Senses form the brain’s user-interface with the outside world: how we take in information for the brain to decode, interpret, and act on.

Long before written language and Music notation, there was an oral tradition of passing down stories and music from person to person. A sort of ‘broken telephone’ effect would have led to minor evolution of the original information during each transmission. While such evolution can in many cases be a good thing, the oral transmission method risks the permanent loss of important information.

High-fidelity preservation of information and its transmission between humans requires some form of written language that can be visually perceived and decoded by the brain (I am disregarding recorded sound, as this requires additional equipment beyond the information and its originator). For this reason, we developed formalised systems for the symbolic written encoding of both speech and music.

To encode speech, we use alphabets, words, grammar, punctuation, and reading directionality. Writing and books facilitate the preservation and transmission of experiences and ideas between people, across cultures; even through time.

To encode music, we employ an analogous system called standard music notation. Composers translate imagined music into tangible Sheet Music, which visually represents all the note pitches, combinations, timing, and other nuances that make up a piece of music. For someone fluent in reading/playing sheet music, it’s like having the composer right there with you, showing you exactly how they imagined the music and intended for it to be played.

However, acquisition of both spoken and musical language through aural exposure clearly precedes acquiring the ability to read and write symbolic representations of such language (with the process perhaps even starting in utero). From a relatively young age, we already have an intuitive understanding of how narratives and music work. We are able to viscerally recognise and create good stories and musical progression without having to explicitly understand the factors underlying that ‘goodness’. Attempting to connect with others through the sharing of our internal landscapes and personal experiences via sensory outputs comes nearly as naturally as the senses themselves.

The debate regarding whether or not musicians should learn how to write and read music is not new. It has been pointed out that many emotionally and commercially successful musicians (e.g. Hans Zimmer, Paul McCartney, Santana, Taylor Swift, Pharrell Williams etc.) aren’t particularly reliant on or skilled at using music notation.

“I could be fiddling on the piano and just looking at the lyrics and I’ll play two chords together and I’ll think “Oh, that sounds really good.” You stumble on things by accident.” – Elton John

Various simpler (more ‘paint-by-numbers’) ways of visually representing music have developed alongside particular instruments (e.g. guitar tablature) and technologies (e.g. piano roll). Although these (useful) methods don’t communicate quite as comprehensively as sheet music, technology can to some extent replace sheet music writing/reading, and failing that it’s always possible to hire someone else to transcribe your compositions into formal sheet music. Finally, visually impaired composers from history clearly did not rely on sheet music. (We, on the other hand, live in miraculous times in which there is such a thing as braille sheet music).

So, should you learn to read sheet music? My personal perspective is that it can only be beneficial: you’d be hard-pressed to find a musician who regrets acquiring this skill. However, your personal music motives and goals will better dictate whether learning music notation is right for you. Let’s take a look at a non-exhaustive list of why you might not need it, versus what it’s particularly useful for:

What it’s not absolutely required for

– learning to play guitar casually

– composing/playing simpler music (e.g. popular songs)

– improvisation

– personal interpretations of existing songs

– developing an aural sense of pitch, pitch relationships, and rhythm.

Additionally, learning to read sheet music – while not particularly difficult – does take effort and patience. For various reasons, it is also a comparatively less intuitive process on guitar than on a piano keyboard (details in the next post).

Some argue that a working knowledge of music theory and notation stifles musical creativity, but I disagree. Unless you somehow learn theory and notation in the absence of an intuitive feel for music, there’s no reason why knowing the guidelines should limit your creativity. You, like Bowie, absolutely don’t have to follow a set of rules to make great music. Going with your gut and working from your inner ear produces deeply personal and spontaneous music. Functional MRI research has shown that spontaneity and fluidity in conception and trial of a musical idea are accompanied by more activity in the brain regions involved in individuality and self-expression (along with less activity in the brain regions involved in judgment and self-limitation), and that this correlates with uniqueness of the idea.

What it’s useful for

– classical guitar

– clear communication of musical ideas and playing directions for their reproduction (indispensible for collaborating with other musicians)

– composition, preservation, and transmission especially of complex music (e.g. a symphony)

– sight-reading and independent learning of pieces you’ve never heard before (indispensible for accompaniment, or playing in an ensemble/orchestra)

– significant broadening of repertoire (you can only memorise so many songs)

– significant broadening of techniques and musical tastes (through encounters with new pieces, the same way that books expose you to new ideas)

– transferability to other musical instruments (most common instruments use this notation system)

– efficient re-learning of pieces you learned/wrote years ago (audio recordings alone are not good for this)

– developing a visual sense of pitch, pitch relationships, and rhythm.

Sheet music isn’t a gateway into music, but it is a powerful tool in the musician’s kit. While you don’t need to learn music theory or how to read sheet music, they do facilitate independence (and collaboration), insight, progress, and breaking through the constant barriers that arise during the learning of an instrument. Even poor sheet music literacy will help. When you’re stuck and it’s unclear what the next step is, there’s always a new, more interesting or technically-challenging piece to learn. Plus, there’s something intimate and liberating about needing only your instrument, a pencil, and a piece of paper to effectively express yourself.

Ultimately I think the whole argument is moot. There’s no absolute ‘best’ in terms of reading or not reading sheet music. Literacy may or may not be neccesary: it depends on your personal musical path. There’s a joke that obviously overgeneralises, but illustrates this quite well: How do you stop a classical guitarist? Take away his sheet music. How do you stop a rock guitarist? Give him sheet music.

Don’t exclude yourself from music notation because of a bad prior experience, or because you think theory and sheet music aren’t your thing. Understanding sheet music is actually quite intuitive once you know a few basics (covered in the next post). Don’t be afraid. Maybe give it a try and then decide. You might surprise yourself.

Happy playing!

P.S. Song of the day: She Always Gets What She Wants by Prime Circle

If you like Prime Circle, please consider helping to support Acoustic Notes by getting their album, All Or Nothing, here.

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