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> And at the end music sheets are just here for you to learn a music, they are nothing more.

Professional session musicians play directly from the sheet, and can promptly forget the piece afterwards. They do not intend to learn the music.

Interesting enough, a similar observation can be made about writing prose. A printed book isn't usually a tool to learn a novel by heart for recitation.




  Professional session musicians play directly from the
  sheet, and can promptly forget the piece afterwards. They
  do not intend to learn the music.
As someone who has had 'both sides' where classical and folk[1] music are concerned, I can say it is only[2] the professional classical session musicians that do this. From personal experience, I can say that most classical musicians miss out on one part of music learning entirely; that is, the 'learning things off by heart and playing it from memory' part. Whereas all the folk players I've met have not only the ability to efficiently sightread, but also to carry around the equivalent of several volumes of sheet music in their heads; ready to rattle off at a moment's notice. A few of the players I've met (myself included here) see the music as nothing more than a formality, and instead prefer to both learn by ear and play from memory.

Another thing that the classical teachings seem to ignore (or view with distain (People in my orchestra viewed it as 'hard work')) is cultivating the ability to hear a long piece of music and replicate it -- something that a significant minority of folk players also seem to be able to do.

[1]: celtic/irish folk, in my case

[2]: Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule


Thanks for the insight!


> Professional session musicians

I forgot to add I wasn't talking about professionals. I'm talking about people who want to play music as a hobby, for pleasure. Learning Solfege shouldn't be a hassle.




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