4 ms·

99% of the people who play in bands have no idea how to read a score, let alone sight read.

by erfgh 8y ago

mb_72 8y ago
I don't think this is true - in my experience almost all guitar players, for example, can read tab and I've played with many who can read scores and sight-read to a degree; OTOH, I've only played with very few who were good enough to do everything by ear. For one thing, not being able to read any kind of material (tab / scores / chord progression) means you can't play unknown songs without making a bunch of mistakes. Further, while tab doesn't really convey accurately a piece of music, a score (with all notes written note) can very precisely. There is a huge advantage in being able to sight-read a musical score, and no disadvantage at all by having this ability, so why not learn?
dmead 8y ago
This is false. Reading tabs counts for something and people generally get some kind of musical education albeit at an early age. Sight reading (the strict definition) is irrelevant to the analogy.
alkonaut 8y ago
If they want to get hired for playing with someone else they still need to communicate using a common language with those they are working with. For someone asked to be a guitarist on a tour that’s likely a combination of verbal communication, sheets with tabs or chords etc. I’d say most people playing claviature in bands probably read musical notation, but guitarists, drummers etc just don’t have the same need (so many pop/rock acts simply have no need). The thing with notation in scores is that it’s nearly a complete mysucal description; someone given a score could play in a orchestra without sharing any other language. For programming there is no other way of communicating than a shared verbal language. A team can easily use any language but it needs to be a common language. Tooling and documentation will also most likely be in English. So while it’s possible in some parts of the world to software development without knowing English, it’s clearly a handicap. We use English for communication even though we have another shared first language.
dvirsky 8y ago
Right. I've played in bands and produced a couple of records, and while I used to write score for programming music into a sequencer app, I've never used it to communicate with any musician I've worked with. At most you write down the the chords to a song. Outside of Jazz and Classical it appears that everyone is playing by ear.

99% of the people who play in bands have no idea how to read a score, let alone sight read.

by erfgh 8y ago

99% of the people who play in bands have no idea how to read a score, let alone sight read.

I don't think this is true - in my experience almost all guitar players, for example, can read tab and I've played with many who can read scores and sight-read to a degree; OTOH, I've only played with very few who were good enough to do everything by ear. For one thing, not being able to read any kind of material (tab / scores / chord progression) means you can't play unknown songs without making a bunch of mistakes. Further, while tab doesn't really convey accurately a piece of music, a score (with all notes written note) can very precisely. There is a huge advantage in being able to sight-read a musical score, and no disadvantage at all by having this ability, so why not learn?

dmead 8y ago

This is false. Reading tabs counts for something and people generally get some kind of musical education albeit at an early age. Sight reading (the strict definition) is irrelevant to the analogy.

alkonaut 8y ago

If they want to get hired for playing with someone else they still need to communicate using a common language with those they are working with. For someone asked to be a guitarist on a tour that’s likely a combination of verbal communication, sheets with tabs or chords etc. I’d say most people playing claviature in bands probably read musical notation, but guitarists, drummers etc just don’t have the same need (so many pop/rock acts simply have no need). The thing with notation in scores is that it’s nearly a complete mysucal description; someone given a score could play in a orchestra without sharing any other language. For programming there is no other way of communicating than a shared verbal language. A team can easily use any language but it needs to be a common language. Tooling and documentation will also most likely be in English. So while it’s possible in some parts of the world to software development without knowing English, it’s clearly a handicap. We use English for communication even though we have another shared first language.

dvirsky 8y ago

Right. I've played in bands and produced a couple of records, and while I used to write score for programming music into a sequencer app, I've never used it to communicate with any musician I've worked with. At most you write down the the chords to a song. Outside of Jazz and Classical it appears that everyone is playing by ear.