Wednesday
April 9th. This morning began with one of my last score reading classes.
Score
reading means that I get a score of an orchestra or chamber music piece and am
supposed to be able to play it on the piano. The hard part is not only that
there are a lot of different instruments and that I have to try to read them
all at once (which is hard enough with my slight dyslexia). More over we are
supposed to be able to read all different clefs (such as alto clef for viola and tenor clef for cello), and
all different transposing instruments, which can transpose into almost any key.
(Note for non-musicians: By transposing instrument is meant an instrument like
for instance trumpet in Bb, which means that when there stands a C in the
trumpet score, it sounds as Bb, so every note in the score sounds a whole tone
lower, which means you have to the whole time play it one tone lower than what
is written. Some other instrument, like for instance clarinet in Eb, you have
to transpose the line the whole time a small third up. Now imagine how it feels
when you have a score with Clarinet in Eb, an other clarinet in A, French Horn
in F, violins, violas (with a different clef), cello and contra bass (which in
it’s turn transposes an octave up) and you are supposed to read what is going
on in all these voices at the same time!). Everybody keeps saying “oh, it’s not
that hard for you, you are a pianist anyway!” but I have to say; this has nothing
with pianism to do. My friend Matilda is a violinist, and I have to say that we
are more or less as good (or bad) in score reading anyway. Score reading isn’t
a very common subject, only composers and conductors have to study it. (Although
I heard it’s not compulsory anymore for conductor students at the Sibelius
Academy, which surprises me very much!)
Anyway, so
this morning I came an hour earlier to the classroom and was given a 4 page extract
from Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde. But I have to say, although Wagner has
a lot of transposing instruments (and also rare ones like horns in Db) I really
like Wagner when it comes to score reading! It’s quite funny how it sounds like
nothing while I’m transposing something wrong and you have no idea what should
be going on in the music, but at once when I get all notes exactly into place,
it sound absolutely fantastic! That is the best reward ever!
After my 30
minute score reading class I had lunch and was writing emails the whole rest of
the afternoon until a seminar about contemporary piano music began at 16.15.
There is SO MUCH to take care of as I have my own composition concert coming up
on the 14.5! I have to find altogether 30 musicians for performing my pieces, a
sound technician, a concert hostess, a light man, plan rehearsal schedules which
are supposed to suit all people and many more things… So this afternoon I once
again used 3 hours only for email for planning one concert. Getting a bit
worried about the amount of work the upcoming festival of new music “TampeRinging”
20-24.8 will be, which I will be arranging together with Henri Sokka and
Matilda Seppälä and other Tampering members.
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