Learning To Make Music

Today I have been cleaning my electronic closet! In other words, deleting old files from my computer hard disk.  I ran across this letter that I had written back in 2009. I don't remember who "Hank" was, but evidently he was having problems playing without seeing the notes on a piece of paper. I thought perhaps the letter might be pertinent to someone who is struggling to overcome their past musical training.

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Hank,
That is because you were taught backwards when you first began on your instrument. Does a baby learn to read before they learn to speak?  Of course not! Why do we expect musicians to learn to read before they learn to make music? If babies were taught to talk the same way we teach children to play music, then they would not be able to say anything without reading it from a script.
How popular is the guitar? One of the reasons it is so popular is that is not taught in school! Most guitar players learn to play by picking up the instrument and experimenting with the sounds they can make. They get together with their friends and work out a few fingering patterns. Then they copy and experiment with the sounds they can make.
Musical notation is not “Music”. It is simply a method of recording musical ideas so they can be recalled or communicated to other musicians. Music notation was developed long AFTER humans were making music.
If you can hum a tune without reading music, then you can play an instrument without reading music. You learned to speak before you learned to read. First, you “played” with your tongue and vocal chords. Then you began to imitate the sounds you heard your parents make. You began to vocalize words and then phrases. Eventually you put the words and phrases together to make simple sentences. Years later, you leaned to read.
If you want to play music without having to read it, you must approach it the same way a baby approaches speech. “Play” with the sounds that you can make on your instrument. Begin to arrange those sounds into patterns. They don't have to make sense to anyone. Making musical sense will come later.
Test it out. Just hum a simple tune that you know. Something like "Three Blind Mice". Then pick up your instrument and pick out the notes you hummed. That is all you need to do - just hum it, then play it! If you make a mistake, great! You just took your first step toward learning to play ad lib.
It is a very simple process. The only problem you will have is that, as an adult, your ear is much more musically sophisticated than your ability to control your instrument. You will want to run before your muscles have learned to crawl. You must be willing to give yourself permission to crawl before you take your musical “baby steps”.

Come to the First Thursday Hot Jazz Jam tomorrow evening. One of the performers will be a young girl who began on the clarinet a few weeks ago. This will be her first jazz performance. If you are serious about learning to play jazz, bring your instrument, but leave your ego at the door! Before the evening is over, you will be playing jazz.

The jam will be at Star Coffee Shop, 114 E. Main in Round Rock. We start at 7:30 and end at 9:30.

Jim Ivy