reading sheet music in your head

[sfreeman]

I've been curious about this for a long time, and since these forums have answered my questions before, I'd like to try again. Beethoven wrote music while he was deaf, so he must have been able to hear it in his head. Is this an innate talent or can it be developed? Can any of you do it- see a score and imagine the music playing? Are there any other famous composers that were able to do this? Thank you!

[beethoven2]

I happen to do this all the time.  I think it can be developed, but it can come as innate talent, too.

[rc]

I've recently begun practicing score reading AFK.  But with pieces that I'm familiar with (I know the music, but have never tried playing it on piano).  When I try to hear an unfamiliar piece in my minds ear, what I get is an approximation - it's very vague, uncertain.  I'm not sure whether this practice will develop that ability, but I have a hunch it will over time naturally progress into it. 

Even if not, I've been finding score-reading to be difficult for me (and rewarding!).  My basic approach is to memorize the notes from the page, one-by-one, then short motifs, then phrases.  Also visualizing the notes/motifs/phrases as keys on the keyboard, then visualizing a fingering and imagining my hands playing it (HS, I haven't figured out how to visualize HT yet).  At that point, it begins to feel real to me.  My goal is to fill in every detail I can think of in my head, after I have it all memorized I plan to begin playing around with interpretation.

I've been working on a simple piece so far, and don't want to take it to the piano until I'm all done AFK...  I can't say anything about the results yet.

[mikey6]

Somebody once said that a comsummate musician is one who, on first hearing a complex orchestral work, can visualize the score as it really is.  This is the highest conceivable level a musian can reach.
Robert Schumann

I can sort of do it, although I find it harder with atonal music.
I would think that all composers would have to be able to do this in order to realize their thoughts.  I don't think too may people these days would have orchestra's that would be willing to sit thourhg the trail and error of a composer figuring out the right combinations of instruments.

[jlh]

I do it all the time... helps in choosing new rep when browsing scores away from a piano.  Admittedly I have perfect pitch and that helps in "hearing" the score away from a piano.  

Perfect pitch is something that can be developed, though, and even if you never get to the point where you can hear individual notes on pitch, you can get to the point where you can hear ABOUT where they would be, also known as relative pitch.  I'm sure Beethoven had perfect pitch, or how else would he have been able to hear his music well enough to compose it later in life??  

When you play through a piece at least once, you will be able to better hear the harmonies away from the piano because you know what it sounds like.

[jlh]

Food for thought:

When Scriabin looked at a score, did he immediately see it in colors, or would he need to aurally hear it first?

[invictious]

Well for me, I would have to hear it first, then I can see the colors.
Yes, I am synaesthetic.
I can hum out the melody though, but it wouldn't be the same if it was played by a full orchestra.

[ramseytheii]

People in choirs do this all the time.  It can definitely be developed.  You can for instance listen to a symphony recording several times without looking at the score, and then look at the score and compare it with your aural memory.  Then take simpler scores and try to imagine them first, then listen, and compare your imagination with actual sound.

Chuck Close is an American painter and quadriplegic.  He paints these days enormous canvases in a huge mosaic style, and he paints these wall-sized pictures box by box until they form a portrait.  When an interviewer asked how he knew what colors would go together, he said it was just like a composer who knew what notes would go together when he writes them down.
Just an interesting anecdote.

Walter Ramsey

[thierry13]

The fact that this can be developed isn't even a question. In fact it's a MUST to develop this as a musician, and rare are those who have it has an innate talent. Everybody studying music at my college has special classes to do this, and at the end our 2 college years, should be able to read most scares pretty accurately.