought it might sound good - rather than the way you feel it. (You can soon tell, in a session, who's learned a tune from a book but has not learned to listen to the other players around them). Playing from dots tends to limit the imagination, and inhibit that essential connection to the player's soul - and to other players. Dots are great if you're arranging for a brass band (as I am at this moment) but it's always best if you can play by ear too. And to do that you need to learn it first or you're likely never to acquire the skills, because you feel you can do it already.

And in folk, in particular, the aural tradition is the main stream.

The great thing about the melodica (and the piano - or even electronic keyboard) is that all the notes are laid out in a row - and there are no 'hidden' octaves or duplicates. You can see and feel the intervals, and therefore start to understand chords and harmony instinctively. There are no tuning issues, but you do have to breathe - which again helps you to feel the music inside.

Tom (who's just wasted a pleasant half hour on the tenor recorder - which I don't play anything like often enough)!