Dimensions of Reading in Music

Being a "good reader" seems to be a rather subjective idea.  As I was growing up I would have said that I was an excellent reader.  I could always read several grade levels ahead and I was able to comprehend most the the material.  I remember reading my older sister's geometry textbook one day.  She was having a difficult time with a certain concept, but I picked up on it just after reading the book.  Needless to say my sister, who is four years older than me, resented me a little after that.  I had the ability to understand almost any text that was placed before me throughout middle and high school.  That all changed when I reached college.

When I began music school, I figured that the textbooks would be rather simple to understand, because I understood conceptually how music worked.  I was very wrong.  My first encounter with this was music theory class.  I wasn't too worried at the time because I had played the piano since I was five and the bass since I was nine.  I felt I had had enough exposure to know what I needed to.  What I didn't realize was I was entering a world of a new language.  I could read the textbook just fine.  I could read the musical passages fine as well, but putting the two together was very difficult.  My comprehension was much lower than I had hoped it would be.  It was difficult for me to admit that I was struggling because I had never struggled in this regard in my life before.  As time went on, I was able to understand how to comprehend theory and by doing so, this transferred to all of my other classes.

Another aspect to consider with being a "good reader" in music is the ability to sight-read.  Sight-reading can be compared to the reading tests that are given in school to see how fast you can read without any mistakes. Often times a new piece is given in an ensemble, but how well can you read it on the first time?  How well can you read it the second time?  Also with reading music, there is an element of repetition that exists with pieces.  When reading a novel, you may learn word by seeing in many different contexts, but in music, the note in the context is what gives it meaning.  It must be considered how well can a person emote the meaning  of the notes, not just understand it him or herself.  In these aspects, after much training, I would say that I am a decent reader, but there is a lot of improvement to be made in the ability to emote what the piece is trying to say.

Moving beyond being a good reader is what do I enjoy reading.  It is interesting that what I enjoy reading both textually and musically have similar characteristics.  The main characteristic is that it offers a variety.  I have read a large spectrum of books from adventure and science fiction to classics and biographies.  I usually read whatever has piqued my interest at the time.  With music this is similar.  I play a wide variety of music in a variety of settings.  I play in large and small groups.  I have played in classical, jazz, rock, and bluegrass settings.  I have even played as accompaniment for a large choral setting.  Each of these situations is enjoyable in its own right.  Because of the enjoyment I find in reading, there has been little occasion that I have disliked the activity.  I can only think of three times that I really disliked reading.  That is when I read Hatchet in the fifth grade, Whirligig in the tenth grade, and A Separate Peace  in the eleventh grade.  None of these books have anything in common except they were required reading and most of the questions associated with the books were subjective.  Even thought they were subjective, according to the teacher they were not.  As far as musically disliking music,  I have enjoyed it mostly, but occasionally there is a piece that is too easy which takes away from the experience.  Also, if a piece is too hard it discourages and distracts.

In order to give students the opportunity to be "good readers" in a musical setting, I need to give them the opportunity to read a variety of "texts."  Students need to be given different genres and styles of music to play so they can find joy in more than just one style of music and be educated in just more than one style of music.  Another important, but difficult, aspect is finding music that is challenging, but not to difficult to learn.  Everyone in the group is at a different level, so how do you reach this balance?  Do you focus strictly on the most advanced students, the least advanced, or do you find somewhere in the middle to teach hoping to reach as many of the students as possible?  Finding the correct music is important in helping students feel they can read and play the music.  This is why a variety of music is needed so different pieces can reach various students at the different levels in which they find themselves.

Music: A School and Home Experience

When considering a prototypical experience I had as a child with my discipline, several experiences come to mind, but there is one in particular that stands above the rest.  The interesting thing about this experience is that is is more of a series of experiences because it happened on more than one occasion.  This experience is that of watching the classic Disney movie Fantasia.

I am not sure why watching Fantasia had such a lasting effect on my life.  My parents never watched it with me.  In fact, they both avoided watching it at all costs.  The sequences of dancing alligators and hippos or the creation and destruction of the dinosaurs set to Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring had no appeal to anyone in my family except myself.  I would watch it often and be excited for each new sequence.  The music told a story.  It was more than just the sound.  The sound represented a an event or an experience.

This experience has perhaps influenced my approach to music more than any other single event.  Whenever I am learning new music, a story is created in my mind.  Music is never just music, it has to have meaning.  Because of this visualization, music became applicable to me in English classes when I was writing papers.  Music became applicable when considering events in history.  As my knowledge of music has continued to grow and expand, it has even begun to influence my views of mathematical and scientific concepts because of learning of the developments of electronic and twelve-tone music.

Another important series of events that influenced my pursuance of music is spending time with my father.  Often times when I am with my father music is a important aspect of the time spent together.  Something important that he always taught me was that all music is beautiful and that you need to give every type of music a chance.

As a bassist, this influenced me significantly.  Whereas many of my colleagues are stuck in one genre of music, I move from genre to genre with great enjoyment and find it an exciting experience to be learning as much about every type of music that I can.  All genres of music can be taught.  It does not need to be limited to the classical world.  The more that a person knows about all genres the more qualified they become in the more "academic" settings of music.

These two series of experiences have already greatly influenced the way that I approach my own music education, now it is just a matter of teaching it to my future students.  Music can be connected to all fields of academia.  It may require special effort to find what interests every student and finding a special project for each, but music is about identity.  For those who find special interest in math, I could have students do a twelve-tone project with using a matrix.  For students who find special interest in English I can give a piece to a student to write a short story related to the piece.  For students interested in history I can go the route of assigning a project related to a specific composer.  Different people identify with different parts of the academic, social, and/or political world.  There is music that represents each of these various ideas, practices, and cultures.

As I plan rehearsal schedules and the repertoire that will be performed, it will be important to consider a wide variety of styles of music.  There are musical elements to be learned from classical, jazz, rock, country, pop, and rap music.  By having this wide selection of music presented, students may feel that their voice is heard and they have more of a presence in the classroom.