Reading Music - A complex skill

I promised myself that once I completed our complicated move, I would treat myself to music again. Not listening to it, but singing it. In the many years since I left home to go to college, I regrettably stopped playing the piano and violin, and only during one short period did I sing in a chorus in Germany.

After so many years, I can no longer play either instrument well enough to experience the same joy I once did, but I can still sing well enough to join a chorus.

I plunged right in last October, joining a women's chorus and the mixed chorus of the German American Club, singing in German, English and Latin.

As soon as I started, it struck me how reading music is far more complex than reading printed words. You have to read words to sing them, but at the same time you also have to read and keep track of several other things. Most basic, you have to understand the time signature and the rhythm of the piece. Unlike reading text alone, where how long you "hold" a sound doesn't matter, in music, you must know precisely how long each note must be held, depending upon the speed of the piece and the time signature. You have to know how the time is designated by the appearance of each note, and how long to be silent when there is a "rest."

Rhythm alone is not a song. You must also be able to read the notes, not just what the note is, but whether it is sharp or flat - and then be able to sing or play it accurately and on key.

Beyond that, there are esoteric instructions, usually in Italian, that designate the style in which the composition is to be performed, from "largo" for slowly, and :pianissimo" for very softly to "forte" for loudly.

There are marks to indicate when one should increase the sound level (crescendo) or decrease it, whether to hold a note longer than it normally would be in the measure, whether to slur the notes or hit them in a staccato fashion, and in some pieces, even when you can take a breath.

All this would be complex enough, but add to that the harmonizing or melodic parts for other voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass, for instance), and accompanying instruments (piano, guitar, flute, percussion, etc.) and you begin to see how reading music is completely different than reading text.

If you are playing an instrument rather than singing, you must also have the technical competence to play what is written, another whole set of hand-eye and ear skills.

I've heard that studies show that children who learn to play musical instruments and read music do better in school. There are many possibilities why this could be so. It might be that if they have parents who encourage them to learn music and make sure they practice, those parents probably provide the same encouragement and devotion to their children's schoolwork.

Or, perhaps children whose parents are willing and able to provide a musical instrument and lessons are (on the average) better educated and possibly of a higher economic status. I don't know if that's true, but I have a different theory. I believe the complexity of learning to read music trains the mind to focus on complexity and detail and provides mental discipline.

Playing or singing music also brings joy and a feeling of accomplishment and status. Those, too, are helpful in achieving success in other areas.

It is a sad and detrimental situation that schools that are having budget problems do away with music and art programs or make them so costly they are out of many children's reach. They provide far more than an enjoyable creative outlet. Beyond what I've already mentioned, playing music or singing engraves itself on the mind. We can remember tunes and songs long years later. It is a creative outlet with the opportunity for interpretation and improvisation.

Playing with a band or orchestra, or singing with a chorus, brings the added discipline of playing and performing together, the wonder and uplift of being surrounded by the sound of music. Since I started singing again last October, I've sung in six performances. The melodies still sing in my mind. Give your children the gift of music -- not just listening to their iPods, but learning to read and perform.