I HATE " The Sound of Music" I hated the movie! I hate the soundtrack! But sadly, when I think of it, I can't get the song out of my head. Or the picture of Julie Andrews on a hilltop in Switzerland or wherever she's supposed to be, twirling so 1950's happily on a hilltop. *cringe*
I just thought this would be an appropriate title. This post will also be a shortie, as I don't have too much to say on the topic.
Last night a friend and I started talking about music. I think it started by me saying I swiped a music folder from the Band Dinner, cuz there were 3 difficult pieces in there, and I wanted to do the last concert, but am not a good sight reader. She said she wishes she played an instrument and started asking Qs about it. I never really had to 'teach' anyone anything, but now that I think about it...music is COMPLICATED!
The person who asked is a hell of a lot smarter than I will ever be! So I'm not saying its compicated to insinuate that other people can't learn it. I'm saying that I can't believe ***I*** learned it!!! lmao! We all know I'm not the brightest star in the sky. When I started explaining shit, I realized that music is like learning to read a new language. Its kinda like a form of heiroglyphics. I guess it took that conversation for me to realize that damn, I can do something that alotta people can't do! I never thougth of it like that. Nothing about me screams 'extraordinary', so its kinda cool that I can understand something that a small percentage of people understand. I honestly never thought about any of this before. I guess I naively thought most people could read music cuz most people I knew do.
People asked me the other day (while hanging out w/ my 2 neighbors and landlord on my porch), if I knew how to read music. I said yeah, and they were all like 'WOW!'. I kinda looked at them like they were crazy. But the thing is, me,and probably most musicians were trained at this since elementary school. So you don't really think about it much. You just do it. I started reading music at 9. Just your basic shit. Quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, and whole notes. Maybe some eighth notes. Jingle Bells type shit and Mary had a little lamb stuff too. Very simple. I was telling my friend that if she wants to play something, keyboard would be good to start on cuz you just hit a key, rather than rememeber a 1 to 14 key fingering like you do on flute and clarinet. If you have an Eflat, you hit the Eflat key. On flute, the Eflat fingering is every finger except the left pointer finger and left pinky.
Basic Xmas Music. This is actually for keyboard/vocals cuz of the Bass & Treble Clefs and the chords. But the top line is the melody. Very basic. Elementary school shit. Shit I first learned when I took over my dad's keyboard when i was 7yrs old.
I remember tyring to teach my other neighbor about clefs, time and key signatures. How confused she was. What a fermata was, what a slur and a trill was. Triplets, Sixtuplets, and Dectuplets (the one w/ 10 32nd notes to a beat? i guess i dont knwo the name of it either). I remember telling her I coudln't even begin to explain one of my pieces cuz it was syncopated and she was like "what?!" how most of its accented off beat. Syncopation is a pain. Its def my weak point. Along w/ s ight reading. Probably cuz its math. and if you know me, you know I'm horrible at math. Its all counting game.
I'm glad I'm not a music teacher, but I like explaining the stuff, cuz it makes me look like I can actually do something! So those of you who read music, stop and think about how much you DO know cuz something that you think nothing of, when put in front of you, is like gibberish to someone else. Its cool! I think its kinda like reading braille.
I def wanna teach my friend a little about music if she ever comes over. I have a keyboard. Its kinda cool to show someone how to do that. I hope I get the chance w/ them, or even someone else.
Oh and for those of you wondering why I took home the folder is cuz there's no way in hell I can sight read this (sight reading means we're having no rehearsal. Just performing this sight unseen). Yeah right. Will work on this tonight.
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