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Tech: Reading music
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Subject: Tech: Reading music From: Shanghaiceltic Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:32 PM Does not seem to be a suitable thread leader for what I am asking. Apart from lots of listening and practice can anyone advise me on good books that explain music reading and theory in a practical and easy manner. I am more of a percussionist but I want to play other instruments (wind) and I find trying to understand reading music difficult. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: ReeBop Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:39 PM I love the "grimoire" series but they are definately think on yer own kinda things |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Burke Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:41 PM You might want to start with Rick Fielding classic thread: Scared of Music theory? Faggggedaboudit! Tech is not a good prefix for this. A Joe clone will probably take it off eventually. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:46 PM How about "Technique" :-) Robin |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Hollowfox Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:46 PM Pete Seeger wrote a bok called Henscratches and Flyspecks: How to Read Melodies from Songbooks in Twelve Confusing Lessons (Putnam Pubs, 1973). There are books that might help in the public library, at least here in the USA. Try looking up the subject(s) of "sight-singing" or "sight reading music". Good luck. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Les in Chorlton Date: 12 Feb 04 - 04:43 AM I am going through this painful process at an advanced age. All kinds of things make it hard. I suppose the central problem is reading pitch (where the note is on your instrument) and length of note. I find songs most trouble because they don't have a lot going on. Jigs seem best, they go 123, 123, 123 or in my mind diddly, diddly, diddly. Another aspect of jigs is a dotted note followed by a short note, this sounds like der dit. If I look through tune books and find simple jigs with lots of 123 in the end the tune will come out of my Mandola. Hornpipes and polkas have a simple structure. It helps to move from tunes I already have in my head to ones I don't. I recently bought '110 Tin whistle tunes' Compiled by Claire McKenna and published by Waltons, ISBN I 85720 084 5. This has lots of simple tunes and lots a bit harder, it has finger diagrams, music and 2 CDs of the tunes played well, but not too quick. Although I play the Mandola, the book has helped me to move from tunes I know to tunes I have to figure out, This has helped my sight reading quite a bit. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: greg stephens Date: 12 Feb 04 - 05:08 AM Grit your teeth and struggle and it soon comes. remember, it's a lot less complicated than reading words in a book (or a Mudcat thread), and we mostly managed to learn how to do that. Written music's pretty logical there's only a few notes, and the higher ones are written above the lower ones. None of that 26 letters and capitals and stuff. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 12 Feb 04 - 07:46 AM For a beginner, I would suggest a child's book such as a beginning piano book. There are many good ones. Most use examples such as folk songs and nursery rhymes. Some are even written for children as young as 5 who haven't learned how to read words yet. (Clark, Schaum,). Some use pop songs. (Can't think of the author, but music stores would know.) Others are written for Adults and use the skills adults have already acquired in order to present the new material faster in a multikey approach. (Bastien). Also, there are sight-reading exercise books which are very good. A music store which sells instruction books will have many different ones. I think it is important to "count" from the very beginning, so that it is second nature and you can do it unconsciously when rhythms get more intricate. (Many people, especially performers who don't read music, would disagree with me here.) I've seen many adults try to learn to play the piano by reading, and sadly, most were failures. I don't think it has anything to do with ability, but rather priorities. The advice mentioned above by Les about having a CD or tape to play along with is good. There are even sites on the internet which have a playalong feature. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 12 Feb 04 - 08:39 AM There is a set of books on learning the tin whistle which will teach you the basics of reading the treble staff - it also has the finger hole patterns, so that if you just keep looking and playing - it starts to sink in... one is Scottish, one Irish, One Folk, one Traditional - can't find them at the moment. Think of it as an excuse to learn to play the whistle... :-) Robin |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 12 Feb 04 - 10:14 AM It seems to work better if you have other people (or a people substitute) to play with. That way, there's feedback between the eyes and the ears. If you can find someone who reads music already and will play with you that's good. If not, get a music program on your computer, have it play tunes, and play along with it. As your eyes scan the notes, you will hear the timing they produce. What instrument are you trying to play? Spring for a few lessons. Don't tell me you are trying to sight read for singing. That's really hard. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Cattail Date: 13 Feb 04 - 02:19 PM Hi Shanghaiceltic, you might try this site which has three or four programs on there for sight reading. CLICK HERE Hope this blue clicky works, just in case it doesn't. http://www.vocalist.org.uk/downloads.html Hope this helps Cheers Cattail |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: M.Ted Date: 13 Feb 04 - 04:45 PM A problem that I have run into, as far as adults learning to read music, is simply that they get ahead of themselves--they bypass the simple things because they are "too easy" and then get snagged by trying to read things that they aren't ready for yet-- Another problem with folk/pop/rock musicians, particularly with guitar players--is that they have often learned to play by copying what they hear, so they don't think about what they are doing in terms of quarter notes or eight notes, and often not even in terms of A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Biggest problem is that adults often don't have patience to sit down each and every day to practice their reading, which is all it really takes to learn to read music. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Mary in Kentucky Date: 13 Feb 04 - 06:24 PM In teaching adults and kids to read music and play the piano, I found that there is a fast beginning in which a lot of observable progress is made. They learn to read and play simple songs real fast. This phase lasts about a year. Then there is what I call a "plateau" (for those of you who can envision a graph of achievement vs. time). In this phase, the student still puts in the same amount of time, but there aren't those visible signs of improvement. I think the plateau is just something you have to put the time in and get to the end of. Then the next phase is one of rapid visible achievement again. Adults usually drop out when they hit the plateau. Kids often don't have a choice, so put the time in, and eventually start showing progress again. Then again, cookies and bribery help kids. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Frankham Date: 13 Feb 04 - 09:57 PM Shanghaiceltic, My experience is that the best approach to reading music is to practice sight-singing. It's the way to hear what's on the page otherwise it becomes a painting-by-numbers game. To be a reader, I think you need to know your major and minor scales. And to really know them, sing them. Internalizing the music by hearing it in your head is the way to do it IMHO. Studying chord construction and chord progressions also help. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: toadfrog Date: 13 Feb 04 - 10:26 PM It would depend on how sophisticated a knowledge you want to acquire. If you just want to look at books and figure out how the tune sounds, I'd suggest downloading the ABC software, inputting the tune to the software, and listening. Sight-singing, as a way to learn to read music, seems like starting to learn medicine by performing brain surgery. Seems to me the hardest possible way to start anyone could think of. |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: M.Ted Date: 15 Feb 04 - 02:34 PM It really is a lot more trouble to input the tune into abc software than it is just to read it--As to your comments about sight singing--it is not a particularly difficult skill--kids in school choirs learn to sight sing, and we used to teach the orchestra kids to sight sing their parts in preparation for sight reading competition--and orchestral scores are way more challenging than the melodies from songbooks are likely to be. To turn your analogy around a bit, some folks want a computer program that lets them perform brain surgery,without having to learn medicine-- |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: Gypsy Date: 15 Feb 04 - 08:31 PM Lots of good books out there......"You can read music" is one of my favorites. Read ONE page at a time, do not pass go until you understand that page, then move on. It is helpful to have some kind of metronome to keep you honest, or to count out loud, if you can do that in time. I don't sight read fast, but can well enough to decipher the tune, and it gets easier each time. There's only 7 notes to deal with, so easier than the alphabet. Just do it. The written note is the great leveler at any session.......and allows communication for people of varying languages! |
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 15 Feb 04 - 11:42 PM There is no substitute...no drill...no computer quiz....for just settingt down to DO IT!
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Subject: RE: Tech: Reading music From: s&r Date: 16 Feb 04 - 07:30 PM Don't worry about theory - just learn to follow the dots. They're only signs to tell you what to do, and as has already been said, much easier than words and sentences. |
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