Is there any way of learning a musical instrument without studying sheet music?

Question

I am a musician who has been playing music for a few years by ear.I can't read sheet music.I want to become a virtuoso in piano without havng to read sheet music.Is this possible or am I day dreaming.According to all the music websites out there there is no way around this,except to study sheet music.Please help!...Is there another way...

Answer 1

This is especially for mamianka.

My parents bought this book mentioned below in our local music shop because my Mum being French grew up with music like this from her parents.Books called Piano Concerto No.2 in G Minor Op.22 2nd Movement Allegro Scherzando by Camille Saint Saens.This music is above the 8th Grade of music.I have the book I think about 3 weeks now and I can play the first 16 bars of it.I have never sat at a piano in my life...I play the tin whistle and thats about it.

The lines and spaces on the stave are no longer the notes of a piano.The 10 lines of the stave are the fingers of the hands.Say for example-the bottom line of the bass clef is the little finger of the left hand,the top line is the thumb-then the top line on the treble clef is the thumb of the right hand and the bottom line the little finger.Each key of the piano is given a number from 1-88 and these numbers are placed on the relevant line,depending what finger you use.I got how it works within a couple of minutes and began playing the concerto inside 5 minutes.I am gobsmacked.I can't believe I'm learning to play a concerto at my first lesson without someone looking over my shoulders.

mamianka,if you are indeed a music teacher,you are out of business.This book gives you the correct fingers to use,correct notes to press and when to press them..No standard sheet music at all in the book and guess what you never have to learn it,ever.If you don't have to learn it for a concerto,then I don't think you wud have to learn it for a nursery rhyme.My friends father who is a college music professor says it would normally take about a decade to learn this piece with conventional sheet music.I wouldn't normally be let near it by any music teacher.He thinks the method is brilliant and can understand how some music teachers will think their days are over.His exact words were "it will make my job a lot easier,especially having to teach numbskulls like you who have the attention span of two minutes!"

BTW I'm still in high school.All music fans out there-you no longer have to fork out fees for music teachers.Start playing piano at home at any level on your own within 5 minutes.My parents were next month going to start sending me to music lessons,but my whole family is using the book-even my 11 year old sister.My parents are over the moon they don't have to pay for lessons.Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for music teachers.Actually,I'm not.I cant wait until the new term starts to show the teachers and friends in my school the book.

Answer 2

DON"T BE OFFENDED BY OUR ANSWERS we are passionate about music and the necessary skills needed to perform well and competantly

you are daydreaming ..... you don't have to read but if you choose that route you are limiting yourself and slowing down your own ability to learn more music and your opportunities to play with other people

an easy and quick example are 2 of the 3 tenors Pavarotti and Domingo .... Domingo the reader has performed and learned nearly 300 roles ... Pavarotti who is not a good reader (he does read) probably around 50 .... Joan Sutherland more than once was tired of postponing recording sessions while Luciano learned the parts

NOTE TO JOOLS I have seen that system .... what a nightmare .... its harder to understand than sheet music and only works with piano so it cannot translate to any other instrument .... congrats on playing 16 bars that really is an accomplishment .... so when you need to play piano with someone else and all you have is music (because everyone knows what an accomplished pianist you are) what is gonna happen??? You obviously have talent don't limit yourself nor your talent

Dearest Nexttonothing alot of that "he can't read nor write music and is great musician" is a publicist dream come true most of it is a lie for good publicity ... a terrific example is opera singer Franco Corelli's publicity line that he never had a voice lesson LOL a magnificent voice like that doesn't develop on its own

Answer 3

If you want to be a truly qualified performer on the piano then you must learn to read the music. The technical demands of the classical music repertoire required to be a "virtuoso" demands it.

Here are a couple of sites that will help you get started reading the music and learning some music theory:

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/theory.htm

http://www.dolmetsch.com/ourresources.htm

I hope this has not disappointed you too much, but I think telling you anything different would be less than honest. The good news is that learning to read the music is fairly easy. Lots of people begin reading music every year so get started on your quest right now!

Musician, composer, teacher.

Answer 4

You want to be a virtuoso pianist but are desperate to find an alternative to learning how to read music?

Being literate makes learning anything so much easier! Why would you want to go about becoming a virtuoso without the basic ability to read music?

What would happen if a living composer asked you to premiere his newest composition but nobody had played it before? Are you going to tell him, "oh, I'm sorry but I can't read that"?

It really isn't that hard to learn to read music. It's probably safe to say that it's easier than learning to play everything by ear (there are limits to even the best ear). Try playing something by Schoenberg or Berg or Stravinsky.

