This post was prompted by a Tweet:
“a singing teacher who can’t read music?! SERIOUSLY!? How can these people trade? Isn’t it regulated somehow? #music #education #Norfolk”
… and the discussion that followed.
So what is the role of notation in learning music?
This was a very hot topic on my music PGCE.* The class I was in was very varied and included people with a “classical” training who had studied performance at the Birmingham Conservatoire as well as people with a music technology background and others with a degree in pop music. It is a fascinating topic so I thought I would write down my take on it.
Notation is a good thing…..
It may not be perfect, but it is an international standard that allows people to exchange musical ideas. There are places where it is essential – could you imagine a choral society performing the Verdi Requiem or a student learning a Beethoven piano sonata without using a score? And for people who are learning an instrument and working their way through instrumental grades, learning to read music is an integral part of the skills that they are learning. Arguably the exam system isn’t suitable for everyone, but for a many people it provides goals, feedback and develops performance skills.
So what is the case against…..
Learning to read music isn’t easy, and isn’t always appropriate. For instance, rock/pop guitar styles do not lend themselves to being written down in notation…..
Main riff from Black Sabbath’s Paranoid…
When a 12 year old budding rock start wants to learn to play guitar, learning notation is unlikely help him or her at the start. Tabs and chords will be much more useful. Or in another context, everyone can sing but many who would like to do not read music. So if they want to join a choir should we suggest that they learn to read music then come back when they can do it? This would be to deny a lot of people the opportunity to make music. Obviously there are choirs where music reading is essential because of the complexity of the music, but there are also plenty of very good choirs who do not use music.
So there are times when notation is not appropriate and the idea of reading music can become a barrier to making music. Reading music is often compared with learning to read text, but we don’t learn to read until we have a good grasp of language. In a similar way the budding guitarist or the singer who can’t read music might find it useful to learn to read music as their musicality develops.
So, should we be shocked about the music teacher who can’t read music?
Well that depends! Surely no-one should teach in an area where they don’t have the subject knowledge. If they are teaching in a context where it would be reasonable to expect that the pupil would work from music, for example teaching flute or violin as a peripatetic school music teacher, or any context where the pupil may well want to take grade exams, then I don’t believe that they should teach without being able to read music. However in other contexts, particularly when learning music from traditions or on instruments where notation is not the norm (for instance folk music or world music) it would be completely acceptable or even normal that the teacher didn’t read music. Would we say that an African acapella group should not give a singing workshop if they can’t read music?
Never the twain? (An afterthought)
The (musical) world is made of a wonderfully diverse range of people with many different talents and skills. There are lots of great examples of projects where different traditions are brought together (Beardyman at the Proms, Buena Vista Social Club, Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo etc). We should embrace and celebrate musical diversity and not take sides or judge. I get equally frustrated by people saying that reading music is for snobs in ivory towers, or by people looking down on musicians who don’t read. We should celebrate and enjoy good music and good musicianship!
[*PGCE is the teacher training qualification for English and Welsh state schools]
Martin Jones 