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| Author | Topic: Illiterate Musician needs help |
RickSinger
Registered User
Registered:
12/4/2004 | posted: 12/4/2004 at 2:22:11 PM ET
I am drawn to purchasing a Yamaha PRS to solve an embarrassing problem I have had all my life.
I am a competent guitar, sax, clarinet, and piano player, and I've played in musical organizations in my youth, faking reading the music reading the whole time. I've got a good musical memory and when one of the other musicians would play my part I could memorize it and then take it from there.
But when handed sheet music, I could pick out the notes but couldn't put the notes into motion.
I followed the guidance of some of the others posting suggestions about USB compatible equipment and checked out the Yamaha PSR-295
I was thinking I could find software that would displays the sheet music notation as I played, much like a continous version of instanteous lcd display on the PSRs themselves.
I've stayed away from playing music for several decades since not because of musical incompetence, because of deep embarrasment and shame of "faking it".
I've been told I'm above average on the woodwinds (probably because of, not inspite of my illiteracy). I've overcompensated in the emotion and technique to compensate for not being able to read.
I'm self taught and I''ve been playing by ear for twenty five years off and on, but I am essentially notationally illiterate.
I can recognize single notes on a score, distiguish a whole note from a quarternote,I can decode the signature, and read the italian pacing instructions but that about it. I can't understand sheet music notation once the music is "moving" so to speak. That's the best way I can explain my illiteracy.
I am embarrassed to say that I've tried to learn to read music but I've failed to "click". I understand the principles, but it is as if I can recognize individual letter and even some words but I can't read sentances and paragraphs,
I thought that if I watched the notation appear as I played I would learn to read music, much in the same way it is possible to learn a foreign language by watching a foreign language and reading the subtitles in your own tongue.
| Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
205.188.116.x
| posted: 12/4/2004 at 8:39:46 PM ET
I hesitate to reply to someone has talented and gifted as you are. As they say "if it ain't broke,don't fix it". I'm just starting out, started taking piano lessons about 2 1/2 yrs ago and can say it's been quite a challenge.
But I can understand your disire to sight-read. Have you given any thought about formal music studies? Just a thought, it might be faster with all your musical experience. Hope you don't mind this coming from a newcomer. Good luck in reaching your goals.
| Anonymous
Anonymous Poster
From Internet Network:
67.32.171.x
| posted: 12/20/2004 at 3:07:53 AM ET
There is a wonderful company that sells some software that may be of help to you in learning the music notations and the like and it's surprisingly simple and cheap. I myself just purchased it and was pretty happy with the features. It's called Instant Play Piano and is distributed by TOPICS Entertaniment for Etude Software(bought it at Best Buy for $9.99) the ISBN number is: 1-59150-443-0 CS-446. It has a second dic with an application that allows you to hook it up to your midi keyboard and play while it creates notations of your music. You can also play musical games and things on it as well. I use a Yamaha PSR-225GM keyboard and they seem to get along nicely together. My only major problem was finding the darned MIDI cables for the silly thing 
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