Reading Music?

I was delighted when Quincy Jones had a Prom dedicated to him a couple of seasons back and was amused when he quipped “I didn’t do a damn thing.” But you did Quincy, you did. For the last several decades, whenever I have heard something of quality in the pop, jazz or film music worlds, Quincy’s name has so often been connected with it. Like a lot of black musicians who were children in the early part of the twentieth century he grew up in desperate circumstances and overcame almost unimaginable difficulties to become a leading composer, arranger, producer, trumpet player and band leader. I read his biography twenty years ago and the content continues to simultaneously shock and celebrate an astonishing story of success. It has been embarrassing therefore to occasionally hear ignorant questions asked by journalists about his work; one of the most crass being did he consider himself to be in a similar league to Kanye West? Just to give you a tiny flavour of Quincy’s achievements, he was playing professionally from the age of sixteen, toured and wrote the arrangements for his own big band, studied with Nadia Boulanger, directed and wrote arrangements for Frank Sinatra and Count Basie’s band, wrote film music, produced some of the most successful pop albums of all time and continues to nurture gifted young musicians well into his ninth decade. He has impeccable musical class and taste and a fantastic ear. Nevertheless the stupid questions continue, the following of which I have heard asked not only of Quincy but to music teachers with increasing frequency; ‘are people less musical if they learn to read music?’ There are variations on this theme; ‘why do they have to learn to read music/please can you teach them without making them read?/ why does theory matter? etc, etc.

Quincy has given short shrift to this kind of question, but because of the regularity of these enquiries it perhaps needs a more considered response. I said in my ‘Rattles, Bells and Whistles’ post that learning an instrument is good for development in children in a myriad of ways, but that was based on the assumption that musicians learn to read and develop all the other skills related to this craft. My answer therefore is ‘why wouldn’t they learn to read?’ Consider this analogy; could an actor still be an actor if they couldn’t read words? The answer is that of course they could, but how much more difficult the process would be without the ability to individually decipher information, and dependence on others would be inevitable. My job when I am teaching is to challenge, inspire and open up new worlds - even if the aims are as modest as clapping a pulse or learning to recognise middle C - so to shut down the possibility of musical independence seems nonsensical to me.

That is not to say however that individual musical personalities shouldn’t be encouraged to flower. One of the most enlightening things about coaching is recognising that musical personalities are as unique as human characteristics. There are undoubtedly gifted readers, just as there are gifted memorisers, those who have a great sense of pulse and rhythm, those who are fabulously expressive players and those who have all or none of these. It is obvious also that one or other of those skills may mean that you don’t need to be as good as the other. Brilliant repetiteurs for example need to be lightening quick readers and the requirement for memorising is negligible. Just as if you are a jazzer or rocker, your need for reading is going to be further down the list of requirements. But to deliberately leave musical skills out seems to be remiss, bordering on the neglectful. ‘But what about Paul McCartney? (or fill in with a pop musician of your choice….).’ What about him? Is the point being made that he has been successful without learning to read? If so, then this is irrefutable. But would a greater portfolio of skills have denied him this success? I doubt it. Music is meant to open up exciting new pastures, rich tapestries of new sound worlds and (sometimes) visual worlds. It is meant to be enlightening, enriching, life affirming and at times other-worldly. Here is Quincy’s take on it: “Music is the rarest of gifts, like a hard and brilliant diamond held in the deepest recesses of the heart….. I (have) heard innovations creeping through even in the most danceable commercial sounds….. and saw the potential for the divine focus and collective action that forms a symphony…..” The great man couldn’t have expressed it any better. Just like the wonderful world of words, the exploration of music is meant to keep our minds open - not shut.

Uplifting music of the day: - ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ (Bart Howard) as played by the Basie Band from the ‘Sinatra at the Sands’ album. This is Quincy’s arrangement and it swings so hard it hurts. I have never heard a band swing as bad-ass as Count’s and Quincy absolutely brings the best out of them with this arrangement and his direction. It smokes.

Contemplative music of the day: - ‘Crystal Silence’ by Chick Corea. This performance is on the album of the same name and is a blissful duet with Gary Burton on vibes and Chick on piano. We heard the really sad news that Chick passed away recently - far too soon. Thank goodness this and so many of his other recordings live on.