Answer 5

it is possible to be a virtuoso without seeing sheet music. The piano is intensely mathematical, with strong roots in geometry. It is possible that a virtuoso could sit down on a piano, and learn to play well without sheet music, using only the proportions between notes that sound good together, and notes that don't. There are few people in the world that can perform that feat. If you are one of those people, yes, you could learn the piano without sheet music, solely relying on a superb ear, and an incredibly advanced mind.

Answer 6

I am currently learning piano. I know i actually find it easier to play by ear but then i also read sheet music, learn it, then never have to look at it again! You dont have to be able to read music to be good at it. You may benefit from it though, its always a good thing to know how to read music.
I suppose you've got to have extremely good hearing and be able to pick out different tunes in a piece. You would benefit from having proper lessons cos you will be taught everything properly.
Good luck and enjoy it!

Answer 7

I seen a live documentary on Discovery or some similar channel on one of the networks a few months ago on this same subject.Along the lines of "Before the Music Dies" of how many musicians these days can't read sheet music.

They did a poll and found that a big percentage of the musicians interviewed didn't have the ability to read sheet music.Many musicians quoted a host of musicians of yesteryear who couldn't read sheet music like The Beatles,Elvis Presley and a few others I can't think of.

During the interviews they asked one the question.Their reply was why should I learn sheet music if Paul McCartney my hero never bothered-when they were doing records their manager hired people to transcribe the music for them.I'll do the same.

A couple were then interviewed on the street along with their 9 year old daughter.They started laughing when they were asked the question "Can any of you read sheet music" .The father turned to his daughter and said "do you want to tell him or will I"!..It was very funny the way the daughter asked the cameraman to kneel down.

She then said "I don't have to ever learn sheet music-me and all my friends are using a different way"..Ask me what me and my friends are learning at the moment?"..The cameraman in sarcasm sniggering asked her.I'll never forget this because after she said it,I ran for my phone to record it and hit my bloody toe off the chair in the dining room ...I only got to record the end of the interview.

She took her phone out of her pocket and had him listen to an mp3."Thats me-she says.Thats a Piano Concerto that all my friends are learning for the last month without sheet music.".Yeah right one of them said.

The father then said to him-will there is only one way to settle this.She will play some of it for you in that shop across the street.Off they went and sure enough-she played it.The store owner knew the family and had some of these new type books on the shelf.The store owner said the book has people playing within a matter of minutes.Keyboards are flying off the shelves with the books.

The father then picked up his daughter and said to one of them angrily.Do any of you music industry people talk to each other these days.Here you are doing a live show on Sheet Music and my daughter can tell you about something like this.I heard Keith Richards mention this new way of learning music on KMSU Radio ages ago.I think you may need to do an entire documentary on this new system..The credits then ended it rather abruptly.

Haven't a clue what the store name was but the books can be bought from the site at www.spreadtheword2007.com .And sure enough there is a piano concerto within the products section of the site.Jesus I hope there is another way for the rest of us.I play guitar but always wanted to play the piano.Will keep all updated when me and a few friends have tried it.

Answer 8

I can give you two examples of people who are forced to learn music without using notation:

1. The Visually Impaired

2. The dysfunctional - Dyslexics, Savants, etc.

That being said, although you can achieve what you want through the same kind of effort that they go through, reading notation is a great way to communicate with other musicians. Learning by rote is extremely time consuming unless you have an Eidetic memory. Learning by notation is the most direct link to another composer's mind, even if they are deceased. When you learn by rote, you are learning through another player's interpretation, or even many individual's interpretations.

There is another way, but you will be at the mercy of your mentors. In a way we all are, and in a way this has to be a valid learning style, but if you can actually accomplish the discipline of learning to read notation, you will eventually thank yourself.

Answer 9

Most people would ask if they could play at ALL without learning to read music - but you want to be *a virtuoso*??? You are not just day-dreaming- you are delusional!!! I am a judge for music competitions in NY. Do you even know what it MEANS to be a virtuoso - to have MASTERY of all skills and literature, as well as stunning expression, in ALL the piano literature. You might as well ask if you can learn to play the piano with your TOES. There is NO help on this path. Yes, we can help you to learn to read music - website abound - but you have a LONG LONG path ahead of you if you want to play virtuoso-level music.

Answer 10

You dont have to use sheet music, however learning it from ear and tone is extrememly difficult. Possible.. but difficult. Learning from the sheet is much less frustrating, and is easy especially when you get the hang of it. With a bit of practice, you memorise the notes and then you loose the sheets.