Following a Score

I realize some readers are musicians, others are not. You don’t have to read music, or play an instrument, or even sing well, to enjoy music.

Although, I do believe some of your best musical experiences do come from performance.

With that said, How do you listen to music? The answer is of (research) interest to me, but I know I’ve asked the question before. Some I suspect fall somewhere in one of these camps:

• Listen with eyes closed, no distractions
• Listen reading: book, web, magazine, CD liner notes
• Listen following a score
• Listen to music as background music

I personally have done all four; I find my favorites are the “no distractions” mode and the “with a score” mode.

Funny thing is, CDs do not come with the conductor’s score, do they?

That’s why a find like the Icking Music Archive is a real find. Here I can follow Vivaldi’s La Follia trio sonata, a Bach Cantata, or a Biber sonata note by note. Many of these are so-called Urtext editions, meaning they don’t have an editor’s interpretation written over the notes.

What I find valuable is seeing what the performers do in the way of improvisation.

If you don’t normally follow a score, you certainly should try… you’ll gain a lot more respect for the performers and their challenges.