5 ms·

If you want a subjective, personal view as anecdotal evidence on this: music IS another language. There are regional variations (Western vs oriental) with the

If you want a subjective, personal view as anecdotal evidence on this: music IS another language. There are regional variations (Western vs oriental) with their own phonetics (scales...) and grammars (rules of harmony, chord progressions). Not to mention that quite a few musicians describe it as a means to express themselves. Reading sheet music is not much different from reading in a different alphabet, music theory is the equivalent of grammar study, and BTW playing by ear is pretty much like the natural language acquisition (the way kids pick up their mother tongue). You'd be surprised how many parallels both in the nature and in the learning process you'll find. Learning music is like learning another language [Source: I'm a multilingual who just started learning to play piano as an adult.] EDIT: formatting

illumen 12y ago
Yeah, music is another style of communication. The industrialisation of music has destroyed a really joyful way for people to express themselves and to communicate with people around them. When musical literacy is lacking in a person it is truly sad. I read somewhere musical illiteracy is around 95% of the USA now. Which is a pretty good market for people who have to buy all their music! When you combine this with no knowledge of food preparation, and no knowledge of the environment, it makes for a pretty poor existence IMHO. Oh well :(
- rprospero 12y ago
  > When musical literacy is lacking in a person it is truly sad. As a member of the musically illiterate, I ask why? From my perspective, it feels like being musically illiterate is like being unskilled in the ceramic arts (which I also am). It's absolutely true that I cannot make music of my own and would be forced to buy all my music. It's also true that I cannot make porcelain figurines of my own and have to buy all of those as well. My inexpensive solution has been to simply not own any porcelain figurines or music. Honestly, between the two, I'd be more interested in learning the ceramic arts at the moment. Not that I really need figurines, but it sounds like more fun and I have some ideas for bathroom fittings. Why should I learn music instead? I'm probably coming off as a bit abrasive and I apologize for that. People have been making music for thousands of years, so there's obviously something neat going on there that I'm missing.
  - thatsjustcrazy 12y ago
    Why don't you just try both?
markyc 12y ago
do you have a tutor or are you learning on your own? can you point me to resources you're using for piano learning for adults?
- tzmudzin 12y ago
  The /r/piano FAQ (https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/wiki/faq) is a great starting point. There's a ton of resources available online, so the trouble is actually in picking the really good ones. Still, if you want to play well, you should probably get a teacher. As for myself: I've started lessons about 6 months of trying on my own. The teacher's role is to point out the small things one does not even notice when learning on one's own -- and those can really make a huge difference. But in the end it is all about the learning process -- seeing what works for you at any given stage, filling the gaps, re-evaluating periodically if your approach should change. And it's a long-time project. Most people become comfortable after 10 years or so of daily practice. So either you're extremely committed/desperate/forced/enjoy the learning process with the long-term goal in mind, or you quit. The specific resources I can recommend are: - Lypur's video courses on youtube (both piano + music theory) - "Piano Handbook" by Carl Humphries - "All About Music Theory" by Mark Harrison - http://www.musictheory.net - Willi Schneider's "Klavierfibel"
  - joshuapants 12y ago
    One important note on teachers: they make you play with the proper form and that makes a huge difference. It makes you less likely to develop an injury, and after you get over the initial hurdle of learning how to make your hands stay in the appropriate positions it makes it much easier to play. Bad technique makes even relatively simple music hard to play.
ianamartin 12y ago
I'd quibble with this a little. I don't think music qualifies as another language in the way that we're talking about. I'd say it qualifies about as much as a programming language does. I don't think anyone would suggest that knowing C++ or Python will make it easier for you to learn Russian. [Source: I was a professional violinist for 25 years before I got into programming.]

illumen 12y ago

Yeah, music is another style of communication. The industrialisation of music has destroyed a really joyful way for people to express themselves and to communicate with people around them. When musical literacy is lacking in a person it is truly sad. I read somewhere musical illiteracy is around 95% of the USA now. Which is a pretty good market for people who have to buy all their music! When you combine this with no knowledge of food preparation, and no knowledge of the environment, it makes for a pretty poor existence IMHO. Oh well :(

rprospero 12y ago
> When musical literacy is lacking in a person it is truly sad. As a member of the musically illiterate, I ask why? From my perspective, it feels like being musically illiterate is like being unskilled in the ceramic arts (which I also am). It's absolutely true that I cannot make music of my own and would be forced to buy all my music. It's also true that I cannot make porcelain figurines of my own and have to buy all of those as well. My inexpensive solution has been to simply not own any porcelain figurines or music. Honestly, between the two, I'd be more interested in learning the ceramic arts at the moment. Not that I really need figurines, but it sounds like more fun and I have some ideas for bathroom fittings. Why should I learn music instead? I'm probably coming off as a bit abrasive and I apologize for that. People have been making music for thousands of years, so there's obviously something neat going on there that I'm missing.
- thatsjustcrazy 12y ago
  Why don't you just try both?

markyc 12y ago

do you have a tutor or are you learning on your own? can you point me to resources you're using for piano learning for adults?

tzmudzin 12y ago
The /r/piano FAQ (https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/wiki/faq) is a great starting point. There's a ton of resources available online, so the trouble is actually in picking the really good ones. Still, if you want to play well, you should probably get a teacher. As for myself: I've started lessons about 6 months of trying on my own. The teacher's role is to point out the small things one does not even notice when learning on one's own -- and those can really make a huge difference. But in the end it is all about the learning process -- seeing what works for you at any given stage, filling the gaps, re-evaluating periodically if your approach should change. And it's a long-time project. Most people become comfortable after 10 years or so of daily practice. So either you're extremely committed/desperate/forced/enjoy the learning process with the long-term goal in mind, or you quit. The specific resources I can recommend are: - Lypur's video courses on youtube (both piano + music theory) - "Piano Handbook" by Carl Humphries - "All About Music Theory" by Mark Harrison - http://www.musictheory.net - Willi Schneider's "Klavierfibel"
- joshuapants 12y ago
  One important note on teachers: they make you play with the proper form and that makes a huge difference. It makes you less likely to develop an injury, and after you get over the initial hurdle of learning how to make your hands stay in the appropriate positions it makes it much easier to play. Bad technique makes even relatively simple music hard to play.

ianamartin 12y ago

I'd quibble with this a little. I don't think music qualifies as another language in the way that we're talking about. I'd say it qualifies about as much as a programming language does. I don't think anyone would suggest that knowing C++ or Python will make it easier for you to learn Russian. [Source: I was a professional violinist for 25 years before I got into programming.]