At 5:14 PM -0400 4/6/05, James A Stimson wrote: > > Just for the record, Ronn McFarlane has performed entire concerts from >>memory. This has sometimes included some of his own compositions -- which >>of course is an entirely different thing regarding memorization > >How so?
>Dear Ed: > Well, that's a good question. I just imagine it would be easier to >memorize a piece after you'd taken the time to work out every last detail >in the compositional process. But perhaps a composer/performer might >approach it, once composed, just like any other composition. > I have heard guitarist/composers say that once they'd gotten a piece fully >worked out, they didn't need to write it down because it was already >imprinted on their memory. >Cheers,' >Jim I agree 100%. The intimate work of composition is a working out, even if it isn't a concious analysis, and so often a piece is memorized just from going through the compositional process. I think this is especially true when composed on the instrument of composition in an idiomatic manner. This makes a good argument for Weiss, Dowland & Milano performing from memory, but who knows? In my own experience, I forget my own music as easily as any other music. In other words, whatever state of memorization a piece may be in, and directly after the compositional process is completed it may be in a very memorized state, if I don't play it once in a while it will disintegrate and I'll have to practice it like any other piece I want to memorize. cheers, -- Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
