Should students imitate?

[starstruck5]

I have been thinking lately that if all those hours of technical exercises and improvisation and study pay off, and I arrive at the point where my technique is up to concert standard - how much should I imitate for example, Arraus' Pathetique - it is easy after all to find very advanced ways of listening, analysing, and even marking a score - noting dynamics/accents - tempo changes - articulation and so on. 

How much is there to gain from this approach and how much to lose?  Ultimately how do you turn technique into personal artistry?  I ask this especially, because I will never be a performer, because I suffer from a nervous illness anyway - this will always be a handicap for me - nevertheless I hate playing sloppily or carelessly - I really love the music and want to do it justice - I get more enjoyment playing passages which I percieve as perfect, l like most pianists!

 I noticed that in the masterclasses by Daniel Barenboim - he was in a sense suggesting that the student imitate his way of interpreting various passages - and he gave really convincing reasons, why a phrase should have more tension or less -or individual notes should have a particular articulation. Since, most of us are not at a level where we can study with the Masters - how much can we use recordings as a substitute?

Am I being too anal though?  In other words how much time should I spend trying to perfect one piece -instead of just reading through many pieces I love and trying to find a carefree mindset.   There is much to be said for not getting over ambitious!  At the moment my piano is atrocious - the repetition a joke and the extreme notes are sticking - there are two damper heads missing - but I play anyway - until I get a new one or the old one fixed.

[kellyc]

Hi: I don't think this is a case of imitating . You know the old saying learn how to walk before you run. We learn from our teachers how to play  and interpret music.  All the great concert artists studied and learned from other great concert artists. They can't live in a vacum. Yuja wang has to hear how Martha Agerich does things.  Horowitz must have heard how Racmoninoff did things. Richter learned at the Moscow conservatory from Professor Goldenweiser. Its not that your trying to be exactly like them, but your trying to build on what has gone before you.

When I play I try to keep in mind what I have been taught and yet I try and put just a little of me into what I'm playing.  I try to make it mine. To give it my own sound, but use all that I have found out about music in what I' am doing. Besides , even if I wanted to , if I tried to play like Agerich or Wang, it wouldn't sound all that good.  Im not them. 

Use what all your teachers and artists show you, but try and add a little of you to your playing also.

To answer your question, you couldn't really imitate even if you wanted to.

Just try and be you, and I think that will work out best. 

Kelly

[imfirewall]

So??OMG

[jimbo320]

You are always making your own music. You're the one playing it...

[starstruck5]

Hi: I don't think this is a case of imitating . You know the old saying learn how to walk before you run. We learn from our teachers how to play  and interpret music.  All the great concert artists studied and learned from other great concert artists. They can't live in a vacum. Yuja wang has to hear how Martha Agerich does things.  Horowitz must have heard how Racmoninoff did things. Richter learned at the Moscow conservatory from Professor Goldenweiser. Its not that your trying to be exactly like them, but your trying to build on what has gone before you.

When I play I try to keep in mind what I have been taught and yet I try and put just a little of me into what I'm playing.  I try to make it mine. To give it my own sound, but use all that I have found out about music in what I' am doing. Besides , even if I wanted to , if I tried to play like Agerich or Wang, it wouldn't sound all that good.  Im not them. 

Use what all your teachers and artists show you, but try and add a little of you to your playing also.

To answer your question, you couldn't really imitate even if you wanted to.

Just try and be you, and I think that will work out best. 

Kelly

Thanks Kelly - your advice is much appreciated.  I realise of course that trying to imitate an artist is just that - an attempt! But I will take your advice and express my own ideas and emotions -for good or bad - I'll listen to accomplished playing - such as yours- and just let myself be inspired by it, rather than slavlishly try and imitate.   

[starstruck5]

You are always making your own music. You're the one playing it...

Thanks Jimbo - I can't argue with that!

[werq34ac]

My teacher told me there is nothing wrong with borrowing ideas from great masters like Arrau Horowitz Rachmaninoff etc. As long as you UNDERSTAND why they make certain performance decisions. Making music is an intellectual process and you must make decisions on how you are going to play something. You can take suggestions from these artists, however in the end, YOU must be the one to decide just how you are going to play a passage. These are masters after all and one can hardly say they are playing it wrong.

HOWEVER, one should not directly imitate. Copying dynamics and articulation onto a score will not help you mature as a musician. You need the process of thinking through musical choices and just copying will only develop your technique, which is a good thing, but you can develop technique AND mature musically if you make your own choices. Who knows? You might be able to come up with something completely original.

As for what kellyc said, one can be inspired by others, but in order to truly be great one has to be unique. Yuja Wang is not an imitation of Argerich and Argerich not of Horowitz, and Horowitz of Rachmaninoff. Each of these artists has something unique to offer to the art of creating music.

[dss62467]

I do this too, but I think there's only so much imitating you can do.  Inevitably, you will feel the music differently than another artist.  So you will play it a little differently.  I think that's a good thing.  You don't want to hear everyone playing the same piece the same way.  It's kind of like when some new pop star covers a song from decades earlier, and they don't put their own spin on it.  What's the point?