Klarinet Archive - Posting 000658.txt from 2004/08

From: Robert Wood <instruments@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Knowing the music --- one step too far ??
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:21:50 -0400

Hi:: a week away and I'm still not caught up with 300 posts; but
this one tweaks my memory of Glenn Gould who, I believe, said he never
started to play a piece until after he had memorised it.

Meanwhile- for me writing music for the elementary clarinet player is
getting more and more interesting.

Bob Wood

dnleeson wrote:

>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
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>-----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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