Why Learning Notation Will Set Your Music Apart
Comments(0) The most enjoyable thing to do when learning piano is to pull up the piano bench, stretch out the fingers and rip out a song you’ve previously learned, or a solo piece you’re familiar with. What’s not so much fun is staying on piano benches attempting to learn what all the lines and dots of music notation mean, and trying to understand them as quickly as possible. Often the tunes you’re trying to learn will be thrown into a sheet music cabinet, not to be considered until motivation happens to strike again. Is learning to read music all that important? Wouldn’t it just be better to focus on the aspects of playing that is fun and easy?
The answer to that is an emphatic “No”. In order to become a well-rounded player, the tough aspects of music will have to be studied along with the easy parts. But in saying that, I’m misrepresenting the actuality of studying music. The fact is that all areas of musical study can be fun, and as you grow more and more skilled in reading sheet music, you’ll notice yourself enjoying the experience.
The basics of reading music are pretty elementary. The challenge, of course, is learning to understand these symbols well enough so that it grows into something easy.
If you’ve figured to start practicing to read notation, make sure that you do it consistently. Don’t just shove in as much study as you can while your motivated and then dismiss it all until the desire to learn again comes back. It’s better to practice reading notation for ten minutes every day than to practice for a full hour every six days. You want the meanings of symbols to stick in your head the same way language does.
Notice for a moment how easy it is for you to understand everything I’m writing here. If you’ve ever attempted learning a language with a unique set of letters, you’ll know just how hard it can be to get into your brain what those squiggly lines mean. But when you consider reading English, we don’t think of squiggly lines or even single letters, the words just come out at us with seemingly no effort from our brain.
The same is possible| to achieve with reading music notation, and it’s called sight-reading. Sight-reading can only be achieved with the classic method of practice, practice, practice.
Remember, when you find an aspect of music that’s hard to learn, that’s a good thing. The more difficult something is for you to do, the more your brain will benefit from tackling the problem head on. Some players focus on repeating solo pieces they know well and can play fast, while some are always looking for what they don’t know, for what they can do better. This is what separates a great musician from all the rest.
