Lost In Translation?  or  What’s in a name?

To be fluent is the ability to translate what we see or feel instantly into language.  So it should be with the reading of music.

When we read a note on the staff such as this one.  We are taught that name of this note is “G”.  When learning to play piano, for instance, we learn that the there is a key called “G”.  So we match them up and play the correct note.  I am not convinced that this method of translation is the most effective one for reading music for your instrument.  Translating a note on the staff into English and then re-translating the English letter to a particular key (or string, or fingering) is unnecessarily complicated and slow.  Better that seeing the placement of the note on the staff is directly followed by the striking of the correct key without any regard as to what the note may be called.

While knowing note letter names remains important in the studying of music, a stronger and clearer connection between the music on the page and the playing of the instrument can be forged.  I believe it is worth future study.  To that end, I am near completion of a virtual piano and staff to practice this connection online.  Keep in touch, and check back soon.

Marcos Levy
The New Learning Project

Marcos Levy is working on putting up a series of lessons to teach the Fundamentals of Music Theory.  These lessons are meant to propel musicians, would-be-musicians, and non-musicians alike into the world of music theory.
Learn or rediscover the elements of music:

•  How to identify the Half Step, the fundamental building block of all Western Music
• Using the Half Step to build intervals, scales, and chords
• What makes a Major Scale sound that way?
• How to build a Major Scale on any note by stringing together a series of Half Steps and Whole Steps.
• The story behind the Circle of Fifths.   It starts over 2000 years ago with Pythagoras and a piece of string!
•  How to use the Circle of Fifths to predict chords and key signatures
• How are the notes named?
• Naturals, Sharps, and Flats
• The story behind reading notes on a staff.  It starts over 1000 years ago withe a Pope called Gregory! 
• How to read music on its system of Clefs, Lines, and Spaces

Join your instructor, Marcos Levy, on this journey, as you master the Fundamentals of Music Theory.

Coming Soon,
In the meantime,

Enjoy Life!