How to Study and Practice a Score

Published by bgthomas

  1. Sight read the piece to get an overall sense of the piece. Attend to as many essential elements as possible.

  2. Study the score and note all the following elements and attempt to determine their significance. The first level does not require analysis per se but it does require close attention. Note all of the following:

    • Meter
    • Key
    • Tempo markings
    • Movement type (e.g. gigue)
    • Instrumentation
    • Dynamics
    • Articulation markings
    • Phrase indications
    • Breaths
    • Bowings
    • Rests
    • Repeats
    • Ornaments
    • Number of voices or parts
    • Range

  3. Continue studying the score while noting the following. All of these require some degree of analysis. Many of the elements listed below are highly intertwined, which means that you are trying to do as many things as possible simultaneously.

    Prominent rhythmic figuration (you are looking for patterns which appear repeatedly and are characteristic for the piece)

    • Synchronous intervals
    • Non-synchronous intervals
    • Scale degree (e.g. in C major c is the first degree and a is the sixth degree)
    • Consonance, dissonance and resolution
    • Melodic shape and direction
    • Themes and motives
    • Phrase length
    • Key, which will shift, sometimes very quickly
    • Harmonic analysis
    • Harmonic rhythm
    • Chordal voicing
    • Form
    • Structure

  4. Analyze for the communication techniques. The techniques are discussed in an article available here: The Art of Delivery by Keith Hill and Marianne Ploger. Twelve Techniques for Increasing Listener Interest and Comprehension is a summary of The Art of Delivery. The goal is to use as many of the techniques as often as possible. In actual performance you will want to change the combinations each time. This will enable you to achieve Chopin’s goal of never playing a piece the same way twice. Here is the list with the briefest of explanations. You will need to refer to the articles to understand them.

    • Non-simultaneity: Don’t play distinct voices together. Let them have full independence.
    • Non-metricallity: Don’t be a metronome or a computer. Let the natural irregularity of speech by your guide.
    • Gesture: Shape the voices like natural forms which we find pleasing: e.g. eggs, leaves, and swan’s necks.
    • Distortion: Without a few rough edges your music making will be insipid or plastic.
    • Sans souci: A bit of elegant abandon at the right moment is a sign of mastery. Without this a performance is tense and off-putting.
    • Stride: Certain tempos work because they correspond to the rate at which we process information.
    • Evaporation: This is a means of emphasis by whispering something important.
    • Hesitation: This is a means of emphasis by waiting before saying something important.
    • Crunch: This is where you allow extra time for something which is clashing.
    • Harmonic portamento: This is a bit difficult to describe. It requires you to be aware of how notes, particularly melodic notes, are harmonized.

  5. Characterize the piece and determine its meaning. This is what you are definitely not taught to do at the conservatory, but this is why it’s worth playing music. If you have completed the first four steps, you have an enormous amount of information about the piece. The final step is to turn that into something which will touch listeners. For a more complete explanation of the process look at the articles on affect. Using the table of affects, or better yet, one you have devised, select one affect from each of the four categories:

    • Attitudes
    • Mental States
    • Emotions
    • Physical State

  6. When you have the four, combine them into a coherent scenario. This scenario will give your intuition an enormous amount of information to work with.

This process will make memorization of the piece much quicker and more powerful.