Does using you music take away from the overall performance?

[lisztisforkids]

I think it does. Whenever I see somebody play something that is not memerized, they have to be constantly watching the sheets, taking away from the actual music.

[rc]

I think it does. Whenever I see somebody play something that is not memerized, they have to be constantly watching the sheets, taking away from the actual music.

I honestly don't know - because I have good memory, my sightreading is horrible...  I suck the notes off the page the first few times I look at it, once I know the sound and the keys the only use I have for notation is refrence if I forget.  A weakness I'm working on.

I digress, back to the question, I don't think most people will perform something that they haven't been practicing, meaning that they probably DO have it memorized one way or another.  I suspect having the music there is more of a safety net, the conscious mind not really focused much on the score.

[pianowolfi]

Actually I hate it to perform with the music. It absorbes a lot of the concentration I need to focus on musical processes.  I love to have everything memorized and feel completely free. In chamber music I use the music though. But I think of changing even this by some day.

[ramseytheii]

I think it does. Whenever I see somebody play something that is not memerized, they have to be constantly watching the sheets, taking away from the actual music.

But maybe you are getting that impression only because you see it.  It isn't well known but a lot of pianists record not from memory but from music.  Can you listen to a recording and tell who is doing which?  I doubt any of us could.  In that case we have to always use our ears over our eyes!

Walter Ramsey

[lisztisforkids]

But maybe you are getting that impression only because you see it.  It isn't well known but a lot of pianists record not from memory but from music.  Can you listen to a recording and tell who is doing which?  I doubt any of us could.  In that case we have to always use our ears over our eyes!

Walter Ramsey

  Good point. But during a actual performance, a lot of the concert is the physical presence of the performer, and when the perfomer is constantly looking up and down to the sheets it really looks bad to me.

[invictious]

The statement above it true. It's human nature we use our eyes to judge, not our ears.
Unless you poke yourself blind, otherwise really, it hardly makes a difference.

[iumonito]

I am creative in different ways with and without the music.  For Chopin, Mussorgsky and Liszt I like to play from memory.  For Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, I like to play from the score.

For modern stuff, I have been playing it from the score.

Some of the best concerts I have seen were with the score.  All of the worst were no doubt from memory.

[rach n bach]

I much perfer playing without the music.

For one, it looks good to walk up without anything in your hands, or a page turner...

Also, not only is music distracting to the onlookers, sometimes you can spend time thinking "where the heck am I on this page?" when you should be completly immersed in your music...

For me anyhow, I find that I can get much deeper into the music if I don't have sheets there to get in my way. 

RnB

[imbetter]

I dont like performing with music because i feel im confined to it and i dont have the freedom i do wen its memorized

[invictious]

I dont like performing with music because i feel im confined to it and i dont have the freedom i do wen its memorized

Except when your mind suddenly goes blank and you forget everything.

This has never happened to me before, if it happened, I'd just improvise my way out until I can remember.

Too bad I can only improvise in the style of Jazz, so suddenly improvising in the middle of La Campanella might be a bit..obvious.

[rach n bach]

Except when your mind suddenly goes blank and you forget everything.

This has never happened to me before, if it happened, I'd just improvise my way out until I can remember.

Too bad I can only improvise in the style of Jazz, so suddenly improvising in the middle of La Campanella might be a bit..obvious.

You've got a point here... I've only gone blank once, and of course it had to be right in the middle of a Bach fuge.  Yes, I did improvise my way out, and nobody really noticed, but still, it sounded mighty strange to me...