What makes musicianship?

Nachomanovitch wrote, "Many musicians are fabulously skilled at playing the black dots on the printed page, but mystified by how the dots got there in the first place and apprehensive of playing without dots" (9).

As as singer, I have grown up surrounded by stereotypes that singers are not always considered to be "real" musicians. In actuality, there likely are more singers unable to read music than instrumentalists who are not musically literate. I am certainly not as skilled at note reading as several of my piano, strings, and brass playing friends who may have sight read to accompany vocalists or played their instrument in a large ensemble. It may indeed be easier to learn to sing a song by rote than it may be to play one on an instrument. But when did it come to be that the skill to read music and play it back became more important than the skill to create or improvise music?

I have always had a good ear--I spontaneously make up notes to sing along with chords I hear when instrumental music is playing. I constantly sing harmony to songs playing on the radio. I consider myself to be a decent vocal improviser in the jazz style. Although certainly no expert at any of these improvisatory tasks, I am usually able to follow along and sing something that "goes" with the music, and I'm not afraid to do it. In fact, it's fun.

Despite this skill, I am still in great awe of instrumentalists and those who can sight read music without flaw. I have never considered my good ear to be sufficient enough to qualify me as a musician of that caliber. It's a comfort to hear that Nachmanovitch values improvisation, perhaps more highly than note-reading ability. I look forward to reading more...