The Chetboard

I don't know it this hits the nail on the head or not but after giving it some thought I'm not sure reading music is the equivalent of tracing over a painting. I wonder if the equivalent would be someone looking at the score for Recuerdos de la Alahambra and writing it out exactly as Tarrega did. To just write someone else's score out note for note, rhythm for rhythm, etc would be even more futile than just tracing over the Mona Lisa. Some people may actually have musical minds that are sophisticated enough to know what Recuerdos would sound like just by looking at the score but you can bet they're few and far between. Most would need to hear it played by an artist to fully understand and appreciate it. It's almost like comparing apples and oranges when comparing the visual and performing arts.

Another way to look at it could be that music needs to be recreated while the visual arts don't. The Mona Lisa is probably hanging on a wall in somewhere years after it was created. On the other hand Segovia could have recreated Recuerdos de la Alhambra in South America while Chet was recreating it in Asia. In that regard the performing arts could be said to be more portable.

Just some thoughts on the subject.

Bill, I thought the topic had died. I appreciate your response and the comparison between the auditory and the visual. I think what I was getting at focused on reading music WHILE performing. People get a lot of praise for this if it is done well. Yet, I've never felt that it comes from within the performer. Someone else before him or her did all the work and created the "template" that is being followed.

Your description of the processing is probably the best I've seen and maybe my mind will be changed as I process it.

thanks

I think I have the final answer to your conundrum, Rande

take any written paragraph or poem.

Have several different people read it aloud.

They're all reading the same piece, written by someone not even in the room yet you will get several different vocalizations of the same piece. Some people give it more oomph (James Earl Jones for example) or a female voice reading the same piece might give it a softer tone but it is still the same piece.

Same thing applies to music. The composer writes something that may or may not be familiar to you but the person you pay to hear play the music definitely has something much more to offer in their overall skill on their instrument that others playing the same piece lack...usually experience and taste.

If they are referring to sheet music on a music stand they just want to keep it accurate.

Norm, people who know me well know that I'm a very flexible person when exposed to sound reasoning. I think you've just expanded my view on all of this. I now see a difference!

I just have a sensitivity to the difference in the amount of work people put into what they do and are praised for.

thanks!