On Fri, May 5, 2006, Robert Clair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Where I come from, "sight-reading" means playing at first sight, not > just any playing from a piece of music: A new, previously unseen > piece of music of music is placed in front of you and you play it, as > best you can.
ayup. However, some players work like this with any sheet of music placed in front of them, deliberately avoiding memorization. I dont do that, I play mostly from memory, but others do things differently. It has been said to me that playing by sight allows a larger repetoire, which I readily acede, it takes a fair amount of time to commit anything to memory, even if only partialy. It is also true that one who plays from the written note is less likely to make mistakes with look-alike passages and inexact imitation. >> HAs it ever occurred to you that all orchestral (and most small- >> ensemble) >> music is sightread, always? When did you last see Pavaroti holding sheet music on stage? > the actual performance - especially in any > exposed parts - will depend heavily on the artistry of the player. yet, there are Principal players, and there are the others. I would hope NOT to have any of the several first violins be distinquished from the others, they are supposed to have a blended sound. The conductor spends a lot of time and energy making his artistic points and concerns known to the orchestra, they are expected to be busy with pencils while he talks in rehearsal, and then to actually play what he asks for. It is in chamber music that one has one-to-a-part players, and here one expects to have more artistic leeway, but still, there is a need for ensemble; it isnt a total free-for-all. > There will > be extended passages where the conductor has both hands heavily > occupied on the keyboard, yet there is no sudden decline into a flop > in those passages. ah, consider the choir director who also has a three (or four) manual Organ (with pedals too) to busy his hands, feet, assistant/pageturner and whatnot. Rhythm is conveyed by body motion, eye contact, ear wriggling, mouthed words are all used to give cues and otherwise lead the choir and any accompanying instruments. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
