Archive for the ‘Knowing the Score’ Category
388 • Fly me to the moon
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
Think of a popular melody and imagine how it would look like in notation. The particularities and idiosyncrasies of interpretation are between the notes and have to be discovered. Melodies of the classical repertoire have to be grasped in the same manner! You have to get back to the state before notation, not try to execute the surface of the score. The music is not in the radio as far as perception goes; it isn't in the black dots either as far as rendering goes.
387 • Facets
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
In the Classical style the smaller parts (harmonic progression of phrases) are self similar to the larger parts (elements of form) in a proportionate, architectural manner.
In the Romantic style the smaller parts are more fluid while the larger parts remain classical. This is an evolving process.
In late Romantic to Modern styles all parts may be fluid until fully dissolved.
384 • Occam’s Razor
Friday, October 19th, 2012
All things being equal, a simpler (more natural) interpretation (of the score) is better than a more complex (artificially augmented) one.
383 • The composer’s beaming is not only organization of time, but also instruction of movement.
Thursday, October 18th, 2012
372 • James Tiberius Kirk giving a piano lesson
Friday, July 6th, 2012
I don’t believe in a no-win scenario in the piano score.
371 • As long as you are in a committed relationship with the composer, you can and sometimes have to be unfaithful to his score.
Friday, July 6th, 2012
306 • Expressive interpretation is the amalgamate of 10% primary information and 90% context.
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
Primary information such as notation in word or score.
Context equals all other information such as knowledge, instinct, tradition, taste, and talent.
287 • Terms of speed and volume
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
There is a substantial hypothesis about the use of the following term:
Diminuendo = softer and slower
Decrescendo = softer
Rallentando = slower
Crescendo = louder
Accelerando = faster
Allargando = louder and slower
As musical terms received their definition after composers used, and sometimes introduced them, in idiosyncratic ways, this theory seems to be applicable in some composer's scores, Schubert for example. See: 259 • Principles in classical music are not a precise science.
280 • Fortissimissimo
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
I once witnessed, in Italy on a beautiful piazza at lunch with eight Italians, a heated debate about the proper parlance of ppp. One side suggested the traditional “piano-pianissimo”, but the other side insisted on the more colloquial “pianissimissimo”. It came to a very, very loud food fight, quite fff, and I decided to stick with the grammatically questionable "pianissimissimo" as the group supporting that version was more expressive with a wilder variety of gestures and better at flinging antipasti.
244 • The score is as incomplete as this statement:
Sunday, November 20th, 2011
The sc re is as inc m ete as t is s ate ent: the black dots on th pa e do not co ta n all the inf mat n for pro er interpre ation of the comp sition.
It does imply without symbolic representation on the page: B ild long phr es, pl y with dy amics and emotio s, li ten to t e harm ni s, be fait ful to the rhy m, sing the mel dy, be expr ssive!
Veryoftenitisalsounclearwherethewordsorphrasesendthatisonlyaproblemifyouarenotanative speakeryoumightneedtoreadthesethreesentencesafewtimesbeforeaddingproperrhythmandmel odyandthusderivemeaning.
We extrapolate and integrate the missing elements and thus derive meaning due to the knowledge (information) and understanding (intelligence) of grammar, syntax, and context.
- A weblog of thoughts, ideas, concepts, observations, suggestions, research, methodology, discoveries, rules, exceptions, aphorisms, and secrets from pianist to pianist.
