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one shocking thing i learned once i got some professional music friends, was that they show up to a live gig without never hearing the music before. they just s

by gcb0 12y ago

one shocking thing i learned once i got some professional music friends, was that they show up to a live gig without never hearing the music before. they just sit in front of the papers and play. with my limited music training, i never thought that was even an option.

tunesmith 12y ago
That's especially common with jazz. Lead sheets are just a bunch of chord symbols and a melody, and if you're in the rhythm section you're not playing the melody anyway. Someone counts off the tempo and you just go. Not to make jazz sound easy; jazz theory is way harder than any of the classical theory you'll learn in college music classes (speaking as someone who aced all the college music theory courses and just can't seem to get a handle on bebop).
analog31 12y ago
I'm just a part time jazz musician with a day job. ;-) Not all musicians can do that kind of work, but I was fortunate to have taken classical musical lessons throughout my childhood, so I've developed and maintained good "sight reading" skills. In any typical mid sized town, there is a small cadre of musicians who handle most of this kind of work. It is a business necessity for any larger ensemble because the chance of keeping (for instance) 19 players together long enough to rehearse everything together is a losing proposition. Likewise, bandleaders who want to be able to ride out personnel changes will make sure that they keep their "charts" in order, so they can call in a sub to read a gig if they need one on short notice in whatever town they're in. But it's definitely a skill like any other, that requires practice to maintain, and where there is always room for development. I can handle most written jazz material, but would have a hard time sight-reading a modern symphonic work. If music is over my head, either from a theory or technique standpoint, being able to read will be rather cold consolation.

by gcb0 12y ago

tunesmith 12y ago

That's especially common with jazz. Lead sheets are just a bunch of chord symbols and a melody, and if you're in the rhythm section you're not playing the melody anyway. Someone counts off the tempo and you just go. Not to make jazz sound easy; jazz theory is way harder than any of the classical theory you'll learn in college music classes (speaking as someone who aced all the college music theory courses and just can't seem to get a handle on bebop).

analog31 12y ago

I'm just a part time jazz musician with a day job. ;-) Not all musicians can do that kind of work, but I was fortunate to have taken classical musical lessons throughout my childhood, so I've developed and maintained good "sight reading" skills. In any typical mid sized town, there is a small cadre of musicians who handle most of this kind of work. It is a business necessity for any larger ensemble because the chance of keeping (for instance) 19 players together long enough to rehearse everything together is a losing proposition. Likewise, bandleaders who want to be able to ride out personnel changes will make sure that they keep their "charts" in order, so they can call in a sub to read a gig if they need one on short notice in whatever town they're in. But it's definitely a skill like any other, that requires practice to maintain, and where there is always room for development. I can handle most written jazz material, but would have a hard time sight-reading a modern symphonic work. If music is over my head, either from a theory or technique standpoint, being able to read will be rather cold consolation.