I am convinced that pianists are a breed all their own. As I have been preparing to play for a few lessons in Union's abbreviated winter term, I have begun to think about requests I want to make from my student singers. The biggest issue that I'm considering: single-sided or double-sided copies of their music. Feel free to laugh at me now, but it really makes a difference.....and I see many collaborative pianists in cyberspace nodding their heads in agreement.
I can't come to a personal preference and have been playing with it most of the day. Double-sided copies are easier to turn and more closely resemble the feeling of original scores, but inevitably, the light hits the page just right and the notes on the back are visible. Now THAT can cause some confusion.
Single-sided copies are easier to get from the student, but require hours of taping music together that could be spent practicing. The upside to this process, however, is that I have control over the location of page turns. Once the pages are taped together, everything becomes noticeably thick; I'm always fearful of turning two pages mistakenly in these situations.
The reality of the situation is that I'm generally happy if the copies I get include all the notes that are on the original page. Of course, if the singer isn't worried about missing notes on the page, I don't suppose I should worry about the missing notes from their performance!
Do you have a preference? Do you play from photocopies or do you demand original scores for performances? Your input will definitely make this post a real page turner!
I'd definitely say double sided...I agree that taping music together can take WAY too long. And as far as playing from photocopies, I don't mind at all, as long as they are good copies that are clear and don't have a ton of the singer's markings in them.
ReplyDeleteIt depends--if the music is 4 pages or shorter, I like it single sided, so I can fix it so it folds out from the center and I don't have to turn ANY pages. Otherwise, I'm not picky. If I do have to tape pages, I put tape over the corners of the pages, so every pageturn of photocopied music is securely attached and feels the same.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm totally a control freak, so single-sided all the way. I can put the page turns where I want them and I know how pages feel when making turns - kind of like having a security blanket. To me the time isn't as big of an issue, and I can use it to mentally prep the score. Original scores are great and feel official, and if they are not impossible to keep open I'll go with them. Otherwise, I feel like they hamper the ease of performance and page turning, and I always feel like I've violated something when I write on them (even in pencil). Wow, such psychological ramifications! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, gang! Who knew that we actually could have a real discussion about this. Chris, I especially appreciated your view of taping pages as mental prep.
ReplyDeleteWho else is going to sound in on this issue?