I was watching last week's episode of The South Bank Show, which was specifically about Coldplay (watch it, if you're even remotely interested in them. Or if you don't give a crap about the band, watch it for the handsomeness that takes the shape of Guy Berryman).
There was one bit in the show where Chris describes how he wrote their hypnotically addictive Clocks, and he mentions how he was just randomly playing with different notes, and that he can't read music.
Wait, what? Chris Martin, the pianist for a band who are famous for their piano-driven rock, can't read music?
Of course I was gutted.
Here I was all year, racking my brains out trying to understand how the hell to read music, because ever since I was a skinny little kid in primary school, it was my sole ambition to be Elton John. So anyway, these past few months ever since I bought Juno, my keyboard, I've been borrowing books on how to read music. Ashli gave me a few books he used when he was like, what, ten? Yeah, I've been reading books for ten year olds. But despite the long hours everyday trying to memorize where the notes on the pages fall on the keyboard, I still did not get it.
I finally decided to just give up, and just settle with knowing how to play by ear even if it meant never being able to play really really really well like Chopin. And Elton John.
So when I heard Chris tell the world he couldn't read music, my heart skipped a beat, and all my hope was restored. Just to make sure he wasn't BS-ing like he usually does, I decided to pay The Oracle a visit.
Ten minutes after I posted a question for her, she answers me (and that's amazing since some people wait for months to get their questions answered, and some people never get a reply.)
Yay! My name! On their official site!(Thank you, Rudy, for smsing me and alerting me about this)
Click here if you can't read this
That's just some of the amazing Coldplay karma I've been receiving all week. Let's list them out.
1) I finally got to see The South Bank Show.
2) Chris Martin restored my hope and has taught me that while I suck at reading notes, I do have the chance to be just as great a player as he is. [/cheesiness].
3) The Oracle answered me.
But let's not forget the most amazing Coldplay-related thing that happened to me this week. Min, a friend from Singapore who has an immense amount of Coldplay Karma herself (she's met the band who knows how many times already?), sent a copy of LeftRightLeftRightLeft (Coldplay's live album only given out at their concerts) to me. I can't thank her enough. I haven't used the CD player in my hifi in ages (thanks to mp3 players and phones and computers), but as soon as I had the CD in my hands, I connected at least 4 speakers to the hifi and put the thing on LOUD, reenacting the whole concert experience in my mind. If you've been listening to LRLRL on earphones all this time, I advise you to use massive speakers instead. It's intense.
...
*basks in ray of happiness*
...
Back to the original point of this post: So you don't have to know how to read music to be a pianist for, like, one of the biggest bands in the world right now. And there I was believing I'm just really slow and maybe even a bit of a retard for not knowing how to read those darned notes no matter how long I stared at the exercise books... There is hope! I should totally form a band now. ROJAK, where are you?
Lots of love,
from Me.
p.s: Totally forgot Dave Grohl from The Foo Fighters can't read notes, either! Yay, we have something in common!
p.p.s: As you might have noticed, my updates will be less frequent these days, as assignments are piling up and final exams are just around the corner. Byebye life. :(
1) I finally got to see The South Bank Show.
2) Chris Martin restored my hope and has taught me that while I suck at reading notes, I do have the chance to be just as great a player as he is. [/cheesiness].
3) The Oracle answered me.
But let's not forget the most amazing Coldplay-related thing that happened to me this week. Min, a friend from Singapore who has an immense amount of Coldplay Karma herself (she's met the band who knows how many times already?), sent a copy of LeftRightLeftRightLeft (Coldplay's live album only given out at their concerts) to me. I can't thank her enough. I haven't used the CD player in my hifi in ages (thanks to mp3 players and phones and computers), but as soon as I had the CD in my hands, I connected at least 4 speakers to the hifi and put the thing on LOUD, reenacting the whole concert experience in my mind. If you've been listening to LRLRL on earphones all this time, I advise you to use massive speakers instead. It's intense.
...
*basks in ray of happiness*
...
Back to the original point of this post: So you don't have to know how to read music to be a pianist for, like, one of the biggest bands in the world right now. And there I was believing I'm just really slow and maybe even a bit of a retard for not knowing how to read those darned notes no matter how long I stared at the exercise books... There is hope! I should totally form a band now. ROJAK, where are you?
Lots of love,
from Me.
p.s: Totally forgot Dave Grohl from The Foo Fighters can't read notes, either! Yay, we have something in common!
p.p.s: As you might have noticed, my updates will be less frequent these days, as assignments are piling up and final exams are just around the corner. Byebye life. :(
5 comments:
Yay! Your name's on their official site!
. . . .
Yay! My name's on your blog!
. . . .
When Oracle's gonna answer my questions...? I thought this is not the first time Oracle answered your question right? I still remember about ur question regarding plagiarizing, backward songs etc tu. Tapi, masa tu you used the name 'Pai' instead of 'Aisya'. :P
Woah, a piano is not something easy to maneuver when you don't read music.. I thought anyone who ever hoped of being able to play good piano would have to be literate.. Thanks for this..
Haha, yes Rudy, this is the second time my question's been answered... Maybe you should post your question again... At around the time I posted mine yesterday. She must be online at that time... :P
Anak Pak Man, I think if you play the piano often enough, everyday, you memorize the chords and notes so you can be able to play almost anything after listening to it... The only problem with not being able to read music is that you can't play music sheets for songs you've never heard before, and you won't be able to write down notes you've written yourself in a way that other people would understand... Can you play piano?
Actually, I just discovered quite a lot of people in rock bands don't know how to read music. Kurt Cobain couldn't, and neither could Jimi Hendrix. But they're guitarists, and it's common for guitarists to not know how to read music... But not for pianists, which is why I was suprised... And inspired. :D
Quite a lot of amazing musicians don't read music. Reading music's important if you want to really delve into technical aspects, or if you've never heard the material before and want to play it as it is, or if you want to show someone exactly how you want your music to be played. As long as you listen to a lot of music and can hear that particular song or sound or chord in your head, you can make music really.
There are actually quite a number of self-taught/non-note reading pianists out there. The pianist/keyboardist of Keane doesn't read. And so do quite a number of those insane Japanese pianist/composers!
Personally, I haven't read music myself for... ages... Although I can read, I prefer to trust my ears and heart.
The oracle site seems pretty cool, btw!
P.S. Dave Grohl's really cool. Self-taught, can't read music, but can play many instruments and write killer songs? Man!
Oh I didn't know the Keane dude can't read music either! You know, now I feel so much better. Lol!
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