Originally Posted By: JimFogle
I've known some fine musicians that originally learned music by ear and very few of them ever got good at site reading. They can study a piece of sheet music and get an idea of what to play but have great difficulty playing note for note if site reading.

On the other hand I know some fine musicians that can grab a piece of sheet music, set it on a stand and sound like they have played the song forever. But, take away the sheet music, tell them the key signature for the song and start playing and the musician can not play along.

Obviously the ability to play by ear and the ability to sight read are both important skills to have but it appears to me that once a musician learns proficency at one skill the musician has extreme difficulty developing the second skill.

One of the things I use to most admire about the Tonight Show band and Paul Shaffer's Late Show band were both bands had musicians that could sight read or improvise as needed.

Thoughts or comments?


The majority of players I work with are both good sight readers and good improvisers. Good examples are the service bands, especially the ones in D.C. The ability to both sight read and improvise are high in demand. The ones who do both work the most in the D.C. area. Ray

Last edited by raymb1; 10/06/15 06:30 PM.
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