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May 25 Information
Beatles music
I'm in North Carolina, and in the beginning, word was going around that John and Paul could not read a single note of music. Any truth to that? — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
139.55.180.97 (
talk)
03:28, 25 May 2014 (UTC)reply
True enough for Paul, at least as late as 1969, when he had to make up a tune for some
Thomas Dekker lyrics that he found in a songbook. I don't know whether he may have learned to read at a later date, and funnily enough I haven't a clue about John, though I would be shocked if he ever learned to read music.
George couldn't read music as late as 1987, when he sang (rather than wrote) the cello arrangement for "
When We Was Fab." And Ringo... well, he's Ringo. And Jack, as an NC resident, I can at least report that I have seen neither the
Gihon nor the
Pishon of late. Come to think of it, though, that might explain all the talking snakes I've been meaning to ask about on the science desk...
Evan(
talk|
contribs)20:31, 25 May 2014 (UTC)reply
As late as 1991, Paul McCartney couldn't read sheet music. I have no idea if he still cannot, but it was widely reported after his Liverpool Oratorio was published and performed that he wrote it without being able to actually read and write proper musical notation; he used computer notation software to create the actual score (which he could neither read nor write).
This article written in 2007 explains McCartney's writing of classical music. It's important to note what he says in that article, and I quote, "“But when I say ‘I can’t write music’, I can; I just can’t notate it. I remember one occasion when John and I were writing and we both said, ‘Oh God, we can’t notate’. Someone said, ‘But the great Pharaohs never wrote. They had a scribe to write everything down.’ Me and John thought, ‘That’ll do us!’ So we never tried to learn; instead, George did it for us. We just went with the Pharaoh theory.”" Later, " It’s a theory that has served McCartney well, not least with his latest work Ecce Cor Meum. The four-movement oratorio, plus instrumental interlude, is scored for large choir and full orchestra. How did he manage to marshall these forces and get it all down on paper? “I worked on a computer. Sounds simple but you have to do it accurately. The computer had to be told everything. For example, I didn’t realise some parts had to be in treble or bass clef, so you had these ladders of notes [ledger lines that extend the music stave] going lower and lower until someone pointed out a bass clef was required. They’d hit the keyboard and ‘chink’ they all printed properly!” “So I had musical associates working with me on Ecce, but a rule I made was that all the notes had to be mine." So, there you go. McCartney of course knows how to create and write music, he just doesn't know how to read and write the specific notation used on traditional musical staves in the western classical tradition. I'm pretty sure the George he talks about is
George Martin, well trained in the Classical tradition as he was, who could easily notate the music. --
Jayron3217:01, 27 May 2014 (UTC)reply
Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the
current reference desk pages.
May 25 Information
Beatles music
I'm in North Carolina, and in the beginning, word was going around that John and Paul could not read a single note of music. Any truth to that? — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
139.55.180.97 (
talk)
03:28, 25 May 2014 (UTC)reply
True enough for Paul, at least as late as 1969, when he had to make up a tune for some
Thomas Dekker lyrics that he found in a songbook. I don't know whether he may have learned to read at a later date, and funnily enough I haven't a clue about John, though I would be shocked if he ever learned to read music.
George couldn't read music as late as 1987, when he sang (rather than wrote) the cello arrangement for "
When We Was Fab." And Ringo... well, he's Ringo. And Jack, as an NC resident, I can at least report that I have seen neither the
Gihon nor the
Pishon of late. Come to think of it, though, that might explain all the talking snakes I've been meaning to ask about on the science desk...
Evan(
talk|
contribs)20:31, 25 May 2014 (UTC)reply
As late as 1991, Paul McCartney couldn't read sheet music. I have no idea if he still cannot, but it was widely reported after his Liverpool Oratorio was published and performed that he wrote it without being able to actually read and write proper musical notation; he used computer notation software to create the actual score (which he could neither read nor write).
This article written in 2007 explains McCartney's writing of classical music. It's important to note what he says in that article, and I quote, "“But when I say ‘I can’t write music’, I can; I just can’t notate it. I remember one occasion when John and I were writing and we both said, ‘Oh God, we can’t notate’. Someone said, ‘But the great Pharaohs never wrote. They had a scribe to write everything down.’ Me and John thought, ‘That’ll do us!’ So we never tried to learn; instead, George did it for us. We just went with the Pharaoh theory.”" Later, " It’s a theory that has served McCartney well, not least with his latest work Ecce Cor Meum. The four-movement oratorio, plus instrumental interlude, is scored for large choir and full orchestra. How did he manage to marshall these forces and get it all down on paper? “I worked on a computer. Sounds simple but you have to do it accurately. The computer had to be told everything. For example, I didn’t realise some parts had to be in treble or bass clef, so you had these ladders of notes [ledger lines that extend the music stave] going lower and lower until someone pointed out a bass clef was required. They’d hit the keyboard and ‘chink’ they all printed properly!” “So I had musical associates working with me on Ecce, but a rule I made was that all the notes had to be mine." So, there you go. McCartney of course knows how to create and write music, he just doesn't know how to read and write the specific notation used on traditional musical staves in the western classical tradition. I'm pretty sure the George he talks about is
George Martin, well trained in the Classical tradition as he was, who could easily notate the music. --
Jayron3217:01, 27 May 2014 (UTC)reply