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There are more important things happening in the world but I just felt like telling the web that I've been learning how to read and write music and it is a very revelatory experience I recommend to all musicians who didn't learn it.
I took piano lessons as a kid but like many kids, theory didn't appeal to me. I learned enough to parrot the proper responses, and the rest of the time I just learned and played by ear. (And I DO think developing your ear is the number one skill so I'm glad of that!)
But I carried that ignorance of music theory and music literacy deep into a full musical career, struggling to communicate or hear the basics of musical performance or composition with bands, string players, people I work with.
I've relied heavily on others and on MIDI to translate my musical ideas into musical language that trained musicians can understand, and this has always been deeply frustrating to me and everyone I work with (sorry guys!!).
But, I refused to educate myself, because I had a dumb confidence that my lack of musical knowledge was part of what made my music good, because some people had said that to me over the years.
I also had a very unfounded idea that learning music was too hard, and was something you had to do in childhood or else, or something I personally had some sort of block or barrier to learning.
In other words, I was wilfully ignorant.
In other words, I was wilfully ignorant.
There are ways in which having a beginners mind can be helpful to composition; never learning guitar or chords and playing in open tunings meant I often used novel voicings that I wouldn't have used if I'd actually learned guitar. This is good!
But in a landscape where wilful ignorance is everywhere, I challenge musicians like myself to not fall back into these defences for not learning music theory or music literacy. It's empowering to learn, and not even that hard; I'd argue it's way easier to learn as an adult.
As an adult, I can actually see how to apply all the knowledge, and it's way more interesting therefore, and I'm way more motivated to learn.
Learning to read and write and understand music even at a very basic level is a really beautiful experience that I highly recommend to everyone who never had a chance to do it. You don't need music theory or musical literacy to write music or play music, but it's so cool!
I love that the independent music scene doesn't require music literacy and isn't snobby in that way, that's such a vital aspect of our scene we should protect.
But it shouldn't be a cover for wilful ignorance of things that are actually really enriching to learn.
But it shouldn't be a cover for wilful ignorance of things that are actually really enriching to learn.
