Be honest with me..... Do we sound terrible?

How do we determine if some one is a good musician..

This is not the first time I've been asked this question and in my mind the answer is not a simple one, but alas
I shall do my best.

Over the years I have come to this conclusion,

There are two types of musicians, performers and creators. That's not to say that one can't do the other, its just generally speaking, in my experiences, some people often feels more comfortable doing one rather then the other.

Performers- Performers are those musicians that can have a piece of sheet music placed in front of them and play the piece note for note beautifully. The good ones can often play the piece with out error by their third attempt. These musicians can also transpose incredibly well and quickly. Some have the ability to remember an entire piece and play it note for note without any sheet music. Now of course there are pieces that are incredibly difficult to play and that's what separates the good musicians from the pros.
Example: A classical pianist.

Creators- Creators often create there own music and do not make a huge attempt at playing others pieces. A good creator has their ability to perform a piece they have written flawlessly with the emotion that they wish to convey. Another thing that determines them to be a good creator is their ability to pick up what someone else is playing and play along to it or improvise a solo to it, often playing completely by ear.
Example: A blues guitarist.

I have heard AMAZING classical musicians (performers) straight out say "no" to the thought of jamming with another musician because "If I don't have music in front of me, I will be lost and have no idea what to play."

And I have seen AMAZING rock musicians (creators) openly admit they have not the faintest idea how to read music and only play by ear (Jimi Hendrix)


The common ground on what makes them both good: They both know how to stay on time and stay in key. Their performance of the piece is next to near flawless and if they do have an error they are able to recover from it quickly.

Now I'm sure that you have thought of a handful of people that can do both of these things (create/read music)  incredibly well and good for them, but there are allot musicians out there that would much rather do one than the other.

Which leads me to my next point, which is training as a musician! Which is how I'm going to leeway into the discussion of  Brandt Schneider's "Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble"

After reading this article I was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Schneiders ability to turn a band program that had literally nothing around to being an award winning, competitive concert band program.

In the article Mr.Shneider stresses the point that students should have proper ear training, technique and discipline as well as a good background in music theory. By teaching his students these skills it helped him take them to the next level and made it easier for him to teach them. It also gave them the ability to play pieces more naturally, by ear and understand why they're the notes that they're playing.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic way to teach students. I wish I had this kind of teacher when I was a student in high school, but as most of us know, I am a self taught musician (EEK, every time I say this I feel a music major shriek and my credibility gets cut in half. "How dare you do it yourself!?").

I believe that teaching students music theory at a young age as well as giving them ear training is a fantastic way to give them the tools necessary to make it on their own as musicians. This comes with a big BUT though. That but being, I believe this should be taught in a music making setting. Not a bunch of students sitting in front of a chalk board, instrumentless, trying to memorize the circle of fifths. (which I once had to do once and it was AAWWFUULLL!! Give me a piano or a guitar for goodness sake! Let me hear what I am learning. That day, nothing was learned. I had to go back and figure it all out on my own.)

My only question for Mr. Schneider is, "Your technique for teaching students sounds amazing and informative, what a wonderful way to give them the building blocks they need to strive as musicians! But, what about the students that are easily frustrated? How do you get to them? Since most of the things that you are teaching them are interrelated, it's easy for a student to figure out one problem by studying something else, but what about those students that are having a difficult time making connections? What happens to them?"


All in all, I would say when trying to teach a group of musicians to be successful in the future and give them there own means to survive, Mr. Shneider is definitely on the right track.