The printed music is the roadmap through which all musicians adhere to, and when you learn to read music you will know the very meaning of the phrase “being on the same page”.
Music is a language unto itself. Given that, how can you communicate if you cannot speak it?
Imagine a choir singing without a written score! Impossible. As far back as we can research, some sort of written notation existed to pass the singing of a generation to the next one, as well as teaching people to sing together.
Before learning to have a musical conversation one must learn the language basics.
Simply put, if you cannot read you will never be in any ensemble that requires it. We could really stop right there.
reading music is essential to understanding theory. All of the structure of chords, melody, harmony and so forth can only be understood completely through the written note. Music theory is the building blocks of harmony and melody and must be understood first. It may seem hard, but it is worth the effort.
You can learn music by only reading it like you would a book. When you follow music you can learn a song without an instrument in your hand. If you can read music you can go straight to the book and get all of the basic information on your own. Have you ever learned a song from someone else and not known if you got it right or got all of the information you need? If you can read you can learn a song much faster and more completely without having to play a cd over and over and wonder if you got it right.
Know the way the author of those songs meant for them to sound. This is a very fascinating aspect of reading music. If you learn the music from the written page straight from the authors’ mouth, as it were, you know how he meant it to sound. He may have phrased it differently or wrote it on a different instrument or in a different key. In “Georgia On My Mind” by Hoagy Carmichael, for example, no ones plays the intro. If you only know a song because of a certain recording, chances are good that you do not have a complete picture. Think about how you would feel if you were a songwriter and no one ever performed the song the way you wrote it all the way through.
If you can read, you can discover new music. It is a wonderful thing to “discover” music just because you are leafing through a songbook and you find something that really speaks to you. I have found many songs this way. These are songs that I absolutely love. I would never have known they existed without being able to read.
Discover new music you would never know otherwise. Everything you learn is hard at first but soon it becomes a delight and fun. Think of how hard it was at first to ride a bike and how many times you fell over.
You may be suprised how much better you become when you can read music. Are you prepared to discover new music, perform with people you might never have met otherwise, speak with authority about the origins and intent of a particular piece of music or composer? Learn to read music, you will not be sorry.
