A quick search on Google can reveal thousands of websites that provide the user with various simplified and facile musical notations that are fairly easy to understand and do not require prior knowledge on sheet music. Recent programming of computer software such as FL Studio and Acid allow users to create professional soundtracks (electronic music) at home without the need to comprehend any form of complicated music notations, but solely the software itself. .
An academic journal article by Per Dahl, The Rise And Fall Of Literacy In Classical Music: An Essay On Musical Notation, examines how music notation has changed over the past 11 centuries. It talks about the evolution of the Grand Staff from a mere memory aid to a form of art and knowledge and convention. The concept of the Grand Staff is the ability to play the treble clef and the base clef by one performer at the same time, creating a melodious and pleasant set of notes. In early times, mastering the Grand Staff was only possible by following the notes on a music sheet. However, with the evolution of music, musicians these days have developed the ability to aurally recognize and link the two clefs, producing wonderful melodies instantaneously with the help of modern instruments, such as the electronic keyboard, that allow the blending' of notes. The author discusses the fall in literacy in music and shows how modern technology has reduced the role of the composer and has increased the role of the performer to an extent that the ability to read music is now slowly losing importance. Referring to Dahl's journal and considering the progression of technology, it can be argued that modern instruments have reduced the need to be able to read music, and the introduction of electronic music has diminished the need of possessing expansive knowledge on chords and scales. .
From personal experience, I will not hesitate to say that I've managed to learn an extensive portion in the field of music on my own with occasional assistance from the vast amount of simplified musical information available on the Internet.
