Why do soloists play without the instrumental part in front of them?

[Enrique]

In part the reason may be purely historical. They do so just because it was done so in the past. But then the question may be asked if there was a time in the past when the soloist played, in concert, with the part in front of him/her. For conductors, if I remember well, it is the other way around: in the past they conducted without the score and now they always use the score.

Of course, in the case of a work unknown to the soloist up to that moment, the performer has had to study the work in his instrument. So, in the process, he has stored it in his brain by three different ways: digital, visual and auditive memory. And the three kinds of memory collaborate between them. It's not the case of the common listener who only has his auditive memory at his disposal. I mean, to memorize a work is easier in the case of the performer.

However, only a mistake in a single bar is enough for someone in the audience who knows the work to detect it. Why run the risk? What harm can the instrumental part in front of the soloist do?

[Chris]

However, only a mistake in a single bar is enough for someone in the audience who knows the work to detect it. Why run the risk? What harm can the instrumental part in front of the soloist do?

I'm not sure that most mistakes are made because the soloist forgot something, so I don't know that having the score would mitigate the risk of errors that much. I guess a slight advantage to not having it is that you don't need anyone to turn the pages.

[Enrique]

I guess a slight advantage to not having it is that you don't need anyone to turn the pages.

Of course! But I still think it's a silly custom, save for the need to turn the pages. To have to store the whole part in the brain is for me a useless effort.

I'm not sure that most mistakes are made because the soloist forgot something, ...

What do you think is the cause of most mistakes?

[Chris]

Of course! But I still think it's a silly custom, save for the need to turn the pages. To have to store the whole part in the brain is for me a useless effort.

I think it comes pretty automatically. I know that by the time I have learned a piece well enough to perform it in public, I have memorized it without having to do any additional work.

What do you think is the cause of most mistakes?

A momentary lapse in focus, a slip of the fingers, nerves, taking a risk of something difficult to achieve a great effect. I'm sure there are small errors due to memory too, but I'm not sure playing with the sheet music would do much to mitigate those, because by the time you are playing a piece in public, you would probably mostly be playing from memory anyway, and just using the sheet music as a guide. If you suddenly forgot a note, it might well be too late to focus on the right place and check it. I think the sheet music would be more helpful in mitigating serious memory errors, like when you aren't sure you can remember which section of the piece comes next, and I think that kind of error is unlikely to affect professionals, except those who are much older. Richter began to use the sheet music in performances when he got older and began to have memory slips, as you can see here in this performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Mq7pddQJA[/YOUTUBE]

[Megan]

I think it comes pretty automatically. I know that by the time I have learned a piece well enough to perform it in public, I have memorized it without having to do any additional work.



A momentary lapse in focus, a slip of the fingers, nerves, taking a risk of something difficult to achieve a great effect. I'm sure there are small errors due to memory too, but I'm not sure playing with the sheet music would do much to mitigate those, because by the time you are playing a piece in public, you would probably mostly be playing from memory anyway, and just using the sheet music as a guide. If you suddenly forgot a note, it might well be too late to focus on the right place and check it. I think the sheet music would be more helpful in mitigating serious memory errors, like when you aren't sure you can remember which section of the piece comes next, and I think that kind of error is unlikely to affect professionals, except those who are much older. Richter began to use the sheet music in performances when he got older and began to have memory slips, as you can see here in this performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 5:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Mq7pddQJA[/YOUTUBE]

Gorgeous piece and wonderful playing , I love it.

[Sorrano]

When a work is memorized and becomes so ingrained into the mind I would think that having the score in front would be distracting. Page turns, as Chris mentioned, would not just be an issue of having someone turn the page at the right moment, but would take away from the focus of the piece itself. Moving the eyes from the score to the piano and back can be tricky, too. It's easy to lose one's place; I've done that a few times when playing organ for a church congregation. I look at the conductor and look back at the wrong place on the score.

[Chris]

I've done that a few times when playing organ for a church congregation. I look at the conductor and look back at the wrong place on the score.

Oh yeah, I ran into this problem earlier this year, when I had to learn a very difficult organ accompaniment to a choir piece. I worked on it for months and finally had it down really well. Then when we got into rehearsing it I realized I was in big trouble, because I could not effectively divert my attention from the score or the organ to look at the conductor and then get my eyes back to where they needed to be. I am so used to leading the piece and controlling the tempo when I am playing the organ that I find it very difficult to follow a conductor, and I really need more practice actually doing that before I can be effective.

[Enrique]

Moving the eyes from the score to the piano and back can be tricky, too.

But a good professional can play without ever looking at the keyboard. I was in the conservatory, first year, and I remember I was studying the Moonlight sonata, first movement. I never used my memory. I constantly looked at the score. It was only by this method that I could learn to play the moovement.

Of course the first movement of the sonata no.14 is not a good piece for a conservatory first year. But I was studying the E major scale and discovered that it was easy to play the Moonlight (1st movement), which is written in C# minor, the relative of E major. This, plus the fact that the tempo is slow. Of course nobody was intended to be my listener.