 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Michael Kincaid
Date: 2000-07-23 14:51
Nearly all the solo's at ClarinetFest were played using
sheet music. I asked one of the performers about this and she said that generally they have it memorized, but they just don't trust themselves. I think a piece played from
memory has more impact, but I guess it is asking a lot.
Just an observation. Michael
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Author: Dawn Anthes
Date: 2000-07-23 15:10
Yes.. more impact, but unless the player is absolutely certain of themselves I would much rather see them with music than crash and burn in the middle of a performance because they forgot a section of the piece.
A friend of mine (who is a wonderful player!) was giving a recital a couple years ago. She was doing some of the pieces by memory, but spaced out in the middle of one of the pieces. She simply couldn't remember it. She had to stop and leave the stage. It was very embarrasing to her, and such a shame- I had heard her play the piece a few times before the performance (from memory) and it was wonderful! It's just that up on the stage with the lights shining down and the nerves kicking in she forgot.
So for an event like clarinetfest where I have an audience of clarinetists from around the world I wouldn't be caught dead without my music, unless I could play the piece in my sleep. So while it is nice to hear memorized performances... ...I certainly would not blame anyone for wanting to have the music with them!
-Dawn
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Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 2000-07-23 15:25
Having taken some courses in music history that discussed performance practice, I can tell you that there's real debate about memorization. For example, in the Romantic period, it was considered showy and almost rude to the composer to play without music (since you couldn't devote your attention to nuances the composer marked in)--until the era of virtuosity, when suddenly everyone memorized to show off. Today, in much twentieth-century music, no matter how deceptively simple it sounds, is rhythmically very complex, and sometimes even unplayable without sheet music in front of you. The generally accepted practice for clarinet today is that concertos are memorized, but recital music is considered like chamber music, which is almost never performed from memory because of the importance of playing together. There are certainly advantages to playing from memory, as you mentioned, but as usual, convention tends to rule. Hope that helps!
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Author: Michael Kincaid
Date: 2000-07-23 15:52
Katherine Pincock wrote:
Today, in much twentieth-century music, no matter how deceptively simple it sounds, is rhythmically very complex, and sometimes even unplayable without sheet music in front of you. The generally accepted practice for clarinet today is that concertos are memorized, but recital music is considered like chamber music, which is almost never performed from memory because of the importance of playing together.
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Yes, that does help, thank you. I can't imagine the fear
that I would feel if I was up on a stage without music.
The history lesson makes sense too--I can see how the composer would have felt slighted if his markings were
considered "unessential." Michael
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Author: Michael Kincaid
Date: 2000-07-23 15:57
Dawn Anthes wrote:
A friend of mine (who is a wonderful player!) was giving a recital a couple years ago. She was doing some of the pieces by memory, but spaced out in the middle of one of the pieces. She simply couldn't remember it. She had to stop and leave the stage.
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That has to be the kind of thing that haunts you for a long time--if not forever. When I was in Junior High, I was playing a piece from memory (as was required for competition) and I forgot a portion. That memory lapse cost me a medal and I still remember how horrible it felt, nearly
25 years later. Michael
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-07-23 17:38
The number of pages makes a difference, too. It's rarely possible to practice with a page-turner. The page-turner may get nervous, too, and may have a most unfortunate impact on the performance if the musician hasn't securely memorized the music. I could have ruined a pipe organ recital for my uncle when, instead of neatly turning the page, I managed to flip his music right off the rack! The music went skidding across the floor. As I retrieved it and scrambled to find the correct piece and the correct page (in a fat book of Bach toccatas), he kept on playing as if nothing had happened. We were buried up in a church loft where the audience couldn't see us. My aunt, sitting down in the sanctuary, said later that she never suspected a thing. The loud voice of the organ drowned out the noise of the paper hitting the floor. My uncle told me later that he always memorized everything, though he preferred to keep the music in front of him "for fire insurance." I've seen chamber musicians keep on playing at a recital where a thunderstorm knocked out the lights.
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Author: Graham Elliott
Date: 2000-07-24 14:03
Richter, the great pianist, refused to play without the music for the last several years of his performing life. He too regarded playing from memory as mere bravado, and that it reduced rather than improved the player's concentration on the music. He said he wished he had had the nerve to abandon playing from memory earlier in his career. He also pointed out that players could play fewer pieces if they had to memorize them. Personally, I can see no point whatever in playing from memory.
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Author: Karel Dohnal
Date: 2000-07-27 14:48
I think that to play or not to play from memory should depense only on decision of performer. My teacher once told me. If you will play concert by heart and you will play bad. In a month noone will remember that you played without music but that you played bad. If you will play with music score and good. In a month noone will remember that you had music in front of you but that you played well. Anyway some pieces I play from memory some with the music.Basicly the piece I practice by heart I play by heart even I dont feel right before cocncert well because to tae a music is in that case wors because you are not used to play from notes. And ofcourse oposite.Karel
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