Hearing The Notes In The Score Before You Play Them - good or bad?

[florentin]

 When I look at a score, I can usually 'hear' the notes in my head, before I actually play them out. This is especially true about simpler, more melodic lines, and less true about the more chordal passages, though I can hear most chords also.

Here's the question...

Is it good or bad to hear the notes, or try to hear the notes before you actually play them? At this point, I am no longer 'trying' to hear them, I just know what it's going to sound like.

Is this good, or could this be a hinderance, especially when it comes to sight-reading.

I'm thinking here of typing: when I type, I just know which finger is going to push which key, and not much 'thinking' involved. It almost happens by itself. Is that what needs to happen?

your input is appreciated.

[menancyandsam]

I've been thinking about this lately.  I myself can not hear in my head the score that I'm reading so I really can't answer your question.  But I think it would be a great advantage.  To be able to read through a composers repetoire & pick out what sounds good is an awesome ability.

Are there any tricks to be able to do this, is it inherated, can it be learned or is it simply a matter of time & practice?

[amelialw]

i have that too as well as perfect pitch and it really helps because I can look at the score and know how it sounds like. Well, it's something more that you have naturally rather than learn.

[shortyshort]

It sounds to me like you have a gift from "God", as I can't even hear the tune after I've played it. 

Seriously though, I wish I had the ability to hear the notes before I played them.

Use your gift to the full. 

[florentin]

I do not have perfect pitch.

as far as 'hearing' the music in the score before I play it, yes, it is true, I can hear most of the notes in my head before I play them on the instrument.

Like I was saying before, this can be a hinderance sometimes, as your level of sight-reading is usually lower than that of your aural skills.

Sometimes I can't keep up with the music in my head, so I get frustrated.

[ramseytheii]

Sometimes I can't keep up with the music in my head, so I get frustrated.

If your head offends thee....

Walter Ramsey

[florentin]

 

[opus10no2]

Good.

2 primary things are percieved from reading a score - the motor cortex movements implied by the notes, and the sounds implied by the notes.

Both should be cultivated...and they are in general practice, it's just that some people are more gifted in one than the other.

[quasimodo]

That's for sure a skill to cultivate. I hope I had it. I used to have it as a child, but lost it as I gave up music for some years.
The only problem it could raise is to play out of tempo, but it's not to difficult to correct IMO. In a discussion between eminent posters here, there was a suggestion that great sightreaders (like professionnal accompanyists) are great because they have this skill, precisely.

[persona]

How could it possibly be bad? Looks like an other show off here (no offense)

[florentin]

How could it possibly be bad? Looks like an other show off here (no offense)

no offense taken...

you should probably read the entire post.

I am reading from a BASIX book called Bach Keyboard Classics, this week.

Now, most of you would probably be able to just sit down and read through these. They are not very advanced. There are two Inventions in there, no.1 and no.8, but the others are not difficult in comparison.

Still, for me, it is not easy to sight-read them. And the fact that I can hear the notes in my head before I play them is not always a good thing for me, especially since the piano is not my primary instrument. Yes, I hear the notes in my head, but I cannot PLAY them fast enough to keep up with what I hear. I cannot find the right notes, and the right fingering, and keep up with the notes in my head.

So there is a constant 'conflict' for lack of a better word, between what I hear in my head and what I am actually playing. I also play by ear a lot better than I read, so maybe that is another issue.

Does that make any sense?

Now you're going to say I'm showing off again. Whatever... (no offense)

I am simply asking for help.

[shortyshort]

I am simply asking for help.

Perhaps you should try thinking of something else while you're playing. Works for me. 

[florentin]

I was looking for some credible answers...

...talk about showing off