On Mon, 2006-11-06 at 21:41 +0000, Hilary de Vries wrote: > Before starting to compose myself, I took written music pretty much as > gospel (probably encouraged by learning Highland chanter where it all felt > very spelt out). Then when I tried to write my tunes down, I discovered > that it was far from an exact science. I felt like I was squeezing them > into some kind of musical corset: the overall shape was okay, but somehow > the nuances had been flattened out. The fact that some of my tunes don't > have a regular time signature hasn't made the process any easier. I've sort > of accepted the limitations of the written note, but not without a struggle, > and the fight's not over yet. > > > > I wonder what other people's experiences have been, and if similar battles > have been fought. Or if, unlike me, you've found ways to get your tune over > without feeling compromised. If so, I'd love to know how!
Well I'm not an NSP player (yet) - I'm a recorder player, and my training's based on playing from the dots. My ability to play by ear is fairly awful, although it's a skill I'd like to work on - of course, renaissance consort music is a little different to traditional tunes for the NSP. However, even though we're always playing tunes and dances and fantasies and other music from scores and parts, my teacher always emphasises that the music as written provides only a broad outline of what one should play. There are many subtleties of phrasing, interpretation and style which simply aren't in the notation - especially in older music where the composers wouldn't include half as many stylistic markings as you find in more recent pieces. So although I play from dots, I'm very aware that the dots are not the be all and end all, and attempt to interpret the music based on my knowledge of the period and style in which it was written. Most of that knowledge is still supplied by my teacher, but I'm learning gradually. My teacher also has a habit of improvising ornamentation. Sometimes she marks it into my parts, but I mostly get the impression at the moment that this is something she does that she doesn't particularly feel I need to do yet. It is, I must admit, a skill I would like to have, but I suspect my 'feel' for the music isn't up to scratch yet. Perhaps if I'd started learning from the principle of playing by ear, things would be a little different. Overall though, the vast majority of recorder players are play-from-dots people, and so when you go and play in a group, if you can't read your part and play it reasonably well at sight, you're not likely to keep up. So written music is a guide, a broad outline of what was intended, not the full details or gospel setting of how it must be. Certain things can't be changed without destroying the piece, but what those are depends on what the piece itself is. I hope that made some sense. Personally, I envy people who can play well by ear and it's a skill I'd love to have - but I wouldn't want to have it instead of being able to read music, largely because of the customary usage of written music among recorder players. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
