Comments on: Learning NOT to read Music: A classical “note reader’s” voyage into the art of improvisation http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/ The Personal Blog of clarinetist Anthony McGill Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:07:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: James http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-164 James Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:17:48 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-164 As waves of sound Creating tides bound Splashing against your mind Memories of time Vibrations unfold Of stories untold Imagination radiating Since of experience accelerating There is a constant throb of sound Were a message can be found Listen closely and you may hear All dimensions of your life- Very clear........ MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC Thanks Anthony for the wonderful music you give to the WORLD!!! jmcg As waves of sound
Creating tides bound
Splashing against your mind
Memories of time
Vibrations unfold
Of stories untold
Imagination radiating
Since of experience accelerating
There is a constant throb of sound
Were a message can be found
Listen closely and you may hear
All dimensions of your life-
Very clear……..

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC

Thanks Anthony for the wonderful music you give to the WORLD!!!

jmcg

]]> By: Noam Sivan http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-153 Noam Sivan Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:41:00 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-153 Little did I foresee the consequences of our casual train conversation a few months ago! Anthony, this article and your journey are truly remarkable. I appreciate your attitude very much. Not many people would take this risk: with your ability to play so beautifully, with years of reading notes and developing technical security, with your already very busy performing schedule in the world of written music - to venture into the unknown takes real courage. But discovering one’s own creativity does add another dimension to being a musician that cannot be attained otherwise, and I’m very glad that you decided to go in that path. I’d be happy to improvise with you any time, let’s just do it some time soon and see how it goes. And by the way, the Curtis students who had just “learned not to read notes” did wonderful things on stage during their first-ever improvisation concert last week. Classical musicians have much more creative energy inside them than the world commonly allows them to express. Once given a chance, they can change that world. Little did I foresee the consequences of our casual train conversation a few months ago! Anthony, this article and your journey are truly remarkable. I appreciate your attitude very much. Not many people would take this risk: with your ability to play so beautifully, with years of reading notes and developing technical security, with your already very busy performing schedule in the world of written music – to venture into the unknown takes real courage. But discovering one’s own creativity does add another dimension to being a musician that cannot be attained otherwise, and I’m very glad that you decided to go in that path. I’d be happy to improvise with you any time, let’s just do it some time soon and see how it goes. And by the way, the Curtis students who had just “learned not to read notes” did wonderful things on stage during their first-ever improvisation concert last week. Classical musicians have much more creative energy inside them than the world commonly allows them to express. Once given a chance, they can change that world.

]]> By: Anthony http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-96 Anthony Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:50:35 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-96 Stefan this is great. I think that having these conversations is the key to growing constantly as a musician. If we stop discovering we stop changing. If we stop changing we are stagnant as people and musicians. You're right about both being able to create beautiful music and that is the very important thing. I want just to do more music making in general and expand the depth. Will email you soon. Stefan this is great. I think that having these conversations is the key to growing constantly as a musician. If we stop discovering we stop changing. If we stop changing we are stagnant as people and musicians. You’re right about both being able to create beautiful music and that is the very important thing. I want just to do more music making in general and expand the depth. Will email you soon.

]]> By: Anthony http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-95 Anthony Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:46:34 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-95 Thank you for this Emily. I think that the video is wonderful. I think that it is not reading the music that is a problem nor interpreting it because as she says in the video, this is a fluid thing. I think what I learn from the video is that you can produce and create your own sounds and experience by listening. This is very important because she explains you can listen with your body and feet and everything. This is very interesting. I will explore doing what I do when I play written music to what I do without music. Experiment. Experience. These are the reasons that I am doing more things that are free. It will not only improve my improvising skills but my reading and learning of new music as well. I love when she says I need the reason. The reason is to say something through music. I love this and completely agree. Thank you. Thank you for this Emily. I think that the video is wonderful. I think that it is not reading the music that is a problem nor interpreting it because as she says in the video, this is a fluid thing. I think what I learn from the video is that you can produce and create your own sounds and experience by listening. This is very important because she explains you can listen with your body and feet and everything. This is very interesting. I will explore doing what I do when I play written music to what I do without music. Experiment. Experience. These are the reasons that I am doing more things that are free. It will not only improve my improvising skills but my reading and learning of new music as well. I love when she says I need the reason. The reason is to say something through music. I love this and completely agree. Thank you.

