Memorization

Do you memorize the entire score, or are you reading everything on the podium?

To me, a musical score is like a map.  Sometimes I need to memorize the entire score because I am conducting a really fast tempo and I cannot simply turn pages every second.  The beginning of the La Boheme, Puccini’s opera calls for memorization for sure. This is very much like I cannot look up google map while I am riding a bicycle in fast pace in mountains.  

If I am conducting music that I am very familiar with, maybe I listened to it as I was growing up or conducted many times, then I don’t need a score.  This is very much like you don’t need a map when you go back to see your grandmother.

Practically speaking, it’s good to memorize a piece.  It gives you freedom as a conductor.  It gives you a chance to have eye contact with musicians, you can use all of your hands for expressions, you can keep showing your faces to express mood and other important elements of music making.  If you are buried in the score, orchestra members cannot tell what your music directions are.

But, memorizing entire scores come with experience. It’s not very easy to memorize a piece if you are not familiar with a composer’s language.  For example, going back to a map analogy, if you are to visit a medieval city in the Southern Italy, can you memorize the town map easily?  Can you remember where the Cathedral is?  Where are the churches?  Where are cafes?  It’s not that easy.  Is it? On the other hand, can you memorize a map of Manhattan?, say you are going to Madison Square Garden from Carnegie Hall. Probably, a bit easier!  It’s is easier because you know many landmarks and also roads are numbered!  You probably know where the Central Park is and your favorite restaurants are.

Just because we, conductors read a score on the podium doesn’t mean we don’t have it memorized. We discover new things when we conduct and listen to the orchestra while reading the score. It’s very much like looking at a treasure map while you are searching for a gate that leads to the treasure and you find river and bridges along the way on the map. We discover new things as we conduct with the score.

To memorize the piece of music, we need to be familiar with a composer’s towns, so to speak.  How does a composer use their instruments, harmony, melodies, rhythms etc.  So, let’s visit their towns, i.e. listen to their music, so you can memorize a score a little better!