Learning to talk music

I have a theory, which I haven't yet done a good job of testing.

When learning their first language, people don't take lessons in how to talk. No formal classes; no workbooks. They just listen to those around them, imitate, and (probably) self-correct. With a lot of practice, they learn a language.

I think that learning a musical instrument can be done the same way. Once you have a fingering chart, so you know which positions make which sounds -- and you've been shown the correct way to hold and manipulate the instrument -- that if you just noodle around with it for a half hour or an hour a day, that eventually (six months? a year?), you'll learn to "talk". That is, you'll think the sound you want to make, and your hands will naturally move to make those sounds, without your conscious thought.

Kinda like whistling, I suppose: it just kinda "happens".


For various reasons -- a lack of time, and/or a lack of discipline -- I haven't been able to correctly test this approach. Maybe with the violin...


--GG