]]> By: Emily Mingjing Huang http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-89 Emily Mingjing Huang Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:44:39 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-89 This is video is a deaf percussionist talking about how to "listen" to music and how to experiment new methods of playing. http://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html I think listening and experimenting is are relevant to your problem of reading the music to hard and perhaps feel distant from the actual music in the score. Let me know what you think :) Emily This is video is a deaf percussionist talking about how to “listen” to music and how to experiment new methods of playing.

http://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html

I think listening and experimenting is are relevant to your problem of reading the music to hard and perhaps feel distant from the actual music in the score.

Let me know what you think :)

Emily

]]> By: Stefan http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-87 Stefan Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:24:13 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-87 Well.... so much of classical music originated in improvisations, and since it was before the time or recording devises, the only way to archive the music of such master improvisors as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart etc. was to write it down. There's a mysterious gray line between a great improvisor and a great note reader, and both are able to create beautiful music. Really, at the end of the day, the listener doesn't care, and it's up to the performer to make great music. The main difference, as Carolanne mentioned, is that improvisors also utilize composition. But performance is about magic and make-believe, and a great performer makes another's composition theirs while they are on stage, so it really doesn't matter anyway. I would love to jam with you sometime! Let me know, we could play some improvised duets! email me. and also be sure to come out and sit in with Tin Pan sometime, we'd love to play with you. Well…. so much of classical music originated in improvisations, and since it was before the time or recording devises, the only way to archive the music of such master improvisors as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart etc. was to write it down. There’s a mysterious gray line between a great improvisor and a great note reader, and both are able to create beautiful music.
Really, at the end of the day, the listener doesn’t care, and it’s up to the performer to make great music. The main difference, as Carolanne mentioned, is that improvisors also utilize composition. But performance is about magic and make-believe, and a great performer makes another’s composition theirs while they are on stage, so it really doesn’t matter anyway.
I would love to jam with you sometime! Let me know, we could play some improvised duets! email me. and also be sure to come out and sit in with Tin Pan sometime, we’d love to play with you.

]]> By: Clifton Hyde http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-85 Clifton Hyde Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:45:47 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-85 Anthony, Great reading this. It was a great night in Williamsburg & I'm looking forward to getting you and Stefan playing together. I'm inspired to write about my opposite path: learning by ear at age 5 & teaching myself to read music in college! Until then, -c l i f t o n Anthony,

Great reading this. It was a great night in Williamsburg & I’m looking forward to getting you and Stefan playing together.

I’m inspired to write about my opposite path: learning by ear at age 5 & teaching myself to read music in college!

Until then,

-c l i f t o n

]]> By: Anthony http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Anthony Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:51:35 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-83 Not too long at all Carolanne. I've been swamped with moving and playing so haven't been to the site at all recently. Thank you for your thoughts! Not too long at all Carolanne. I’ve been swamped with moving and playing so haven’t been to the site at all recently. Thank you for your thoughts!

