Andrew, While I really agree with you over the importance of being able to both sight-read and memorise I'm afraid that I can only disagree with 'Tablature is a near-perfect medium for sight reading'. To be honest I feel that tablature is a very imperfect medium because it is inherently limited to only being of value to one particular type of instrument and/or tuning. It is also, I feel, rather limited in its ability to convey all the information needed to peform a piece of music accurately - given little more than what notes are played and in what sequence. I would suggest that standard music notation is far closer to 'perfection' as it contains all the information needed to peform a piece on any instrument which can play notes of defined pitches. Also, it is not exactly difficult to learn and you only need to earn it once to be able to use it on any instrument. Okat, that's my opinion on the matter expressed. Kevin. --------------- --- Andrew Hartig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Hi all, > > One thing I forgot to add in my previous message is > that the other > thing I have tried to do of late is to play music > away from the page > as much as possible. Since I have two small children > running around > the house now (one is 3 years old, the other just > turned 1), I don't > have a lot of opportunity to sit down with music in > front of me (and > not have it snatched, ripped, or pages turned when > I'm not ready!). > Instead (since they are still too small to reach the > instrument if I > play while standing!) I spend time playing tunes out > of my head, or > at least trying to "hear" a tune I'm familiar with > aurally and > recreate it on my instrument. > > I have found that this has greatly assisted my > memorization skills in > that I am now equating "sounds" with "locations" > without regard for > notes on a page. It becomes the synthesis of body > and mind! This is, > of course, what all good musicians do (instinctively > or otherwise) > and is also the basis of improvisation. I use this > technique along > with the hearing/visualizing I mentioned earlier. > > Of late I have been sight reading the tablature to > get a sense of > what the piece is supposed to sound like. Once I > have the "piece" > committed to memory as "sound," I spend the rest of > the time seeing > if I can figure out how to recreate that sound on > the instrument > until it is memorized. In some instances this has > resulted in me > fingering phrases differently than the notation > (which, once I've > discovered this, allows me to look back and see > *why* it may have > been written the way it was) or playing runs or > other phrases in the > spirit of the piece rather than what is written (the > "making music" > not "making early music" that Kevin referred to > earlier). > > I could not agree with Guy more about the importance > of sight reading > skills. Tablature is a near-perfect medium for sight > reading; > unfortunately, I feel too many (myself, for one!) > have probably > fallen into the trap of not being able to escape the > reading! > > Two more cents for a total of four from me, > Andrew > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
