There is much to be considered on this subject.
Would you enjoy a play more with actors referring to scripts or one
with actors who had memorized the lines? Maybe this is not an exact
parallel with music performance, but there's something useful in the
comparison.
From my point of view, the writing of music is simply the most
efficient way for most people to "store" it for easy retrieval. All
written language is, in some significant way, a severely limited
"description," and even a corruption and distortion, of the way the
language is spoken or played, and the process of "reading" it, in
order to retrieve and perform it, is always a distraction to the
performer to a greater or lesser degree. Those who are good at the
process manage to minimize the distraction to the extent that the
interference with the qualities one seeks in a meaningful and
effective performance are minimized. Still, to quote John Garvey,
former violist in the La Salle Quartet, "Great music happens when the
eyes are closed."
To carry this a little further, even visual cues can (not always, of
course - sometimes they are necessary) interfere with the deepest
levels of listening, partly because our eyes are our dominant sense
and can get in the way of our hearing. In my first rehearsal with
Bill Evans (October, 1961) I remember asking him to move his head for
a rubato ending. I had been used to that kind of thing from my
background playing cello in string quartets as a teenager. Bill
said, "Just listen, you'll hear it." He was right, and I don't think
there was a moment of uncoordinated rubato for the next six years.
He didn't move a muscle he didn't need for playing the piano (another
interesting idea), and I always understood where his tempo changes
were going. They were rational and incremental in ways that were
unmistakable to my ear, and I never felt the need to watch for
anything in the music, only to listen well.
Chuck
Chuck Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone (360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
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