]]> By: Carolanne http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-80 Carolanne Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:05:29 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-80 A.N. raises an interesting theory. I home schooled my 3 children (still working with the youngest.) My son is 15 and has highly-functioning autism. To hear him play the piano is a thrill; to watch him is profound, as he looks as though he's been playing for absolute years! He is self-taught, and as such he doesn't really read notes, time sigs, etc.; at least not in the manner my daughter learned. She's 18 and is a music-reader. Now, I my opinion, she has MORE freedom due to the discipline of note-reading AND the ability to "improvise;" I would make her notate any improvisations she wanted to add to the piece. She (a clarinetist and pianist) can play anything you place before her, whereas my son must listen over and over to a piece before he can play it perfectly. I think my daughter improvises by "seeing the notes in her head" and—totally familiar with the pitch—she plays these improvisations or ad libs. This is to say that I wouldn't look for an easy way out. I am not familiar enough with (haven't tried) the Suzuki Method to have a knowledgeable opinion; however, I'd take the long road AND script my improvs, at least until I felt secure. That way you retain the strong ability to read and add another discipline to it: COMPOSITION. Just because something seems "natural" shouldn't make one envious. I always think of Aretha Franklin. She grew up around music in her home and church (exposure) and had lessons from the church pianist (some technical ability). Her seeming improvisations are actually studied in the sense that she uses her repertoire of hundreds of improvisational riffs as she sings. Sarah Vaughan, same thing. If you are familiar with their music, you know what they are going to do next, how they are going to bend a note, etc. As with Luciano; I can sing a cadenza along with him, from a piece I've not heard him sing before, and get it right 99% of the time because I know his style. I know Mirella's style, Sills, etc. I am a learned-by-ear lyric coloratura, and when I first heard that Luciano didn't read music, I decided I NEEDED TO LEARN. I mean, he was one of the best and his background was steeped in music, he had other strong, technically- sound abilities, but I believe that if he had been able to read music we would have heard a much larger repertoire from this great man. (I also think Maestro Levine was frustrated about Luciano's lack of note reading ability.) In conclusion (finally!), Mr. McGill, I think you should ask your girlfriend if anything I said here applies to what she's learned, and if you haven't heard Wynton Marsalis on the subject of improvisation... You're in the same bldg. aren't you? Run upstairs and have a chat with him. You'll be surprised; I think he would agree with me. A.N. raises an interesting theory. I home schooled my 3 children (still working with the youngest.) My son is 15 and has highly-functioning autism. To hear him play the piano is a thrill; to watch him is profound, as he looks as though he’s been playing for absolute years! He is self-taught, and as such he doesn’t really read notes, time sigs, etc.; at least not in the manner my daughter learned. She’s 18 and is a music-reader. Now, I my opinion, she has MORE freedom due to the discipline of note-reading AND the ability to “improvise;” I would make her notate any improvisations she wanted to add to the piece. She (a clarinetist and pianist) can play anything you place before her, whereas my son must listen over and over to a piece before he can play it perfectly. I think my daughter improvises by “seeing the notes in her head” and—totally familiar with the pitch—she plays these improvisations or ad libs.
This is to say that I wouldn’t look for an easy way out. I am not familiar enough with (haven’t tried) the Suzuki Method to have a knowledgeable opinion; however, I’d take the long road AND script my improvs, at least until I felt secure. That way you retain the strong ability to read and add another discipline to it: COMPOSITION. Just because something seems “natural” shouldn’t make one envious. I always think of Aretha Franklin. She grew up around music in her home and church (exposure) and had lessons from the church pianist (some technical ability). Her seeming improvisations are actually studied in the sense that she uses her repertoire of hundreds of improvisational riffs as she sings. Sarah Vaughan, same thing. If you are familiar with their music, you know what they are going to do next, how they are going to bend a note, etc. As with Luciano; I can sing a cadenza along with him, from a piece I’ve not heard him sing before, and get it right 99% of the time because I know his style. I know Mirella’s style, Sills, etc. I am a learned-by-ear lyric coloratura, and when I first heard that Luciano didn’t read music, I decided I NEEDED TO LEARN. I mean, he was one of the best and his background was steeped in music, he had other strong, technically- sound abilities, but I believe that if he had been able to read music we would have heard a much larger repertoire from this great man. (I also think Maestro Levine was frustrated about Luciano’s lack of note reading ability.) In conclusion (finally!), Mr. McGill, I think you should ask your girlfriend if anything I said here applies to what she’s learned, and if you haven’t heard Wynton Marsalis on the subject of improvisation… You’re in the same bldg. aren’t you? Run upstairs and have a chat with him. You’ll be surprised; I think he would agree with me.

]]> By: David Thomas http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/learning-not-to-read-music-a-classical-note-readers-voyage-into-the-art-of-improvisation/comment-page-1/#comment-72 David Thomas Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:07:16 +0000 http://anthonymcgill.com/blog/?p=65#comment-72 Hey Anthony, It takes some courage to write about this. I, too, am discovering that I have somehow missed, without knowing it, improvising. I have just begin to play around with some of the many "jazz minus one" series of Jamey Aebersold. And it feels GREAT. I hope you continue to explore this, even if secretly, because it can be a wonderful "escape" for us square, classical "by the book" note players. Best Wishes, David Thomas Principal Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio) Hey Anthony,

It takes some courage to write about this. I, too, am discovering that I have somehow missed, without knowing it, improvising. I have just begin to play around with some of the many “jazz minus one” series of Jamey Aebersold. And it feels GREAT. I hope you continue to explore this, even if secretly, because it can be a wonderful “escape” for us square, classical “by the book” note players.

Best Wishes,
David Thomas
Principal
Columbus Symphony Orchestra (Ohio)

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