On memorization: The Chinese pianist Liu Chi Kung was imprisoned by the Maoists for 7 years after the "cultural revolution." During his imprisonment he had no access to a piano but, since the guards held him is some regard, was granted a cell with a window. After his release he, like so many of China's intelligentsia, departed for Taiwan and after only about a month played a concert with the symphony there. When asked how he accomplished such a feat, considering the lack of practice for 7 years, he replied that he had actually practiced daily. During meditation periods he would pull his chair up to the windowsill and close his eyes, imagining the keyboard before him. He would then "play" his entire memorized repertoire on the windowsill, hearing the notes in the ear of his mind. That constant visualization and reinforcement of the intellectual and muscle memory allowed him to get into performance shape in record time.
I've always been a good memorizer and a poor sight reader (one probably affecting the other) and in high school band always had all the parts memorized in short order. In Texas, if you're in the band, you play at football games (a pervert in Texas is defined as someone who likes sex better than football) and one must march with the band at the halftime show. I remember many poor fellows marching around reading the little sheet music on a lyre before their eyes, sometimes smashing into each other in the process. Being a poor sight reader, I have most things memorized by the time I get the fingering and positions worked out and the piece up to speed. In recital, I usually have the music before me as a place to stare so as not to be so aware of the audience. I suffer from almost debilitating stage fright and it seems to help, a placebo security blanket. Best, Rob Dorsey, luthier Florence, KY USA -----Original Message----- From: Doctor Oakroot [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 9:39 AM To: Roman Turovsky Cc: Doctor Oakroot; Lute Net Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute straps In an orchestra the players are acting as a sequencer and their job is to reproduce the written music accurately. The musical value comes from the conductor - who usually has the score in front of him, but, if he's any good, he doesn't actually need it. That's why experiments with conductorless orchestras are generally flops. And, no, blues isn't memorized - it's created during the performance... a whole different art. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
