THE FRONTLINE
THE JAZZ BASSIST
RUTH GOLLER
Do we need to read music, asks jazz warrior Ruth
One of the best aspects of music, in my opinion, is the infinitely different ways with which people learn and approach it. Hopefully we find common ground somewhere, even though we have differing skills—whether that means how quickly we can memorize material, how we perceive harmony differently, and whether we read music or not.
I had the experience recently of playing with someone who can’t read music. For him, it has always been that way, as he came through a tradition of playing blues guitar which didn’t focus on sight-reading; it’s also notoriously difficult to become quick at sight-reading on the guitar. This meant that when we met, there were all sorts of things that didn’t quickly fit together. I’m used to getting a
