I was doing the annual clear-out of kids’ toys and games recently (how is it possible to gather so much stuff?!!) and I came across this little book that I’d forgotten about.

It’s based on the ‘Would you Rather’ game.

If you’ve not played this popular conversational game before, it’s super simple. Players are presented with two options and must choose which one they would prefer. The options are often designed to be tricky, funny, or thought-provoking, which can make the game highly engaging and a great way to spark conversation.

So, in this example, for instance (A National Geographic ‘Animals’ edition), some of the questions were:

Would you rather:

• be an angel or a devil?
• have orange or blue eyes?
• fly the highest or dive the deepest?
• poo sand or vomit blood?

You get the picture!

But, it got me thinking about us as traditional musicians.

If you were asked the question, “would you rather be an EAR player (where you learn by ear only) or a NOTE player (where you learn using notation only)”, which would you choose?

And, I’m guessing, that one of these jumps out at you immediately as your preferred way of accessing and learning traditional music.

But imagine this.

What if you could do both? What if both became equally valuable to you? What if you became skilled and confident at both learning music by ear AND using staff notation?

What if you became a multi-skilled, versatile and well-rounded musician who could access any tune, from any source, in whatever way it was presented?

What if you were able to collaborate with other musicians from any genre, confident that you can speak their musical language, be it oral or literate?

What if you could write tunes down quickly and accurately using any system?

What if you became a “Both-And” thinker instead of an “Either-Or” thinker?

“Both-And” thinking is a mindset that encourages holding two seemingly opposing ideas, approaches, or perspectives simultaneously, rather than choosing one at the exclusion of the other.

This mindset contrasts with “either-or” thinking, where one solution is chosen as the sole correct approach (in the ‘Would you rather’ vein).

When it comes to Irish traditional music, we don’t have to be EITHER ear players OR readers.

Instead, we can be BOTH ear players AND readers.

Imagine if we gave ourselves permission to lean fully into both the aural and the literate so that we can become well-rounded and versatile traditional musicians.

Imagine if we became confident ‘by ear’ players AND confident music readers.

Imagine being able to access all the many and varied sources first-hand.

Imagine not limiting ourselves to one or the other, but leveraging both skillsets in order to progress our journey as traditional musicians.

So, let’s play the game.

Would you rather be a traditional musician whose skillset included aural (by ear) and literacy (reading) skills OR be a traditional musician who was a ‘by ear’ player only?

If you chose the first option, and want to broaden you skillset in order to become a more versatile and well-rounded musicians, then I can help you master music reading quickly and easily.

Sign up to our online, on-demand course to raise your game!