To Read Dots or Not Read Dots: Is That The Question?

I heard an interesting comment the other day (and not for the first time). Two friends were discussing music with a couple of other people; the exact subject matter I do not know, but what I heard was familiar ...

"Well, if they can't read music they are not a real musician."

Now I don't know about you, but I don't respond well to those sorts of comment. I think it's a bit like someone saying, "If you don't understand how an engine works then you can't drive a car" or "If you don't understand how electricity is generated, you can't switch on a light bulb."

Sure, understanding about engines and the generation of electricity is very important to the designers who create these things, but for the consumer? I know reading music is an important skill for many, but what about those great musicians who have never seen a musical note? Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Art Tatum (arguably one of the greatest ever jazz pianists) are/were all blind, but few would say they were not musicians because they couldn't read music.

I have a couple of friends who are totally blind who also have perfect pitch so they can sit down in any situation and play along with whatever is playing, without having to be told that it is in B-flat or whatever. They don't read it, they hear it. So I guess they could use a counter-argument and say, "Unless you have perfect pitch you can't be a true musician because you have to read the dots to play the tune."

As with all arguments, there are flaws from both sides; flaws which seem to relate more to human insecurity than anything else. We are not always comfortable with views or abilities different from our own and in defending our corner we often unintentionally alienate others.

Surely the issue isn't whether one can read music or not, it's more a case of whether one can make music (as opposed to just playing the instrument). The difference between these two is light years apart, and I know that in any situation I'd rather play with passionate, non-reading musicians than sight-reading automatons with no feel.

Thankfully, most of the musicians I work with are musicians first and foremost some of whom read and some of whom do not. And those who read? It is well down their list of priorities for playing. They see it as a tool not a dictum!

Drummer Joke

A man goes into a shop and says,

"I'd like a pair of 13-inch Zildjian KZ Custom hi-hats, a 16-inch Sabian AAX Ozone crash, a 22-inch Paiste Signature ride cymbal and a Wuhan 14-inch China. Oh! And could you throw in a pair of Vic Firth 5A sticks and a 14-inch Remo Ambassador coated head please."

The assistant behind the counter looked at his customer with a puzzled expression and said, "Are you a guitarist?"

The customer smiled and said, "Yes, how did you know?"

The assistant replied, "Because this is a fish and chip shop"

Practice

Today's entry is short and to the point ...

A couple of quotes which I hope you will find helpful and thought-provoking:

"It's not practice that makes perfect, but the right kind of practice that makes perfect"

"The difference between an amateur and a professional is, an amateur practices until they get it right, a professional practices until they can't get it wrong"

Lessons from a Master

Earlier in my playing career I had the privilege of taking lessons from one of the true characters in the drumming scene. He wasn't renowned nationally but on the local scene he was called simply Mad Bob.

His technique was awesome and his ability unquestionable. Bob was able to play, beat for beat, many of the best-known pieces by his hero Buddy Rich. Bob was the driving force behind many of the big bands and brass bands in the region. Always a spectacle, his trademark beaming smile visible amongst the blur of arms and sticks, a smile that clearly demonstrated his passion and ecstasy as he sat behind the band, pushing the music along, stabbing with the horns, giving everything to the music and people he loved.

The main lesson I learned from Bob was his passion for playing, his passion for teaching, his passion for life.

Years later I had the privilege of visiting Bob at his home, just before he passed away. A man now ravaged by an illness that took his voice, his strength and co-ordination, and that could have so easily taken his dignity. But deep in his eyes burned that same fire that had burned through those previous years. Nothing inside Bob had changed, except now he was also at peace with his Maker.

The creativity and drive came from his heart and his inner passion and was inextinguishable to the end.

I hope that in my life and playing, I can show something of the passion and commitment that I learned from my friend and teacher, the late, great, Mr Bob Nutt.

Happy New Year

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives ... so goes the saying.

A new year with new potential and new opportunities. Some will come our way; some we'll have to go out and find; some will be expected and others will be out of the blue.

In whatever shape today finds you, remember that 2008 is a year in which we can all make a difference in some way.

• Perhaps it's learning something new ...
• Perhaps it's being able to play something we've never been able to play before ...
• Perhaps it's just picking up a pair of sticks and making our very first sound from a drum ...

Whichever way we make a difference ... whether to our own life, or to the lives of others ... let's try to make sure that 2008 is a year we can look back on and say, "Something special happened that year!"

How Do Bands Stay Together?

Today's entry is very short ... Check out this link for really good, sound advice from experience on why some bands are so good, and how they stay together at all!

Tick! Tock! Is That The Ticking Of A Clock?

No! It's the sound of a metronome or click.

The very name metronome or click strikes fear into the heart of many musicians. Their reasons are many ...

"It steals my creativity"

"I can't get into the groove"

"It's too rigid"

"It takes all the feel out of a song"

"It makes us sound like robots playing along to a computer"

Most of these comments come from having heard bad reports from other musicians, from a position of ignorance or day I say it, in some cases from a position of arrogance ("I don't need a click track").

I'm not going to talk about the finer details of playing with a click as that's covered on the main website, drummers see here and percussionists see here, but I would like to share a couple of things that have really helped me.

1. Playing against a click track takes familiarity and experience i.e., practice. It is very rarely that drummers instantly take to playing with a click ... and the same is true for many other musicians, although those playing melodic instruments may be more used to it having practiced against a metronome or recorded against one in their home studio. The more you play with a click the better your 'internal clock' becomes, so that even if you're playing without a click, your timing becomes much better.
   


2. Sometimes playing against a single click (crotchet click) can be quite difficult, particularly at slower tempos or in a different style such as swing. In these cases I try a couple of alternatives; a) I set the metronome at double speed so that you get quaver clicks. This is very helpful at much slower tempos as it gives a better point of reference for where you are, and b) I have a cheap (ca. £15) metronome/click that has different styles of click as well as different time signatures. So you can set the click to play in triplets, quavers, dotted quavers etc which I find really helpful with feel.

I have always found it helpful to have the click playing through headphones (preferably semi-open or open back) as it is more immediate in your hearing. The downside is that people often have the volume at rhino-stun level which can seriously damage their hearing very rapidly.

As you practice you will find playing in time with the click easier. I would advise not setting the volume too high for two reasons: i) Your hearing, and ii) you become less dependent on the click and more able to listen to your playing so as to maintain feel. You may find that you start with the click a little louder and then decrease the volume as you become more experienced and used to it.

A good tempo to start with is between 100 and 120bpm and then reduce this by 10bpm each time. Play against each tempo until you are comfortable with it and able to stay in time. Try a range of tempos right down to 40bpm. try also increasing the tempo up to your maximum capability. Drop back 5bpm, play until comfortable (e.g., 10 minutes) and then increase the click back to your maximum and try again. By using this method of pushing your tempo a little you will find that over time your speed and accuracy improves. You will also feel more comfortable across tempos.

Be aware that there will be some tempos you find really hard to play at a constant speed ... these will be different for each of us, but these are the ones that need most practice. Persevere and don't give in ... you will get there eventually.

Good luck!