Notation in Irish Music Part 3: Challenging Outdated Beliefs in Learning Irish Music

In this blog, I provide some opinions on how standard notation should be used as an important learning tool in teaching Irish traditional music.

Standard Notation as a Learning Tool

Challenging Outdated Beliefs

We should actively challenge the idea that learning aurally is the only way to learn anything! Instead, we should encourage students to acquire a skill that is to music what reading is to a spoken language. If it's easier to memorise a speech or learn a language when you see it written down then obviously it's easier to memorise a piece of music when you see it written down. All you've done in both cases is translate sounds (speech and music) into a written example (words and notation) to make it easier to understand and study. There is nothing mystical about this. Traditional music is being taught at schools and universities using standard notation, and many more musically literate students with experience of music theory are learning traditional music. This is the way the tradition is going, and if the trend continues, then teachers and students need to know how to read music and use other teaching resources to keep up with the times.

Traditional musicians who oppose the use of music notation often claim that it can’t capture all the essence of a tune and things will be lost when it’s written down. Obviously, notation can't capture everything to physically represent a tune - no one has ever claimed it does! Classical composers will be the first to say that notation is limiting and doesn't always communicate what they want a musician to play. Nevertheless, Classical musicians accepted centuries ago that learning to read music is vital, not only to achieve a fuller understanding of music, but also to absorb far more music at a faster pace than simply relying on aural skills and memory. It is surely no coincidence that following the adoption of notation in Europe (in the Middle Ages) there came an explosion of creativity and learning in music making, and led to new discoveries in harmony and orchestration. Today, a classical pianist can play from memory an entire three-movement piano concerto lasting over 20 minutes, but only after they have consulted the written score for many months, perhaps even years. Furthermore, no-one can argue that classical music or classical musicians have lost any of tiny subtleties of expression, nuance, articulation and interpretation as a result of learning to read music! In fact, virtuoso classical musicians are perhaps the best in the world at expressing such things! Therefore, my argument is if standard notation is good enough for classical ‘art’ music then it's good enough for any other music too, including Irish traditional music.

I've heard some critics say 'what about being true to the traditional way of learning'? The aural-only method of the past was used out of necessity among Irish traditional musicians, most of whom never had the opportunity to be able to learn to read music, (or in the case of blind harpers, it was impossible). The aural-only method of the past was never used because it was a more desirable or a better way of learning. I'm completely convinced that Irish traditional musicians living in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries would have jumped at the chance of being able to learn to read music if they had just been given an education that would have provided the opportunity to do this. It would have given them access to thousands of new dance tunes in written form that they would never have heard or learnt otherwise, and would have allowed them learn more music independently. It's backward thinking and an example of inverted snobbery to believe that notation is too highbrow for Irish traditional music and that we should stick solely to the aural-only method because 'that's how we've always done it and that's how it's always been done'!

To sum up. There is no excuse in modern society for music students not learning, or not being able to learn to read music using standard notation. All that's required is a little effort and some patience. It's not as difficult as many people believe and it is such an endlessly rewarding and beneficial experience!

If you're interested in learning how to read music for Irish traditional music, but are unsure where to begin, check out my Tin Whistle Mini Course for just a one-time purchase of £19. No subscription fees, just pay once, and own forever! The course will introduce you to the notes (pitches) used in Irish traditional music, the treble clef and staves, note values (from whole notes/semibreves to sixteenth notes/semiquavers), note groupings, and jig rhythms - this is the perfect introduction to the topic of notation in Irish traditional music!

📋 Read the next post in this series here: Part 4 Why Are Certain Keys Used in Irish Music?

📋 Other posts in this series:

Part 1 Why We Should Scrap the ABC Method!

Part 2 The Benefits of Standard Notation for Learning Irish Music