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Re: The musical maturity required for solos

Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2017-02-20 10:35

Memory is an interesting subject. Some very few selected conductors can memorize complete scores. It's a gift in these cases and very hard work. I've played under conductors where their faces are glued to the music.

If you have memory problems it could be a sign of a form of dyslexia to a number of other problems, or it could be just sitting down while and memorizing a line at a time then playing it. We've all seen the very best players in the world have a music stand in front of them. I personally don't mind. What bothers me more are players dancing all over the place when performing!

Nice job at getting a 1 rating.

I will be playing the Mozart Quintet again sometime this year. It's sometimes best to know the other players parts really well. Do you need to memorize their parts, no. But the second movement is scary for all of the players. It's easy to get lost or to get off just a beat and as the clarinetist, the lead player, it is up to you to keep the strings together. This can mean signaling the downbeat of the next bar to when a cello player needs to come in from a rest or if the player came in a beat too early. This is just an example of how to prevent a major disaster when performing. I feel this second movement is the hardest of this quintet, because it is slow and confusing if you aren't prepared.

So do you need to memorize pieces. I think if you don't have any disabilities you should and you should also know other players parts as well.

A very great comment. Some great people just can't handle memorizing. You are still very young so give it a try and start slowly. A few measures at a time, then a line at a time. Soon you should have a piece memorized. Hope this helps and for the record I disagree with that school systems requirements, but it is required at pretty much every competition and it's been this way for as long as I can recall.

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