[attractivechaos]

Couldn't agree more. Advanced piano pieces often come with nontrivial cords and multiple voices. Those without proper ear training can hardly recognize even a single cord, let alone replicate a whole piece just by ear. Genius born with perfect pitch may do the magic without training, but they are extreme outliers and their experience can't be generalized to the wider population. For most people, inability to read music will severely limit their reach in future.

[yqx]

Right, but a well trained ear is exactly what those who don't focus on reading music tend to have ("instead" I might add since someone focusing on reading music doesn't necessarily need to understand it, although understanding of course helps a great deal).

It's interesting that you talk about replicating pieces. This is a "peculiarly Western" way of treating musicianship (and even in the Western world it applies primarily to classical musicians). In most of the world, musicianship is first and foremost judged by ability to improvise and to perform an orally transmitted repertoire of music. Music tends to be made in an improvisatory manner, but within the rules and constraints of a particular style.

It really depends on what kind of musician you want to be. Do you want to play Western classical music, or professionally in recording studios then reading is probably essential. If you just want to make music, it might still be handy and practical but by no means required.