How Much Do You Write On Your Pieces?

[nicko124]

This thread asks on the whole how much writing down you do on your copies which will include fingering and anything else you find useful.

I used to not bother writing down a lot of the fingering as i relied on 'doing what comes naturally' when you get to it. However it feels much more proffessional and hard working to concentrate on the best fingering in the long term and keeping a record of it. I now write quite a lot on my copies.

[gezellig2005]

I don't do any....my teacher does

[SteinwayTony]

The writing on my scores can get pretty interesting. 

When I write on my music, it's usually the obvious stuff -- generally fingering, sometimes ideas I come up with.

When my teacher writes on music, it's no holds barred.  Last week she wrote at the top of the page, "BE YOURSELF!"!  Make of that what you will.

[pianomann1984]

I have already posted a topic very similar to this one.  Have a look at 'marking up scores' in students corner.  I got some very interesting responses.

[pizno]

I take time in the beginning to write in LOTS of fingering.  Also, I hate to say, but I write in sharps and flats to remind myself on more occasions than I care to admit.  I also write in notes on the ledger lines, since I still find the very high or low ones hard to read.  And all over I write dynamic markings, and things like 'bring out' or 'listen' or 'watch tempo'.  By the time I perform a piece, there it's a mess.  I also write lines indicated to remind myself to hold something it's full value. 

[steinwayguy]

This thread asks on the whole how much writing down you do on your copies which will include fingering and anything else you find useful.

I used to not bother writing down a lot of the fingering as i relied on 'doing what comes naturally' when you get to it. However it feels much more proffessional and hard working to concentrate on the best fingering in the long term and keeping a record of it. I now write quite a lot on my copies.

One HELL of a lot. Usually not fingerings though, ideas, reminders, techniques etc.

[Jacey1973]

This thread asks on the whole how much writing down you do on your copies which will include fingering and anything else you find useful.

I used to not bother writing down a lot of the fingering as i relied on 'doing what comes naturally' when you get to it. However it feels much more proffessional and hard working to concentrate on the best fingering in the long term and keeping a record of it. I now write quite a lot on my copies.

I think it is important to write in as much fingering as possible - especially when learning a new piece or a new and very difficult piece! My teacher is always telling me off for not writing enough fingerings in! It will save you time in the long run as you can get fingerings learnt in the very early stages then - this is especially useful if you want to memorise something fairly quickly.

The danger with "doing what comes naturally" for me is that I never decide on a definite fingering and always end up doing something different each time. By doing a different fingering each time there is no stability and i will probably go wrong in a particulary difficult section.

As for accidentals/notes i'm forever writing in #s and bs here and there, i don't think there is really anything wrong with it if it helps you!

I once looked at a Ligeti Etudes score belonging to a concert pianist who performed them in a kind of performance/composition seminar type thing last year at my Uni. He had written tons of notes and accidentals all over the place! - But from how the Ligeti Etudes sounded i'm not surprised!

Some particular etudes sounded so difficult, harsh and dissonant they were the first pieces of music that ever made me feel physically sick - perhaps that is still art though because it made me feel something (although i was also hungover at the time!)

[anda]

1. for works i will memorize: i write the analysis on the score; also i write down things my teacher tells me during class (because he always has tons of great ideas and i don't want to forget anything)

2. for works i will be playing with the score in front of me (accompanying, chamber music): sometimes alterations, sometimes fingering (hardly ever, only if it's intricate and un-natural but the only usable i could find), anything i realize i tend to forget while playing. what i almost always have to mark: changes of key or measure.

[Dazzer]

Hmmm usually the only thing i write on scores are

Huge big circles to point out areas i should take note of. Though nowadays, this only applys to pieces i'm playing with other people, and i've only gone through it like ... once or twice with them.

pieces i'm learning for solo piano, i almost never write on it anymore. cuz i just memorise.

[marialice]

I don't write very much on my scores, but when I look at the music my brother played when he was younger, it always brings up a big smile on my face. His scores at the time were filled with comments like "I am a Russian" (for a Russian sounding piece), "Do not fall asleep" (halfway a slow piece), "Play with fingers, not with fins" (at a place that needed good articulation), etc.

[Etude]

I sometimes write in fingering, if it doesn't come to me automatically, and little comments for interpretation.

[Tash]

my teacher'll write a bit in, but not me. mainly writing in some fingering if i have issues, or get into the habit of playing a wrong note, or emphasising dynamics, phrasing, expression etc. but the more i learn the piece the less she has to write on it!

