3.15.2012

Sheet Music Enhances Your Self-taught Skills

By Nia Lawrence


Proper music lessons will eventually involve sessions on sheet reading; you'll need these if you want to step out of your self-taught skills and move on to standard notations. Notations may seem like a waste of time if you're already familiar with chord positions or if you can work the frets and keys with lightning-fast ease, but your skills will eventually be limited by what you've learned so far, which isn't much (unless you're a prodigy or a virtuoso). Besides, all the great composers wrote down their music in notations; you'll spend months learning a Chopin section by ear when you can master it in a few weeks with sheet music. Self-taught skills have their limits. Sheet music is important in ensembles, because you'll only play in perfect harmony and rhythm if you follow the arrangement, which is always written in standard notation.

Enroll in guitar lessons if you want to improve on your technical skill. The sessions should provide structure to your learning curve; you'll be forced to learn at your comfortable pace. You'll also learn to play in an ensemble, especially if your sessions involve group instructions. Music sheets may be written for a specific instrument, but you can also opt for sheets that accommodate all the essential instrument parts. The parts for piano, flute, guitar, and voice may be indicated on the same sheet shared by everyone in your ensemble. You can opt for music sheets which only indicate your parts if you're still polishing your rudimentary skills.

Your piano lessons are also taught as part of groups, although you'll spend most of your sessions and practice hours in private. Group performances always play to a set tempo, and your instructor may use a metronome on all your sessions to set the pace. You'll play through the notations in synch with the metronome, ensuring each instrument plays the parts according to the piece's requirements. The metronome is only a crutch, though; adopt a mental count of the beats and you'll eventually play on your own. Note the music's tempo above the staff on your sheet; allegro for brisk and andante for moderate pacing. The tempo may also be specified as beats-per-minute ratio.

You'll probably understand sheet music with enough effort. You need the guidance of tutors and the structure of lessons if you prefer proper knowledge of notations, though. You'll spend too much time figuring out the notations; sight-reading the sheets is also frustrating without proper instruction.

Enroll in music lessons and extend your proficiency past your self-taught skills. Lessons ensure you're playing your instrument like a pro; you'll backtrack on a lot of misconceptions if you're self-taught.




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