9 ms·

> Instead of looking at a measure as a collection of individual notes that must be perceived, interpreted and executed in sequence, they take it in as a chunk.

by _gabe_ 3y ago

> Instead of looking at a measure as a collection of individual notes that must be perceived, interpreted and executed in sequence, they take it in as a chunk. I’m not professional, but I have been playing for awhile and can sight-read fairly easily. What you said here is 100% true, and I liken it to learning to read a language. Watch how kids learn to read, they have to look at each syllable and letter and sound out each word. Eventually, after enough practice, you don’t read individual letters, you read words. Then, you begin to observe the nuance of the grammatical structure. I feel like reading music notation has followed a similar trend for myself. I no longer read individual notes, I see chords and progressions. Just like stories tend to follow a plot line, and you can predict how the story may end, music follows a plot line, and you can predict the movement. This is also why certain styles of music is so interesting! We expect the plot to move in a direction and then are surprised by the twist. This video by 8 bit music theory gives a good overview of how that can be done[0]. I especially love when I’m playing through a new piece and every part of the song just makes sense. Yiruma’s music in particular feels very natural for me, and it’s an absolute joy to play through the song and have it all flow together so well. Anyways, I think a lot of people just don’t give it enough time and give up a bit too early. It’s magical when you pass that point of reading individual notes and enter into the territory of really reading pieces. I still have so far to go, but music will always be a relaxing and fulfilling hobby. [0]: https://youtu.be/gzK1CTxxRH0?si=H3aUQo83lVl-2BQK https://youtu.be/gzK1CTxxRH0?si=H3aUQo83lVl-2BQK

smeej 3y ago
I took nine years of piano lessons as a child and quit because I thought learning to read music should follow the progression of learning to read words. After nine years, since I couldn't just sit down with music and play it, I thought I must be completely inept because I still "couldn't read." It wasn't until well into adulthood that anyone told me sight reading like that (i.e., sit in front of unfamiliar music and just play it) is actually a rare and exceptional skill. Since then, I've been assuming it must not follow the "learn to read letters" path at all, but now you have me wondering if the reality is between these two ideas, and my dual misconceptions have more to do with never having actually "learned" to read in any ordinary sense. One day when I was 3, my mom finished reading me a story, and I said it was my turn to read the next one. I read the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that. It all sort of clunked into place at once. It also made me an unusual reader, which I also didn't know at the time. While I can read words one at a time, like when I have occasion to read aloud, by default, I read chunks of the paragraph/page at once. I don't subvocalize the words. I just know what they say. My brain apparently just handles letters and words funny. Your comment is so helpful for me because it's helping me realize I may just need to learn to read music the way most people learn to read words, and it's not useful to think of it in terms of how I did!

by _gabe_ 3y ago

smeej 3y ago

I took nine years of piano lessons as a child and quit because I thought learning to read music should follow the progression of learning to read words. After nine years, since I couldn't just sit down with music and play it, I thought I must be completely inept because I still "couldn't read." It wasn't until well into adulthood that anyone told me sight reading like that (i.e., sit in front of unfamiliar music and just play it) is actually a rare and exceptional skill. Since then, I've been assuming it must not follow the "learn to read letters" path at all, but now you have me wondering if the reality is between these two ideas, and my dual misconceptions have more to do with never having actually "learned" to read in any ordinary sense. One day when I was 3, my mom finished reading me a story, and I said it was my turn to read the next one. I read the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that. It all sort of clunked into place at once. It also made me an unusual reader, which I also didn't know at the time. While I can read words one at a time, like when I have occasion to read aloud, by default, I read chunks of the paragraph/page at once. I don't subvocalize the words. I just know what they say. My brain apparently just handles letters and words funny. Your comment is so helpful for me because it's helping me realize I may just need to learn to read music the way most people learn to read words, and it's not useful to think of it in terms of how I did!