Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner New York Times Article on Pianists playing with a score.

Thank you for sharing. I have some very personal feelings about this matter but . . .

Thanks for posting the NYT url to the article.

I can't imagine not having a piece memorized to perfection before performing it...

Just wait until you start learning pieces in 2 weeks... no time to build muscle memory at all.

What sorts of pieces? And for what might I ask, college performances?

Yeah, though I'm not a music major. Stuff like Brahms intermezzi, small pieces from large sets (like Le Tombeau de Couperin).

Then there's stuff that's IMPOSSIBLE to memorize - the fugue to Beethoven's op.110?

Gee, ya think? But with my (and my colleagues') focus on contemporary music, it's hard to remember an instance when we DIDN'T have a score in front of us And not just pianists. Yes, the article does mention this "exception" for new music. Hey, I guess we were leading the way!

Not impossible. I managed to do it - but had to work on it a long time !!

Years ago, I recall Andre Watts using the score on a Mostly Mozart PBS broadcast for a concerto, a purely magical performance (he only seemed to really need the score in a couple of spots).

Myra Hess gave performances with BOMBS DROPPING during WWII using the score, and sometimes got criticized for it--asinine!

I have noticed a fine young pianist of international note using paper scores or an iPad in some of his YouTube clips of performances. Interesting. http://m.youtube.com/user/edjacoh

I used to be a memory-only snob until I had to play the slow mvt. of Bach's Italian Concerto, which is pure torture from memory.

For amateurs like myself, I think many or most would greatly benefit from using the music to avoid (a)the fear/anxiety of memory slips and (b)all the incredible extra time needed to try and memorize a piece well enough to avoid memory slips.

My Christmas program, which I played 10 times at a senior center, was over a 100 pages of music and perhaps as long as 1.5 hours of solo piano(I only played about half of it each time). If I had chosen to try and play from memory it would have been more like 10 pages, I would have been nervous about memory slips, but most importantly I would haven't had the pleasure of playing the other 90 pages of music.

I strongly think that for most amateurs, who are not usually "required" to play from memory, spending all the extra time trying to memorize a piece loses precious time that could be used far more productively and pleasantly.

For professionals, playing from memory is often required although maybe that's changing. My guess is that most professionals don't have much difficulty memorizing a score except for a contemporary piece, but more than an small percent do have anxiety about memory slips.

I agree with much that pianoloverus has written. I will also add that, when I have performed recently, I have both used the score and performed from memory.

While I am not an absolute, fanatic adherent about playing from memory, I do find that
- playing a piece from memory because it has, almost unintentionally, been memorized as I have worked on it
- playing a piece from memory that I have made an effort to memorize
are both proofs to me that I can still memorize a piece and play it well from memory - not an insignificant factor as I age. There is, however, the added support and security of having the score on the music stand.

I think that too many feel that someone who is playing the music with the score on the music stand does not know the music as well as s/he should. Some seem to think that the score on the stand means that the performer is reading from the score throughout the performance. For many of us this is simply not the case. As has been mentioned, Richter, in his later years, frequently used the score. I would hardly think that that would be an argument proving that this pianist didn't know the score sufficiently well or was constantly relying on the score as he was playing.

As freeing as some feel playing from memory may be, it is equally liberating to be free of the worry of memory lapses by having the score on the music stand to consult at certain moments during a performance.

To keep whatever grey cells I may have left, I will continue to exercise the mind by memorizing certain pieces, but memorization will never be a prerequisite to performance for me.

Regards,

I believe it is just a choice to make. If one can memorize the scores, it can add a sense of drama and the illusion of conflict. This can be exciting to the audience.

Though the flip side, who says you always need conflict?

I have played for Christmas parties where I would do something short, fast, loud, and happy fom standard literature, such as a Scarlatti work or a Mozart sonata movement, before launching into reading innumerable carols and songs.

I alway use the score for playing the opening solo work, even if I can play it fom memory, because you never know when a drunk guest will try to carry on a conversation (with you) while one is playing.

And always someone has to tell me about a friend of a friend's nephew who played something that "sounded about like what you just played" at said nephew's Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12. (Yea, right.) But, of course, nephew didn't "HAVE TO USE the music." (And he's now a brain surgeon.)

Thanks for sharing. I personally will never perform publicly with a score (knock on wood). I guess it's been ingrained in me ever since I was five that a "real pianist" doesn't play with a score. That isn't to say that I have any objections to pianists using a score. However, I will say that memorization has saved me a** in a few situations. The most recent occasion was when I was accompanying my mezzo friend (she was singing "Noel de Jouets" by Ravel, which isn't exactly easy) in a recital at my university, and I went for the page turn before the last two pages, and the score onto the stage. I was able to continue playing without a hitch because I memorize everything I have time to (the more you memorize, the easier it is to memorize). I also feel more at ease playing from memory because I trust my brain more than a page turner or my page turning.

So these pianist who play with a score - do they have somebody next to them, turning the page?

And yes, I know that is a question that can only be asked by somebody who hasn't gotten farther yet than playing sheets that can be arranged next to each other, without having to turn the page.... *cheeksreddening*

Where's the drama and conflict? When one hears a professional recital one usually is not expecting a memory slip. Nor is it considered a monumental task unless it is something like Schiff playing both books of the WTC from memory. Even if one was I don't see how this would any drama and conflict.

If a pianist, amateur or pro, gets lost with a memory problem, it just creates an uncomfortable situation for the audience and an even more uncomfortable situation for the performer.

Oh, yes. I once read an article about a professional page turner who worked for Carnegie Hall.

A few years ago I was asked, just moments before a performance, to turn pages for a Beethoven concerto. I was only marginally familiar with the piece. I must say it was an extremely nerve-wracking experience. I was terrified I would lose my place, make an unfortunate shadow, turn the page too soon or too late or get in the way of the performer!

Knowing a piece from memory, for me, is like a blue print on my brain. Reading the music is a developed skill and I believe being able to play away from the printed score is another developed skill which seems to imply a deeper understanding of the music. I never force my students to memorize but I do believe having a library of music in my memory is intriguing to myself and usually more so to the listener. I've always heard we only use a small portion of our brains so I like to challenge mine as much as possible. I have a closet fulls of books much too difficult to tote around.

rada

I am going to have to disagree, in a lot of ways, it is like walking a tight rope. As an audience member, we know that more then likely nothing bad is going to happen, but it might, and that is exciting. It is a little bit of Schadenfreude, also it is a bit of wanting to see the artist conquer the physical aspects of playing.

I am not trying to say that is what people always want to see, but it is part of it.