I'm a total newb - help?

[rihk]

I have no formal or actually any education in music. I can't read music, barely know the difference between treble and bass clef, or beats and measures.

I've been recommended this book to learn all that crap so i can finally have a chance at maybe one day decently playing an instrument.

My question to everyone else is this: how did you learn to read or play music? I am tempted to download some sheet music for songs that i am familiar with and just try to start reading it as it plays, and decipher which notes and beats and time signatures are which based on the music I'm familiar with. The person who recommended the above book said that method never works, which is exactly why I want to try it.

Personally, from what knowledge I've gained every time I try to learn this skill is that the whole musical notation and symbolism system is hopelessly outmoded and digital notation is really the only way to go now. The system in place needs a drastic overhaul, but I do admit to being a total noob and not knowing much about it.

[withheadphones]

I basically learned to read sheet music in marching and symphonic band during high school. I played the trumpet. Eventually, I quit band and focused my way towards the piano. Basically, what happened was I started learning Evanescence songs by ear. I tried the sheet music books but I actually found learning by ear was easier for me.

All I can really recommend is you find a way that works well with you and stick with it. As long as you practice and realize your love for music, eventually you will be able to play. I find it's best to kind of stay away from sheet music. A lot of the time when people are learning by the books they tend to be too stiff and then they get pissed off because they're not getting it right. Then they're discouraged and end up quitting. I would try to learn the act of improvising... it really helps, especially with songwriting.

But this is just me... I'm not downing the learn by the book technique, but this is just what I've seen. Good luck!

You also might want to try sight reading. At festivals, we were given about 15 minutes before a performance to look over a completely new piece of sheet music we'd never seen before, and play it as best as we could. It's a really interesting way to get the juices flowing and getting pumped for practice.

What instrument are you interested in learning?

[rihk]

I have a theremin, which I got specifically because I can't read sheet music and tend to sing by ear (people have told me I have perfect pitch, but I disbelieve it) to try and match whatever frequency I hear. A theremin should theoretically be somewhat similar in that you are matching a series of frequencies approximately with muscle control, it's not like a guitar or piano where you have specific strings that correspond to specific frequencies (that, and there's no chords to learn or what have you).
so, i can basically karaoke without knowing what the hell "middle c" or "octaves" or "beats" or "measures" or any of that fancy stuff is just by tuning my vocal cords to match whatever is happening in the song. I just kinda feel like I am missing out or maybe somewhat inferior because, for the life of me, I cannot comprehend the archaic musical mode of notation. I'd understand it if it was digital, with a number from 0-127 to denote each note in each octave, and maybe another number to denote the length. I dunno, normally I'm good with symbols and languages. :/

[rihk]

Bah, i downloaded some freeware virtual pianos and some sheet music and sat there with itunes. I have the notes down anyway, and the piano parts are easy if there's no chords. I tried to carry that over to my theremin, to no avail. it's still difficult as hell, haha. oh well.

[withheadphones]

The theremin is probably technically the most difficult instrument to learn correctly because it's so hard to control. I would see it as something more to just "mess around with" and make weird sounds instead of getting too technical with it. But I don't know...

Have you learned any songs on the theremin so far?

[rihk]

I played a recognizable rendition of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" when holding a panel on the instrument at a convention. I was hopped up on massive amounts of caffeine and fanboyism though, that may have had something to do with it, besides being all gussied up in neovictorian garb.