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How do you guys go about interpreting a piece of music? I personally like playing the piece a few times down and interpreting it myself before I go to recordings to see how other artists interpret it.

Being young and musically immature I tend to listen first. Really, thats how I decide that I want to play something anyway...I hear it, then want to play it because I like it. "Imitation was, is, and always will be the best method of teaching" Page 146

I like the approach of the original poster the most.

Over the years, actually very early, I started with reading the music first very thoroughly. If at all possible in its full context (that is the full score). If the score was not accessible, then from a hopefully faithful piano transcription with the soloist line(-s) above the piano staves.

During my youth we had two old style music stores in Copenhagen as part of large edition houses. They had all sorts of music for any constellation. I spent hours and hours there scouring for material for the ensembles I either lead or was a member of. Such stores hardly can be found any more, but then the web has opened a deluge of alternative sources.

Also during my youth there was a famous, quite old, German pianist. He once was asked: "How many hours do you practise a sonata before it is ready for performance?"

“Young man! I never practise! When I take up a new piece, I buy the music, sit down at my desk, read the music, and pencil in my fingerings. At the end of that process I have memorized the music. I then go to my grand piano and PLAY the music. I never practise it.â€

clagar777 wrote: "Imitation was, is, and always will be the best method of teaching" Page 146

You are not totally off track, but imitation without a foundation in the basics runs a high risk of ending up in mere parroting.

(Page 146 of which book?)

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Over the years I have played with groups on a lot of premier performances where no recordings were available ( Alun Hoddinott Symphony 8 for Brass and Percussion , Philip Wilby concerto for Euph , Dirion Dir , Cadernid Gwynedd- Gareth Glyn, Big Sky - Matt Lima , Wildfire and Men of Stone - John Pickard ) to name a few. when working on these pieces it is tricky but you try your best , work out rhythm , pitch accidentals , dynamics..then you can work out interpretation with tempo's etc...would always consult the composer ( If available on scoring , wrong notes etc.)
what ever is easy for you , if you want to buy a recording to compare go for it , if you want to work it out for yourself work hard at it..

imperialbari wrote:

clagar777 wrote: "Imitation was, is, and always will be the best method of teaching" Page 146

(Page 146 of which book?)

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Just a hunch -- I would suspect it may be referring to p 146 of Arnold Jacobs: Song and Wind [Brian Frederikson; Windsong Press]

I personally (especially with modern music because my ear isn't fantastic yet) sit down with the score and a recording before I touch my horn because I want to have the basic idea in my head. Without a recording, I risk learning pitches wrong and then it's harder to unlearn them and learn them the right way. So I listen to it with the score in hand, but while I'm listening, I make notes of things that I like and what I would do differently than the recording, so after two or three listens I can sit down and get the piece pretty well, and then I do my interpretation and make it mine. It's a much quicker process with me to have the piece in my head when I sit down to "sight read" it than just going at it blind.

Tim Ayer

Would it be fair to say that the basis for most musical interpretation is imitation, even if it isn't of the work at hand? Or does one start out by playing Ellington never having heard jazz performed, or derive one's completely unique interpretation of Mozart, never having heard music of that genre before?

So, does it really matter that you get a recording of the exact work that you've set out to learn, or that you're familiar with the composer's style and interpretation?

Just being a bit pedantic here--yes, I like to listen to a recording of a work before I play it! For one thing, I'm not fooling with a big hunk of sheet metal sitting in my lap and can devote my energy to listening.

pulseczar wrote:How do you guys go about interpreting a piece of music?

Why does it matter? Do you ONLY perform pieces you've never heard before? Not heard this year?

Perhaps, if you have no imagination, hearing it will give you an interpretation. And if you DO have an imagination, why will hearing it hurt?

Perhaps, if you have no imagination, hearing it will give you an interpretation. And if you DO have an imagination, why will hearing it hurt?

My sentiments exactly. I go about it both ways and each works well for me. I like to listen so that I have an idea of what the music as a whole is, for rarely is there a chance that I can "read" a piece with the ensemble/pianist before practicing quite a bit. Praciticing a melody without any knowledge of what the piece as a whole is accomplishing is almost as bad as trying to produce an exact replica of a recording.

I practice/listen and then make musical decisions based on what I feel and hear, isn't that what being a musician is all about? As long as you are mature enough to make decisions for yourself then listening shouldn't present a problem, it is up to you to decide whether you agree with the performers choices or you think it would sound better a different way or, most likely, a mixture of both.

Having responded "after", I feel compelled to explain; I prefer to only listen to other interpretations, after I have started to form my own opinions on the piece.

I will, however, listen to recordings in order to find pieces that I would like to work on, in the future. I find this a good way to avoid wasting time, sifting through a ton of material, just to find what I consider to be "good" pieces.

Well, I answered no, because on my tuba I either don't have, don't have access to, or even already know the piece, or any number of reasons why I rarely, if ever, listen to a piece I'm going to play.

OTOH, as we all know, garage banding with my guitar, usually the only way to get the song is off the record (or tape, or CD, or MP3, or download....)

I will get a recording if I'm not familiar with a piece and do not have the music.

For example, I knew by an e-mail announcement that a new march would be sight read at a concert, so I found a recording online. Good thing I did. The march intro began with two measures of FF solo tuba work. At least I knew what it sounded like.