One issue that we have been covering recently is that of sight vs. sound in teaching music, especially concerning beginners. The idea is that we handicap our musicians by forcing them to learn notation first and then sound. This leads to underdeveloped aural skills.
I certainly don't deny that our standard education has been too notation-centric. I know my own ability to translate my audiation into technique in the flute is severely lacking, probably in part because I never learned that way as a beginner. However, I have also experienced the multitude of frustrations that come from dealing with those who have amazing aural skills but lack the ability to function outside of what they hear. I have often found that while these musicians have a fantastic aural sense for melody and homophonic harmony, they often struggle with counterpoint and keeping rhythmic integrity in the context of counterpoint. And some of them never learned to read music, making it all the more difficult to explain to them how counterpoint fits together.
My conclusion is that we want our musicians to be, for lack of a better word, as ambidextrous as possible with regard to their senses. We want our musicians to have good ears, but also good eyes, an internal pulse, and a feel for what they are doing even when sonic or visual feedback is limited.
As a musician, I constantly find myself in situations where using my ear alone is not enough for musical success. In large ensembles such as concert bands or orchestras, I cannot hear my own playing well without overplaying to stick out of the texture, so I must know the feeling of playing with a good tone, even when I cannot fully hear to judge my tone. Likewise, I must be able to watch the conductor and separate this from what I hear if the conductor is trying to add rubato or change the tempo. And of course, for imitative entrances, a strong internal pulse is needed. As many a band director has said, if you wait to hear when you are supposed to enter, you will be late.
While music is ultimately an aural phenomenon, a musician needs to be able to use all his senses in pursuit of music-making, and when one or more are not fully available due to the circumstances, must be able to use those that are available. In the long term, if we want to educate complete and versatile musicians, we must keep this goal in mind.
I agree that in our culture, and certainly in band and orchestra programs, learning to read notation is an essential skill. Those who can't read but can hear have a handicap just like those who can't hear but can read. The main point, however, of sound before sight is that symbols on a page (notation) have no inherent meaning unless there is an aural concept of what those symbols mean. Therefore, as teachers we must be sure we are allowing our students to become fully musical by giving them the skills required to not only read notation, but to read it with the musical understanding that results from audiation.
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