Originally Posted By: eddie1261
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I HATE HATE HATE that guitar lesson have devolved into a teacher teaching songs and not teaching MUSIC. <...>


ABSOLUTELY!!! (shouting on purpose).

<minor rant>

I understand that's what many a student wants, and it becomes profitable for the private lesson teacher, but it's just so wrong.

Basic music theory, scales and arpeggios, and all that beginner stuff makes one impatient to play the music he/she wants to play, but it's so important that it should not be skipped.

Remember as a tot how you learned your "ABC's", "What does a G sound like", "What is a verb", "What is a noun" and so on. If you skipped all that, which has become internalized in us, it would be very difficult to read and write.

Oh you could recognize "cat" without knowing what the letters are or how each letter is to be pronounced, but what happens when you see a word you have never seen before?

The basics are the foundation, and yes, it takes more time to get started if you skip them, but it handicaps you so severely that in the long run, if you learn the basics first, you will learn much faster in the end.

And yes, I know you can identify some greats who never learned how to read music, but believe me, they are the exceptions.

Like Eddie, I learned "Every Good Boy Does Fine" in elementary school. They also taught us how to count the note values in 4/4 time. They taught all of us, with no expectation that any of us in the class would become a musician. But back then, the schools gave us a well-rounded education, not just enough to be a productive wage slave to some corporation.

Later they taught us all music appreciation. We identified which instruments were playing which part, and we identified themes and development of those themes.

It wasn't for everybody, but if you teach enough different subjects, each student will find out what turns him/her on. They taught poetry, visual arts, sports, dance, acting, and a few other things that I didn't pursue but I'm glad I learned, along with the science, math, and grammar.

IMO every musician AND every singer should learn music theory. It's our language, and our foundation.

I once worked in a band with a singer who couldn't play a note on a physical instrument, but could talk our language, sing intervals, open a fake book and feed him the first note, and if the song was not too complicated, sight-sing the notes. It was a joy. He was 'one of us' and not only did we learn songs quickly, but he contributed to the arrangements, and everything else.

Don't sell yourself short, learn music theory and how to read music. You don't necessarily need to learn to sightread, although that will come in time, but learn to pick up an unknown piece of music and work through it until you can play it.

</minor rant>

IMO the greatest gift that music has given me is the fact that no matter how much I know, there is always something interesting to discover and learn waiting ahead for me.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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