Reading standard notation

Can you read standard musical notation?

  • Like I read the Sunday paper.

    Votes: 22 31.9%
  • Give me a few minutes!

    Votes: 36 52.2%
  • What do those dots and lines mean?

    Votes: 11 15.9%

  • Total voters
    69
  • Poll closed .

Jcollazo

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I was just reading a post in the Beginner Section about someone wanting to find classical music for the ukulele. This got me thinking about how many people will pick up an instrument, even play it well, but not be able to read music. There's such an abundance of written music out there that for someone wanting to get in deep with their instrument, learning standard notation should be a necessity.

Opinions?
 
But no method books for ukulele. I've asked around, and no one's ever mentioned a method book that uses standard notation for ukulele, where each exercise builds on the last one, and you develop that finger memory that way... like any other method book for any other instrument. No one's done for uke. I freaking hate tabs. I've been sight reading since the third grade and it's annoying to not be able to just pick up a sheet of music and play it on the instrument I prefer. I still keep a clarinet around for that.... or just sing it.
 
good idea

I taught myself to read a year or two ago and certainly use it daily. It's very useful for getting the exact melody down. I take a jazz fakebook and play the melody first and sing along. Then, I sing and play the chords. Sometimes I'll play the chords and throw in bits of the melody line. Reading makes this possible. Before I would sometimes sing the melody in a parallel key that didn't always sound good with the chords,.

Occasionally I still use tab, but when I have both I prefer standard notation because I'm faster reading it. Tab's good for more than one note at a time.

Lutes originally used a kind of tablature.


Curt Shellar's Uke reading book teaches one how to read, relatively painlessly.
 
I taught myself to read a year or two ago and certainly use it daily. It's very useful for getting the exact melody down. I take a jazz fakebook and play the melody first and sing along. Then, I sing and play the chords. Sometimes I'll play the chords and throw in bits of the melody line. Reading makes this possible. Before I would sometimes sing the melody in a parallel key that didn't always sound good with the chords,.

Occasionally I still use tab, but when I have both I prefer standard notation because I'm faster reading it. Tab's good for more than one note at a time.

Lutes originally used a kind of tablature.


Curt Shellar's Uke reading book teaches one how to read, relatively painlessly.

Curt Shellar. Will look him up. Thanks! I never learned to sight-sing until my senior year of high school. Assign solfage to the notes, get your tonic, and away you go. The ear training part of theory courses reinforces that too. I'd love to be able to sight read with a uke though!
 
I studied French for years and can still only ask where the beach is. I have the same problem reading music. Always I find myself counting up the staff, Every Good Boy Does Fine-ing and then immediately forgetting what I'm supposed to have been figuring out.
 
For me, being able to read standard notation is just another tool that I have available.
(I've been doing it for longer than I care to mention here. :D)

On the other hand, I struggle horribly with tabs, to the point that I have rewritten tabs to standard notation.

For my husband, part of the appeal of the ukulele is being able to play music without having to read notation.

IMO, everyone wanting to "get in deep with their instrument" needs to find the path that works best for them. :music:
 
I was in the school band for 7 years, and took private guitar lessons for 6 of those years as well. So I used to be a pro; I could have even told you what all of those little italian words meant. But, it's been 5 years since I read music on a regular basis, so I am very out of practice. And I never liked bass clef. :p
 
I know right? Tabs are the most headache-inducing thing I've ever come across! OTOH, my husband hates any kind of notation and gets it pretty note-perfect by ear. I wish I had his skill at it.

I got that same bass clef problem. I learned it by using that "the name of the note is the one that's a third above it in treble clef" trick, and it never stuck. If I try to plonk something out on piano, the left hand lapses into treble.
 
Thanks for the 'IMO' SailQwest!

Some of us who are Standard Notation-challenged are always looking for 'permission'
NOT to have to do it :) I suppose I'm being lazy, but right now, and for the last 40+ years,
I haven't felt the need to study it. I does seem like a good idea... but for later :)

Strummer that I am, I'm happy to HEAR the music I love, and simply (or not so simply)
endeavor to mimic/reporduce it in a manner that makes sense to me. That's a bit of
artistic license. So if you hear one of my MP3s and it doesn't sound the way you
remember the song, well, that's 'my' rendition :)

keep uke'in',
 
I was in the school band for 7 years, and took private guitar lessons for 6 of those years as well. So I used to be a pro; I could have even told you what all of those little italian words meant. But, it's been 5 years since I read music on a regular basis, so I am very out of practice. And I never liked bass clef. :p

I'm in the same situation as you, except I'm still in band. I can easily translate notes to fingerings on my trumpet, but notes to string/fret combos are a little tougher for me, at least at this point with little practice. I learned tabs from guitar, and I find they're easier to understand, and they're usually the more dominant form of written music for guitar/uke. At least for the songs I play :D
 
Plainsong, I've considered writing a method book. Part of my not doing it is that I have more fun doing what I'm doing at the moment. But you could argue that a method book would get more people into the other stuff I do.

Dunno. When I think of doing it, it's a LOT of work. And a bit ploddy.

I think I'd need to think of a way to make it fun. Hmmmmmmm. Not to mention that it would certainly improve MY technique.
 
I'm kinda in an odd boat on this one. I can read treble and bass clef no problem when playing brass instruments, violin or cello, and when singing (in choir). However, when I'm playing my guitar or my ukulele I can't place the notes on the neck to save my life. It makes no sense to me what so ever. :S
 
I'm self taught at pretty much everything, of course using online "teachers" like UU. I did start out with a couple years of piano. I guess I've always had an inclination towards music, and for awhile I could sight read decently. I've completely lost the ability now. And I've just never felt the need for uke :p
 
IMHO standard notation will kick in as soon as you start playing together with other instruments. As long as you stick to ukes you can probably read/write tabs or standard or whatever - as long as you and your fellow ukers get the meaning of it.
Standard notation gives a much better clue of what the others will be doing/what to expect from them. As the name implies, it is a common standard amongst musicians of all kinds. Must admit that the different clefs and keys do add some challenges though...
Transferring the dots and lines of standard notation into moves for your left hand is "just" a matter of training - and there might not be a single "correct" translation as the most convenient fingering always depends (on the previous and next notes/chords).
I am glad being able to read at least treble clef like a book, wouldn't want to miss it. (But as a clarinet and sax player I might be a bit biased...)
 
Plainsong, I've considered writing a method book. Part of my not doing it is that I have more fun doing what I'm doing at the moment. But you could argue that a method book would get more people into the other stuff I do.

Dunno. When I think of doing it, it's a LOT of work. And a bit ploddy.

I think I'd need to think of a way to make it fun. Hmmmmmmm. Not to mention that it would certainly improve MY technique.

I suppose technically I can put notes on a page and use scale-based exercises that build note by note, but I'm not sure what a good system is. I guess if I knew the system, I wouldn't need the method book. I need something more than just memorizing scales. Like you said, something more fun.
 
I'm kinda in an odd boat on this one. I can read treble and bass clef no problem when playing brass instruments, violin or cello, and when singing (in choir). However, when I'm playing my guitar or my ukulele I can't place the notes on the neck to save my life. It makes no sense to me what so ever. :S

I'm the same way. I was a clarinet player from third grade through college, and I can probably still translate standard notation notes into clarinet finger positions but I can't do that for ukulele. My thought is to learn the fretboard so that when I see a note on sheet music, I can train by brain to find that note quickly on the fretboard. For this purpose, I bought Fretboard Roadmaps for Ukulele, and I also ordered these two free pdf minibooks from Curt Sheller's website on learning the fingerboard for both C and G tuning.
 
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