While there are lots of exceptional, famous percussion players who don’t read music, learning how to read music notes is highly recommended for anyone playing a musical instrument, percussionists included.
This information is surely disappointing for many readers, especially as drums have a reputation of being easy to learn intuitively, by the ear. While having an ear for music and a great sense of rhythm are essential for playing the drum, having sheet music to play from is the best way to ensure consistency, to allow the drummer to play a song the same way over and over again. The good news is that the musical notation that drummers use are different from the notes that players of melodic instruments need to learn – the notes on the sheet don’t represent melodic tones, like in the case of other instruments, but are related to the actual drums in the drum set, such as the hi-hat, the snare drum or the cymbal. In other words, you will have only as many types of notes on your sheet as you have drums in your set, so don’t worry, you will surely get to like reading music soon and you will start looking at it as a form of guidance, rather than an obstacle in your artistic development. The best thing to do is buy one of the used drum sets Denver shops sell, and just start feeling the beat, or better yet take a few lessons and learn to read music as well.
Originally Posted here: Do Percussion Players Have to Read Music?
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