Owning a piece

[kghayesh]

Rubinsteing once said, I don't perform a piece in public unless i feel that i own the piece.

I think this is a very good description because you can't perform anything unless you are so perfect in it.
Can we start a thread discussing what are the features of "Owning a piece" ?

[Motrax]

I guess the first two requirements would be to have it memorized well and have it technically under your fingers. A beautiful image of the piece does no good when you can't call it forth under the pressure of playing for a crowd.

Beyond technique and memory, which are relatively easy to define, it's very difficult to say when you "own" a piece. However, one good way to find out whether you really are playing something at that level is to take note of how much you concentrate when playing the piece. Take a Chopin's first Nocturne, just as an example. It probably wouldn't be difficult for an experienced pianist to master it technically and have it memorized. So at that point, the pianist should think about the spots where his/her mind wanders. In the rather repetetive middle section, for example, if you aren't really thinking about every phrase as you play them - if you just sortof play "what feels right" and let your hands go on autopilot - you aren't getting the full sense of what's in the music. At that point, you're probably playing only what seems immediately proper, without considering the bigger picture.

To "own" a piece, you must have played it through with this intense concentration many times; and you must have a clear idea of not just melodies and harmonies, but hidden voicing and voice leading as well.

There's much more others could add - I have homework to do now.

Hope that made at least a bit of sense.

[moose_opus_28]

Owning a piece is mastering a piece technically, connecting with it emotionally, and making every idea work, on both a small and a large scale.

How much time it takes to own something depends on the piece.  It's possible with some pieces to memorize them, capture the mood, and own them in a short amount of time.  However, some pieces take a while to conceptualize effectively, both on a phrasing level and an overall architechural level.

Example: I had a very easy time playing Brahms Op. 117 well on a phrase level.  It took me a little longer to plan out the piece well so the sections worked well together.  Then you have a piece like the Scriabin Fantasie Op. 28 that took a while on everything.  Notes and technique were tough for me.  Then sorting about musical things like voicing balance and stuff took quite a while.  Then figuring out what I wanted to do overall took a while because there were so many options for me.  It actually took several performances in public for me to feel like I owned it.  I would play it radically different from one week to the next, but I could make it work because I knew it.

I may have wandered a bit, but those are my thoughts.

[nightingale11]

 

[mike_lang]

I would say when the music becomes your own and you are no longer reciting.