KEYBOARDS
Kayla Diamond is a recording artist based in Toronto . Her debut EP , Beautiful Chaos , will be out this summer via Cadence Music .
By Kayla Diamond
Sight-Reading Skills in the Music Industry v
It is incredible to see how many new-wave musicians are able to create music without reading notes . As a young piano player , I always felt inferior to other players who were better than me at sight-reading ; furthermore , many music schools hold sight-reading skills to be the determining factor of acceptance , which made me reluctant to even consider applying .
While it is critical to understand and to appreciate the “ founding fathers ” of composition and technique ( Mozart , Bach etc .), is it truly impossible to be a respected musician without having the ability to read notes ? Having been told that I would not be able to make it without excellent sight-reading skills , I never considered the possibility of having a music career and so I went to law school instead .
Now that I have ( thankfully ) been discovered , I have spent the past year learning from others , writing , composing , and understanding that I am indeed capable of writing good and valid music with sub par sight-reading abilities .
Perspective A key factor is perspective . Music is obviously different to everyone , but my focus has very much changed from trying to be the best player ( for myself ) to how my audience receives what I am playing . No matter how hard I try , there will always be someone better than I am , but I find that the most important piece of advice I can give to someone in my position would be to treat their instrument as a vessel that carries emotion and self-expression to the audience . Once the audience can relate to and enjoy what is presented to them , the goal of the song and performance has been accomplished , whether you read notes or not .
Disclaimer : Please do not treat this article as though what I am saying is gospel truth , for I am merely contributing personal observations and experiences . I ’ m hardly an expert , but I ’ ve spent time in two different worlds : the world of studying music , and the world of creating it .
These past couple of years had me immersed in the music industry and working with some excellent musicians , both trained and untrained . When I first realized that there are professional musicians who do not sightread , I was baffled , but also intrigued . I began to realize that there are so many different ways to compose without manually scoring .
That ’ s not to discredit those who can do this , because I have the utmost respect ( and some good-natured jealousy ) for those who can ; however , for those of us who have more trouble , there are some software programs that do this for you ! Different tricks work for different people , but here are some really helpful tips that I have learned thus far as a songwriter and player : Hire someone to do it for you .
Just kidding …
Hacks The truth of the matter is that most songs stem from an idea , which usually does not involve the technicalities of keys , notes , charts , or scores from the get-go . Thanks to technology , keys can change any time with the press of a button , so establishing the key is not necessarily the primary stage of writing a song .
The transition between music school mentality and industry mentality can be quite different once you get into the realm of writing pop music . If you have the least bit of knowledge about keys and octaves and can play some chords , then you have a pretty solid foundation and your ability to move around the keyboard will be much easier .
To me , the backbone of a good record is finding the right chord progression because it sets the tone for the song . That being said , even if you are not confident with playing chords , nailing down the single-fingered bass notes will often do the trick . Many writers have different methods and processes but mine always starts with sitting at the piano and getting a killer progression down – sometimes just a bass line . It is usually no more than five chords and simple enough to allow the top line melody to shine .
I often write with some popular worldwide DJs , and many of them have close to zero knowledge of music theory or sight-reading . Their method usually starts with just a bass note progression as well , and then with the beauty of software programs , they can track the progression and build on top of it to sound more full , be it with pads , synths , or whatever they may choose . This is usually the best “ hack ” if you don ’ t really play piano ; you can easily build the progression with a keyboard or software to make the track .
Another very important trick for writing the top line melody is something I refer to as “ staying in the lines .” This means that if you have a decent ear , you ’ ll know ( by trial and error ) which notes do not belong in the key of your established progression . This works for both instrument and vocal . It takes a while at first , but once the key becomes muscle memory , you will be less inclined to hit notes outside of it .
In sum , I do not believe that the ability to read notes determines your success as a musician . Growing up , it was a burden that , personally , made the art of playing music less enjoyable to me . It is important to keep in mind that music is not just for the player , but mostly for the listener . Whether you are an amateur or pro , don ’ t let anyone tell you that certain skills are prerequisites for getting to where you want to be as a performer . A good piece of music is a good piece of music .
26 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN