Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Margaret L. Harrison"<peggyh@i...>
Date:  Tue Nov 5, 2002  6:41 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Open Score vrs Closed Score



On Mon, 04 Nov 2002 21:55:52 -0700 "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...>
wrote:

<But, a classical work that is not done within the restrictions required by
the score and without
the stylistic considerations that are required of the piece, is no longer a
classical piece of music. It is the very restrictions that convey the sense
of accuracy to the composers intent that makes the piece a classical work..
A classical composer writes his music with this in mind. Therefore to ignore
it is to destruct a primary underlying concept of the work.>

I think this is an interesting discussion point but WAY too broad a statement
to carry very far. Unless you don't count art music of the baroque period and
bel canto vocal performance practice as "classical" music (to name only two).

For example, my undergraduate music theory professor liked to talk about the
similarities between jazz performance practice and baroque performance
practice. Both put a high value on performer improvisation, with the written
score being only the starting point for skilled performers. I imagine in both
instances, highly skilled practitioners of these improvisatory forms notated
examples of their improvisations to make money from or to teach less skilled
practitioners.

And then there's ornamentation, and improvisation in the form of the cadenza.
I don't think one would define ornaments or cadenzas as "popular" as opposed
to "classical", but Lloyd's definition doesn't account for it.

I would prefer to throw out his definition, but perhaps discuss the observed
differences in terms of performance practice. For example, in current and
recent "popular" music forms, generally accepted performance practice doesn't
need to be notated in published scores, because everyone knows them from the
mass media, and they are documented in aural form in recordings. And,
performance practice changes over time because audiences who want to hear
something new get bored if they hear the sameold sameold and spend their money
elsewhere. Also, the popular forms are a lot shorter and/or use smaller
forces than the classical forms, and thus can rely more on performers'
memories. There's no way a symphony, no matter what the compositional style,
can be performed without the music being notated, because there are too many
performers and too many notes to rely on the performers' memories to get a
work an audience would tolerate. Even big bands working in a jazz tradition
use written "charts", a form of notation, and everyone in a given group knows
and agrees upon the parameters for un-notated improvisations.

That's just a start, and I'm sure many of you can carry on further.


Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA.



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