Do you read music?

gonzo914 · Post by **gonzo914** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:24 am

What is the difference between ancient Greek and alto clef?

Some people can still read ancient Greek.

And I can read music much better than I can play it.

falkbeer · Post by **falkbeer** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:47 am

BillChin wrote:I can work through it, but it is painful. I believe I am "dot dyslexic," and that a good percentage of the population is that way. That certain people just have a very difficult time processing the dots, just as some have a difficult time with printed letters.

Actually, often dyslexic people have no trouble reading music! (and chinese writing)

falkbeer · Post by **falkbeer** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:03 am

mutepointe wrote:my big skill in reading music is sight transposition. on the whistle and flute, i can read a piece of music in Ab and play it in G and Eb in D or C. i would actually have quite a bit of trouble actually playing the song in Ab. on a harmonica i have to transpose everything in my head to the key of C and use the harmonica in the right key. it's still too big a jump for me to get from G to C. when i play the guitar, i transpose the chords and have very little clue which key i'm going to. i just know the song is easier to play. why play something in C# when it can be easily played in C?

i play with a small group of folk musicians and sometimes we use different sheet music in different keys and we converge to one single key. sometimes we don't converge well. playing in 2 or 3 different keys at the same time is immediately obvious.

edited and added: and on the keyboard, i can play in what i call the opposite key. for example, sheet music written in the key of 5 b's can be played the same in the key of 2 #'s. i'm a slacker through and through.

Yes I see what you mean. D flat major becomes D major and A flat major --> A major. This is very convenient! I believe the trick to transpose music at sight is to pretend you are singing from sheet music. Not to think that a particular fingering on the whistle is a particular note but rather thinking "one fifht up" or "one minor third down".

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:25 am

With a great deal of shame I voted A Little. I am a little north of that. I can sight sing, but I have no idea if I'm on key or not. I can sight read simple tunes. Fancy time signatures throw me off. Too high or too low (too many bars under the note) really confuses me. I like to hear the music at least once in order to truly understand.

I used to be so much better. Who knew you could actually forget how to read music. I've had to claw my way back to as bad as I am. I'm good enough for the Irish stuff though.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:57 am

Diane, I just noticed your tag line and checked out some tunes. It appears you have very squeeky lips ... or perhaps a parrot, but I'm going with squeeky lips.

djm

sbfluter · Post by **sbfluter** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:22 pm

djm wrote:Diane, I just noticed your tag line and checked out some tunes. It appears you have very squeeky lips ... or perhaps a parrot, but I'm going with squeeky lips.

djm

I have 3 parrots and 4 budgies. The one you hear is a blue crowned conure.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 12:36 pm

Ah, I see. Two lips versus three parrots; I really didn't stand a chance, did I?

djm

evenstr · Post by **evenstr** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:38 pm

If I have heard the song recently, I can sight read almost perfectly (although whether that's technically sight reading is beyond me). If I know the song, but haven't heard it within the last, oh, 24 hours, I can do fairly well. Without knowing the tune, I play the song all wrong, although it is an excellent way to write music. I picked "very well", because I did play in my school band for four years, but I truly was a bit helpless until I knew what the song was supposed to sound like.

TheSpoonMan · Post by **TheSpoonMan** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:16 pm

I said "very well", but I'm a bit below that... but definately not "a little". there's a HUGE gap between your "a little" and "very well"... I bet a lot of people are in between those two.

Caroluna · Post by **Caroluna** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:21 pm

"a little"

This is something I've wanted to get better at, for years and years. Just like wanting to lose weight, or to organize the basement. Someday!

Definitely gets better if I keep at it very regularly.

The best I've ever been was when I was working on learning the alto part to Handel's Messiah (participating in a choir) and spent lots and lots of time listening to the CD while following the score. The patterns really started to jump out at me. During that time if I heard other music being played I would actually see notes streaming by-- just like in Fantasia.

Of course, who knows if they were the right notes or not

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:30 pm

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫ ♪ ♫

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:02 pm

My sight reading depends on the instrument- on piano pretty well, depending on the type music and degree of difficulty- on whistle I prefer to learn a tune by ear because it is often not written as it is played, but I can sight read it decently and the same is true for pipes. I'm currently learning to read drum scores because I'm playing percussion in the local orchestra for the first time and those squiggles and Xs are a whole new world for me.

WhistlingArmadillo · Post by **WhistlingArmadillo** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:05 pm

Between "a little" and "very well", and it depends on the instrument I'm playing (recorder -- closer to very well, whistle -- somewhat south of that, harp -- down to "a little"). It helps if the tune only has quarter notes, no rests, and is in 4/4 time

The breakthrough on the whistle came when I realized that that covering six holes produces a D just like it does on the soprano recorder...

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:10 pm

gonzo914 wrote:What is the difference between ancient Greek and alto clef?

Some people can still read ancient Greek.

I actually can read both alto and tenor clef--comes from my euphonium upbringing. Over the course of my college performance career, I had to become fluent in all four clefs, which comes in handy since I can now play most instrument parts on the euphonium, once I do the math and figure out which clef to read it in.

Tom (a certified music geek)

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:55 pm

I speak fluent tenor clef from my time as a bassoonist.