Re: Music Store Etiquette
I agree with Bob (Post 75), but don't think anyone was suggesting that a person abandon reading. I wish I read and wrote music better. However, what's written on paper is not really "music" but musical notation. Music is the sound experience. In the genres that sblock listed in Post 61, "folk/pop/bluegrass/blues/jazz/old-time/Celtic/Americana music," tunes are seldom fixed and, when playing with others, we have to adjust to how they approach the tune. With a great many traditional styles, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island fiddling being two I know well, you'll never learn the musicians' timing or notation from what's on paper. It's essential to listen and imitate. In these styles, and many others, neither notation nor timing fits properly onto the sheet music. David Greenberg and Ken Perlman, who are highly sophisticated musicians, have both addressed these issues in depth.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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