Reading Music

Learning to read music is more than a technical skill. It is a skill of receiving and presenting ideas. It is a communication. It is a skill of compassion. Because there are so many emotions in music, conveying emotions is embodied in reading and playing the composer’s ideas. It is a skill of interest. It is a skill of puzzle solving. It is a skill of finding one’s way through a maze of symbols to discover what they all add up to. Why bother to learn to read music? You can listen for enjoyment. You can listen to express your mood. You can listen anywhere, anytime. But playing adds another dimension. Playing to understand what someone else is communicating takes deep humility and compassion. It takes hours and hours of labor to discover the message. It takes devotion to be willing to listen to someone else’s message from within your own fingers, your own mind, your own heart. © 2012 Kathryn Hardage www.MyMusicalMind.com