note reading is important... pero it's not everything... sa pagkaka-alam ko hindi lahat maisusulat sa notes .... maaring nakasulat sya in note form, mabababasa mo, pero hindi mo alam ang feel and ultimately hindi din mo din matutugtog..
recently i've been looking at new orleans and 2nd line drumming... I've seen notes written for the parts pero if you play it how it's written, hindi sya magiging katunog nung tunay na tunog (an example would be the notes written in Tommy igoe's book for new orleans groove -- if you played that straight (even with the accents as written in the notes), it would not sound close to how a new orleans groove is played..
I think ganon din naman sa words eh.. kung nakasulat, mababasa mo ung mga words, pero kung hindi mo masabi ng maayos or hindi tama ung accents mo or ung syllables, may possibility na iba ang maging meaning or hindi mo rin maintindihan...
the reverse is also true... correct me if i'm wrong... pero sa pagkaka-alam ko, may mga chinese dialect / language na kailangan pang isulat ung characters dun sa music video habang kinakanta (parang sub titles) kasi kapag hindi na-ayos ung accent (which is nawawala kapag nilalagyan na ng melodies ang lyrics), iba ang nagiging meaning nung words or may possibility na hindi maintindihan nung nakikinig...
so, depende siguro sa goal... kung gusto mo lang basta basta makatugtog, ok siguro kahit na hindi ka marunong magbasa (in the same way na may mga taong makakapagsalita at makikipagusap sayo pero maaring hindi sya marunong magbasa - pero magkakaintidihan kayo)... pero kung gusto mo pa siguro na mas marami kang ma-explore, mas dumami ang resources mo and other things, or gusto mong talagang maging professional musician, maganda siguro na matuto magbasa ng notes... pero as always, parating may exception