[pianowelsh]

I write everything on my copy. Literally tempi arrows harmonic progs, ideas, other musical excerpts the passage reminds me of etc, moods/ emotions (notes to self ie 'project this line more' fingering. Questions for my teacher 'i like this but if i do this then this happens and i heard so and so do this but then the score indicates this - what do you think?(mini dissertations). I have even been known to use it as a diary escpecially chamber music scores as i know i will look at that every day whereas i tend to loose diaries (similarly gloves and watches ects).  I should say i always photocopy my scores before i start for exam purposes because i once did a masterclass where the guy couldnt read it anymore (i went a bit overboard with that one).

[klick]

I write tons! A page is full of counts, lift marks and FINGERING!! Maybe a little bit of dynamics reminder. I learn well from writing things down, or at least it helps me learn. This seems to help me in my memorization. Even if i can paly a song well writing things down reminds me to do it, and i may find things i am forgeting or what not.

Klick

[Chrysalis]

My teacher does that:

like

Maarten lift your fingers!

Maarten play this in a more clear fashion!

Maarten this
Maarten That

sometimes on sheet where there are no fingerings i like to
write it on the sheet.

thats it

[Siberian Husky]

i use crayons...i dont really write things cause i just wont pay attention to them..but i'll underline..or shade...or make sharp lines or shapes to indicate tone color, expression..and if theres repetition..i color code likes and stuff..i find it easier..oh yeah..but i do write in some fingerings too..i find i change alot of fingerings...

[Dazzer]

seeing the previous post i remember when i last played a p&f i'd use colour codes to specify different voices, themes, counters and stuff.

[Grane]

I and my teacher write a lot -- mostly fingerings.  Key to really, really learning a piece is using consistent/identical fingering -- that's hard to do without writing down.  Having taken more lessons put in less fingering as tend to do it more consistently.

Also circle areas make mistakes, sometimes counting if difficult parts, and anything else that helps.

Everything is in light pencil as my fingering often changes in the beginning.

Ed

[etudes]

fingering phrasing pedal some of analyze (in case i leave that piece and wanna bring it back)
but sometime if deal with a complex rhythm i would write down how lh and rh play together (like draw a line)
marking common mistake
write down the performance time of some great pianist
not so much 

[SDL]

fingerings, odd dynamic phrasing, sometimes quotes from books like Sandor on the chopin etudes.  Ive seen my teacher's teacher's markings - I can't see the music!  Don't like to write much in terms of ideas on the music.

[etudes]

but normally i write something in the term of music
esp.the piece like chopin ballade or some pieces like a poetic pieces

[pianowelsh]

I try to make sure there is no room left by first lesson - so if my teacher dosent like what i do they havent got room to scribble on it!

[ehpianist]

Fingerings and absolutely everything else. My scores are a maze of comments.  I find them very useful when relearning a piece as I can sometimes forget certain details or ideas I had worked out previously.

Elena
www.pianofourhands.com

[musicsdarkangel]

Unless your memory is excellent, marking up the score (with teacher's remarks and fingerings, or your own) is KEY.


This is how I learned Mozart sonata K 284 and Liszt's La Campanella.

My teacher gave me practice techniques for each passage, along with fingerings.  I would have taken a third more of the time to learn those pieces if it weren't for the markings.

[Torp]

Fingerings and absolutely everything else. My scores are a maze of comments.  I find them very useful when relearning a piece as I can sometimes forget certain details or ideas I had worked out previously.

Elena
www.pianofourhands.com

Ditto, except my name's not Elena and I don't play well enough to have my own website

[musicsdarkangel]

Fingerings and absolutely everything else. My scores are a maze of comments.  I find them very useful when relearning a piece as I can sometimes forget certain details or ideas I had worked out previously.

Elena
www.pianofourhands.com

Wow, cool site

and you're very pretty.

[i_m_robot]

Wow, cool site

and you're a fox

ok, sorry.  Not trying to be a typical guy. 

is this really the same person

[musicsdarkangel]

yeah....

sorry about that.

I was thinking about editing that, and I just did hehe.


I didn't mean it in a sexist way.

[minimozart007]

My music is written on every 30 seconds.  Sometimes I write in fingerings, but its usually reminders of style, dynamics, pedaling, anything that pertains to how I perform a piece.