(no subject)

[primroseburrows]

Okay, two questions.

The first is for someone who's grown up in the British school system, as Harry did his first few school years: Is it possible for someone to go through school to age eleven and not learn anything about reading sheet music, including knowing what it looks like?

The second is for anyone who plays the piano: How long would it take for a very gifted (we're talking untapped prodigy, age sixteen) to learn to play the piano well enough to perform a complex piece of music?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Comments

[leyenn.livejournal.com]

The first is for someone who's grown up in the British school system, as Harry did his first few school years: Is it possible for someone to go through school to age eleven and not learn anything about reading sheet music, including knowing what it looks like?

I got through not only to age eleven, but three years of music lessons from eleven to fourteen and still can't read sheet music. And I went to a grammar school! I'm not sure about not knowing what it looks like, though - a lot of kids, at least when I went through primary school, learn the recorder and have the notes written out under the sheet (like I had to!), but they'd still know the rough idea of 'oh, that's a sheet of music'. But you know, if music wasn't a compulsory subject (which it's not in some places) and the kid in question was Harry who probably had better things to think about that extra-curricular learning, then I'd say it's more likely than not he wouldn't have a clue.

That was a long and rambling road to a 'yes'. I'll shut up now. ;)