Quote:

One of the problems with being a good reader is that you find out just how many piano arrangements are just plain crap.

Many is the time I've been hired to accompany a singer, like for a wedding, she comes in the door to rehearse holding printed sheet music. And the stuff on the page is so simplified in nature that I typically end up not sight reading, but embellishing like crazy anyway.

--Mac



SO true! Regarding sheet music...I'm sure there are the good, the bad and the ugly versions but I agree with you that most of them fall between bad and ugly. Maybe the relatively simple pop and country stuff is OK but even there, I've seen some real stinkers!!!

So, back on topic...assuming jazz...pop...country at least, your theory and technique "saved the bacon" lots of times as you point out.

Classical music which I know sadly too little about may be a whole different ball of wax...but for the rest of the music genres (most of them anyway) give me a player who knows all the chords...and their inversions that compliment rather than "stepping on" the other instruments...who can solo over the changes in an interesting way.... and who has RHYTHM chops and I couldn't care less if he can read the title of the song!!!!

NO disrespect to advanced readers....TRUST ME....NONE!

What a GREAT skill to have in your bag of tricks.

I guess that how this relates to BIAB would be its great role of assisting the practice process...including sight reading if you wanted to use it for that.

(-:

Jim