Klarinet Archive - Posting 000657.txt from 2004/08

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Knowing the music --- one step too far ??
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:12:50 -0400

When I really want to learn a piece of music so well that I
almost have it in my genetic structure, I copy it, note by note.

I do not suggest that this is a viable approach for others but
Stolzman told me that he does the same thing when he is
memorizing a concerto. He copies it, often on a plane.

You cannot get any more intimate with music than to have written
it, either as the author or the copyist.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Ormondtoby Montoya [mailto:ormondtoby@-----.net]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 9:58 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Knowing the music --- one step too far ??

During a master class (classical guitar, visiting professor, I
don't
remember the name), a student stumbled on many fingerings. When
the
professor focused on the student's decision to perform without
sufficient preparation, the student admitted that he had heard
the
composition only 3 days earlier and that he had decided to play
it
instead of the composition for which he was scheduled.

During the subsequent discussion, the professor said "When
performing,
you should know the music well enough that it feels as though you
wrote
it yourself."

I'm certainly not objecting to the need to be well-prepared.
Also,
when taken out of context, the professor's comment says something
different than what he intended.... on the surface, at least.

But still, the remark stuck in my head because it suggests the
underlying (and perhaps subconscious) assumption that a musician
should
adopt the composer's personality. "Serving the music" vs.
"serving the
composer" vs. "serving oneself" is a frequent topic, especially
when the
music and the composer and the available instruments are several
hundred
years removed from us.

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