"But Mooooooom, it's boring!!!"
If your child is studying music, is that a familiar expression in your home when it comes to learning how to read music?
Maybe you're an older learner and maybe you have also felt the same way.
The actual reality is, most music students loathe learning how to read music. Why?
It all boils down to our natural human tendency: If we cannot see the value in something, we don't see any useful need for it. Would you pay for a product or service if you couldn't find enough convincing evidence that it would make your life better? Hardly.
If we have that mindset with everything else in our life, why would that suddenly change when it comes to learning?
So, if you or your child is asking: "Why do I need to read music? Will I ever use it?" what's the answer?
A music teacher in the USA who I follow, Dave Simon, gave a surprising answer to this question in one of his podcasts.
His answer? "Never."
Did that answer surprise, even shock you? It certainly shocked me.
But in truth, 90% of what most musicians play is based off what we hear, rather than read. Even experienced musicians who can read music fluently rely on their ear and memory to guide them when it comes to playing most music.
So then why learn how to read music?
Consider: When learning something, we are challenging our brain and making it work harder. We are, in effect, giving our brain exercise, making it stronger, faster and better.
Learning how to play a musical instrument and how to read music makes your brain stronger! So even if you rarely use this skill later on in your life, can you imagine what the benefits of having a stronger, better brain would be because you learnt how to read music? To think faster? To concentrate better?
So instead of reading music to try and read music and play any type of music more easily, rather learn how to read music to make yourself a better person!
"But it's still boring!" you might still argue.
If you make music fun, learning how to read music won't be boring at all! Make sure you spend plenty of time learning stuff you love on your instrument, so that when you get tired of learning how to read music, you at least have something nice to fall back on to.
And don't forget, a good teacher can make learning how to read music fun! So give it a try today!
Contact me for more information if you're keen on having fun learning music!
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