OK, we all know that Prince is a musical genious, but I have always been a little disspointed that he doesn't know how to read music or compose it in a classical sense.

Do you guys take the view that being able to read music would :
1) Help his musical abilities and improve his creative output.
2) potentially stiffle him artistically. Afterall his jazz compositions lately have been standard affairs--it seems the better he gets at jazz and other standard forms of music, the more sedate or predictable his compositions.

Also, would his being classically trained to read music in anyway shape or form affect his sexuallity, turn him gay, or cuase him to collaborate with singers like Michael Jackson? Would being classically trained also cuase him to lose his mind and maybe drive him to take another's life to prove his capacity for good and evil?

who is Micheal Jackson?

He can read music . who told you he didnt know how to read music?

Veego said:

He admitted it on an interviewing with Matt Luer, and also on MTV for the Musicology tour.

Unless the words (which came out of his mouth), "I never learned to read" means something different.

What exactly does it mean "read music"? How could you be a pianist without the ability to know which notes are which? Or this this mean being able to just look at a piece of music and sing it?

MrSquiggle said:

Actually, a lot of great blues pianists/guitarists or rock stars can't read music. Take the Beatles for example.

However, I think Prince can read music until proven through a link. He sure as hell knows how to direct his band!

' i never learned to read' is a statement usually made by religious folks

Rockability said:

Reading music as I understand it is being able to look at sheet music and play it, which I can do. How could Prince possibly be a pianist or guitarist without this skill? He's spent decades working on dozens of albums and never learnt music theory? So I assume it means being able to just look at sheet music and sing it without having heard the recording. How crucial a skill would that be?

He obviously can't read sheet music much at all, but that doesn't mean that he wouldnt' know some music theory. In some interviews he has referred to different voicings, scales and harmonic developments by calling out the names of different (and mind you rather complex) chords.

I'm the same. I can't play shit directly from sheets, but I am more than aware of music theory.

Novabreaker said:

So I can read music better than Prince?

Some of you people are obviously smoking crack.

Reading music and understanding it are two completely seperate things.

One can uderstand time signatures, chord progressions, etc. without knowing how to read music. Prince absolutely does NOT know how to read music--this is one of the things that has always perplexed music critics about him, is that he is obviously a genious and does not know how to read,

He's viewed as an imperfect genious--almost a savant to some.

But my question was (in a nutshell), does it really matter or would it affect his song writing?

Well many great composers of all eras and genres didn't learn to read. In some way, this may have helped them hear music in a different way. Anyway, he knows his chords and scales I know that much.

Reading music is not so critical in the rock/pop world I imagine. Nobody's gonna write down the guitar solo for 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' as musical notation and hand it to Prince. "Here, play that, if you can, genius, don't digress from what's written and don't forget the E flat note pull-off at the end as clearly indicated on page 9!"

Whereas of course it is critical in the classical music world. "Now all of you violins, I can't write the notation down, but it kinda goes like this 'Ewwwww-weeeee ewwwww-ewww-weeeee. Right, now where is the Linn drum machine. What do you mean you haven't got a drum machine? And you call this an orchestra?!'".

metalorange said:

Angry?

metalorange said:

I heard Paul McCartney can read music either.


It seems to have really held him back, too

Well, reading music never seemed to hold back Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles very much. So what's the point?

wasnt his mom a music teacher ?. i also read that he was in the school band .and thats where i learned to read music .i think him saying "i cant read music" was one of his weird play on words that he is always doing .

Veego said:

Has no one been watching the Musicology interviews that he's been doing?

Veego said:

dude go and read the interview he did with his school newspaper. when asked y he wasn't n the school band he said i really don't have the time to make the concerts. yea he was n a band just not the school band.

skywalker said:

And Paco de lucia 2 one of the moust gifted guitarplayers of all time.
And for shure he reads music (I dont know haw to call this in english)but whith the C/D/e/F/G/A
symbols.Maybe he cant read in classic terms,but he is into some theory 2!
During his sound chec hear in Rio de Janeiro he was talking to the others musicians in musicals terms.

Im a musician 2 and my sensation is that he CAN read music.....Maybe he prefers 2 improvise..and its not bad bcuz i do it 2 when im tired of exercises.....I saw him at the concert of Milan, he was playing piano and he had music sheets....

Lilith said:

I know how to play and I use the sheets to know the chords and work from there on. But I can't read. Not 1 note. I remember him saying in '90 he couldn't read music.

the fact 2 not b able 2 read music doesnt mean that u dont worth as musician. I knew a great pianist and he wasnt almost able 2 read notes.....I listen 2 Keith Jarret and a friend of mine told me that he only improvises.....
I started 2 play piano without knowing a notes and it was my choice 2 go 2 music school....2 learn more.....Art and music r freedom so everybody is free 2 express him/herself.....
If Prince really cant read music....no problem! He will b always a great musician....

I'm pretty sure that Prince can't read music, at least not on such a level that it's useful. The music sheets you've seen at concerts (for example when he plays the piano on the Las Vegas DVD) are only lyric sheets.

And of course you can be a great musician without being able to read. It all depends on what you're going to do. For Prince and what he does, I don't see that it would be necessary at all. And for the situations where he COULD use it (such as writing out charts for the horn section), I'm sure he has found his own way of working. It's all about transmitting and storing information, really.

Now, suppose Prince would learn to read and write music at this point of his career...I don't think it would make any difference at all. I don't see what he would do, that he can't already do now, as it is.

But then again, it's all about what kind of music you play, and the circumstances under which you work.

Well said, u got my point.....Im learning that notes r important in music but no so much as the interpretation and the expression of emotions.....I still remember the first lessons of Solfeggio....terrible....I have 2 confess that sometime i get tired of the exercises so i play the music who comes from my heart.....U cant imagine what a wonderful trip it is (i dont use drugs, i trip only with music and art).....

RealMusician said:

AsianBomb777 said:

I thought Prince could read music? Don't quote me on that because I am not 100% sure on the facts but I am pretty sure (about 95%) that he can. Paul McCartney can't read music and it hasn't done him any harm. I don't think Lennon could either?

Not that it's anything real important, but I'd be surprised if he can't read music. It's really not that hard to pick up, especially given 25 odd years of being totally submersed in music...and conveying musical ideas to band members.

If Prince does indeed read music, then I suspect he down plays the fact for the same reason that he doesn't like 'intellectualising his music'.

Or let me put it this way:

I'm certain that Prince hasn't learned to read music after he started making records. Why? Because he doesn't need it. He hears the music in his mind, and from the moment he made his first album, he's been able to create that music in the recording studio. And from what I know about the way he works, I don't see how reading or writing sheet music could do anything other than slow down the process.

Also, it wouldn't surprise me if Prince might be a little superstitious about it, perhaps thinking that learning to read music would have a negative effect on his creativity - just like some of you seem to think...

However, it might be possible that Prince learned to read music as a kid. Like if he played an instrument in some school band, he probably learned to read, just like anybody else. But even so, I don't think he's read (or written) that much in the last 25 years, so he would probably have to practice a lot before he could even make use of it today.