Musicality

One of the people who came to look at my piano-for-sale was a sweet little lady who played Southern Gospel on it, and as she worked through the piece she mentioned she didn't read music. Yet she could play a fairly complex piece.

I don't understand how one learns a musical work without reading music. I suppose you can watch someone play it over and over--like a lot of YouTubers apparently do--or work it out on your own through repeated listening, but man that seems hard.

Further investigation revealed a lot of people, many of whom were in High School Band, couldn't read music. I was told by one acquaintance he just "copied the motions" to play the music. Once I was at a music store while this guy in his mid-twenties shopped for a piano for his wife. He played a few keyboards, and played quite well. Subsequent conversation revealed he never studied music nor could he read sheet music. In his words, he had a God-given gift. This is what I mean by "musicality," being born with an innate sense of what sounds good. I study music theory to attain what some people have from birth.

God must hate me, because although I love music, I have no gift for it. I have to have the sheet music memorized before I can play a piece. If I sounded out any piece--play it by ear--it would always come out in the Key of C. Complex chords, such as those consisting of four notes or more--fuggedaboudit. Even with the music in front of me I sometimes have trouble, especially in Minor or Flat keys, where you have to remember a lot of Sharps and Flats as well as the flow of notes. I yearn for musical expertise like a person in love yearns for the woman he can never have. My love for music, in other words, is an unrequited one. My Muse is apparently a femme fatale.

It took me about two weeks of fairly focused study to learn the basics of musical notation; well enough to pick my way through most sheet music. A year and a half later the only time I have to stop and think about it is when the notes fall on Ledger Lines, those lines that extend above and below the Grand Staff.

With music you have instant feedback. Something either sounds the way you hear it in your mind or it doesn't. When it sounds good you experience instant gratification. When it sounds sour, you know you need to work on it. When a beginner succeeds in tapping out a familiar melody, and then learns to use both hands in coordination, the feeling of joy is indescribable. Since most people who play seem to have begun when they were children, I don't know if they remember (or if they ever experienced) this giddy feeling when everything starts to come together. Starting in mid-life, though, has the advantage of perspective, and gives an adult permission to be a child once again.