There is more than one right way to make music.

Plus there are many different skills needed to make music. Improvising, reading, intonation, phrasing, ornamentation, dynamics, innovation, tone, expression, and so many more.

Some people can do very well without knowing all the skills but without all the skills they are limited in some way.

Not reading music is a little like not reading your native language (in my case English).

One can be a decent cook without ever reading a recipe. But without being able to read a cook book, if someone told you they wanted Veal Oscar or Shrimp Scampi, and that cook may have eaten those dishes in a restaurant, it'll take him/her a lot of failed tries and wasted food to get them to taste right. With a recipe it's very possible to get it right the first time.

I'll cite an example I wrote in a corresponding thread.

We had a request to learn "Just Another Day In Paradise" by Bertie Higgins. It wasn't a big hit, and so finding the music was almost impossible. I prefer to have the right chords and then substitute when and if I want to.

The chords aren't difficult at all, and I had what I thought were the right ones but I questioned a couple that worked, but didn't sound quite right.

So I posted on a forum or two asking if anybody knew the correct chords. About a dozen people generously used their ears and took the time to figure out the chords, and I ended up with a dozen similar but different versions of the chords.

I found a used copy on eBay, bought it, and found we were all wrong. Nobody figured these simple chords out right.

In addition the music had the background song-specific licks written in notation, and that saved me a lot of time figuring them out. I changed them to steel drum, changed the feel a little to make it more lively for live performance.

The guy who requested it, a regular customer at a club we played in, liked it, appreciated it, and told us our arrangement was even better than the record.

And I've thought about it a bit since I posted that. Every person who gave me the chords they heard missed a few, and then didn't all miss the same ones. Even a person who I know has absolute pitch (aka perfect pitch) missed a couple.

Also, when I was on the road, I was in a band where everybody, including the drummer read music (the drummer also played marimba and other melodic percussion instruments).

We toured the country, warmed up in concert for famous bands, and were courted by Motown to be the first choice for what eventually became the group Rare Earth. The talks broke down over money, but there was a lot of sheet music, much of it hand written floating around Motown studios. The horn and string parts were played by members of the Detroit Symphony simply because they could read music. Some of what we now call "The Funk Brothers" had jazz gigs outside the studio and could definitely read.

I heard an interview with Paul McCartney on the radio when he was trying to make 'classical' albums like "Standing Stones". He said he wished he could read music, and his 'classical' albums show is love for listening to classics, but his inability to have the skills to write it, even with help.

And George Martin knew how to read, arrange, and had good theory chops. Listen to the "Let It Be" album, produced by another fine producer "Phil Spector" and you can immediately see what George did with the Beatles Songs. He should be listed as a co-writer IMO.

Lynyrd Skynyrd may or may not have been able to read music, but The Swampers who cut much of their music you hear on record certainly did.

The Wrecking crew was mentioned earlier. You can't count the non-reading musicians that were replaced on record by the reading Wrecking Crew, along with Mussel Shoals and other top studios.

When we had an active recording studio in town (before desktop forced it out of business), I was a first call sax player. the most familiar guitar playing regulars all read music.

It's a good skill, and is actually easier than reading English once you get it.

Oh, it's OK not to be able to read music, but it's much better if you can. You might be in good company if you can't, but you'll be in better company if you can.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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