Ear ear, who's reading?

» bryan - Response to Ear Ear etc

I wanted mention that those who do read can also memorize the piece. Many universities require that a certain amount of repetoire be memorized. There is a huge difference between sight reading and performing a piece from memory. When sightreading, one has often never seen the piece of music before. When performing from notation it is often there as a guide or a reminder, helpful in long pieces. Techniques learned in memorizing from notation are often Tactile, taking the classical musician closer to the folk player, who has memorized a series of muscle motions. Therefore if one reads one can also memorize and be on par with the folk tradition. There is no aparent conflict. Speaking from my experiences as a classical guitarist, Im glad that I learned to read.
However, I also have learnded to improvise. In doing so, I will admit that I discovered a space that is more... in the moment. When improvising, one can not go onto auto-pilot. Something that can happen, with good readers. Especially when the piece is long and dense. I often feel that these diferent mental states are what is really being debated. It is not so much a reading or not reading but rather a imporvised or not improvised debate. If a folk player is executing a musical passage the sameway everytime they re not improvising, they could benefit from writing it out.
I am taking Flamenco guitar lessons. There is a certain amount of switching A and B sections etc. The spirit is more improvised than classical guitar.
I will admit in closing that there is continued debate in the classical guitar community. Some argue for a picture theory...seeing the notation in your head and reading that. This is often assumed that by memorizing one just transfers the notation into ones head. Not with tactile systems you memorize muscles and sounds.

-- posted by bryan

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