# So who (else) follows along with the score?



## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

One of my great pleasures is to follow along with the score. I dig out my Dover edition and put on the CD, get all set up with coffee, a bright table lamp, and my glasses, and key the remote. Bliss.

I am addressing my question to the non-professional, not musicians or music critics or music teachers who get paid to read a score.

Does anyone else follow the score _for fun_?


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

JeffD said:


> One of my great pleasures is to follow along with the score. I dig out my Dover edition and put on the CD, get all set up with coffee, a bright table lamp, and my glasses, and key the remote. Bliss.
> 
> I am addressing my question to the non-professional, not musicians or music critics or music teachers who get paid to read a score.
> 
> Does anyone else follow the score _for fun_?


i follow when it's on youtube. But in general, don't think it helps me too much. I find it much easier and more fun to hear certain things in practice than look at it on the score, and it comes more readily to me that than reading the music for several parts. It does put the writing in a whole different light, though.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

I begin by looking at the score, to understand the piece more, and then over time, when I get to know the piece, then I like to listen to it without the score so I can focus on the musical and emotional aspects of it now.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to respond to this thread, because I _am _a professional musician - I'm a piano teacher and accompanist. But not all of my score-following is for professional reasons! I often enjoy following scores for personal enjoyment, even for pieces that I'm not performing or teaching.


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## Sol Invictus (Sep 17, 2016)

There's a great youtube channel dedicated to uploading videos of Bach's music with the sheet music scrolling along. It's called "gerubach" .


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

I cannot say if it helps me or not in "getting into" the piece. Or increases my understanding at all. 

I am a strong reader, but I am not strong on identifying the chords given the four parts. Looking at a piano transcription is a little easier to figure out what is going on harmonically, but still not at all easy for me. If I could see the score in Nashville notation, like II, V, V7, I etc., that might really be useful. (Dream on!  )

I really don't know. I don't do it to be better, really. Its just another way of experiencing the music. Ears and eyes. Kind of a full emersion. I think I do hear more when I follow along. And I stay focused longer.

I don't do it all the time, but when I do I really enjoy the experience.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Bettina said:


> I'm not sure if I'm supposed to respond to this thread, because I _am _a professional musician - I'm a piano teacher and accompanist. But not all of my score-following is for professional reasons! I often enjoy following scores for personal enjoyment, even for pieces that I'm not performing or teaching.


That'll work!


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Sol Invictus said:


> There's a great youtube channel dedicated to uploading videos of Bach's music with the sheet music scrolling along. It's called "gerubach" .


I have seen a few sites like this, and it is really cool.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bettina said:


> I'm not sure if I'm supposed to respond to this thread, because I _am _a professional musician.....I often enjoy following scores for personal enjoyment, even for pieces that I'm not performing or teaching.


Same here...I own lots of scores, and I like to follow a recording, or different recordings, for fun....it's great for comparing different recordings


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Even though I can't follow the precise harmonic progressions while I read (far from it) I find that viewing the note patterns and following the melody (and maybe a different line on a repeat) can help me appreciate a piece.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Following the score is a bit addictive. I have been at the point where I couldn't listen unless following a score, which is probably something of a crutch. I used a lot of those pocket scores in the past and they weren't so dear, but now they can be a bit overpriced. 
The ones I've been through many times like _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_, some of Haydn's string quartets, Holst's _Planets_, Scriabin's Preludes/Etudes, the full score for The Nutcracker and some piles of old piano music are now the only ones I still have on paper. Many have been lost in house moves (how and why does that happen?).

The score videos on youtube are most convenient. I like following a score for learning purposes as much as listening purposes, but after following it a few times I just stop and listen. That's what it's for really.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Just last evening I went to IMSLP and downloaded the score for Paul Dukas's Piano Sonata (in E-Flat minor), and read along as Chantal Stigliani performed this finger buster (via NAXOS disc 8.557053) over my Triangle speakers running out of a JoLida tube amp. A glorious performance in sonic sound. The Dukas Sonate reminds me of Liszt's B minor Sonata, another work which I enjoy hearing moreso with score in hand. So much goes on that the score helps keep focus on inner voices. Quite a bit of Dukas's Sonate is written on three staves that the score certainly clarifies things.

I expected today to revisit the Dukas Sonate (again with the IMSLP score at hand) via Margaret Fingerhut's performance on CHANDOS disc CHAN 241-32. The same exhausting sonata over the course of two days in two different performances is enough to leave my ears shredded. Glad I don't have to play that bugger.















If any of you reading this are as yet unfamiliar with the IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library, you should take a look, and maybe even consider subscribing. I, too, used to have to buy scores. It's great to have the IMSLP available.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I sight read really badly, and can only follow a score (sort of) if I already know the music. Knowing the principles of notation, I took out an orchestralscore from the library of a piece I knew really well in 10th grade, figuring it was time to see if I could follow along. Unfortunately the piece I chose was Brahms' First and immediately got caught in Brahms' iconoclastic way of notating -- so I was lost within measures of the start.  I have since gotten better and have a bunch of Dover scores which I occasionally follow. Generally I will follow a score to make sense of what I am hearing, or sometimes to see things I'm not hearing.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

That's my ideal way of listening. I wish I had time to do more of it. I put notes I pick up from everywhere in the margins. I always pick up something I hadn't noticed before. Like the Sibelius Violin Concerto, I just noticed from the scoring why it makes me feel like it's winter.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> Even though I can't follow the precise harmonic progressions while I read (far from it) I find that viewing the note patterns and following the melody (and maybe a different line on a repeat) can help me appreciate a piece.


Can you believe, that certain musicians - Nadia Boulanger for one, Boris Goldovsky, Leonard Bernstein [probably James Levine and Daniel Barenboim, too] - could sit down, open an unknown, or new score, and *sight read* it on piano -* full score, all staves* [not a piano reduction] - *with all the transpositions* - F horns, Bb/A clarinets, Eb clarinets, etc, etc!! Now, that takes talent!!


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Heck148 said:


> *Can you believe, that certain musicians* - Nadia Boulanger for one, Boris Goldovsky, Leonard Bernstein [probably James Levine and Daniel Barenboim, too] - could sit down, open an unknown, or new score, and *sight read* it on piano -* full score, all staves* [not a piano reduction] - *with all the transpositions* - F horns, Bb/A clarinets, Eb clarinets, etc, etc!! Now, that takes talent!!


Yes, I can believe that- he was Bernstein!


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Tchaikov6 said:


> Yes, I can believe that- he was Bernstein!


Boulanger's sight-reading ability was legendary....composers would bring her a new score....she'd sit down at piano, sight read it, and offer critical comments, critiques while she was playing!!


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

Heck148 said:


> Boulanger's sight-reading ability was legendary....composers would bring her a new score....she'd sit down at piano, sight read it, and offer critical comments, critiques while she was playing!!


I wouldn't be surprised with Boulanger either.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Phil loves classical said:


> i follow when it's on youtube. But in general, don't think it helps me too much. I find it much easier and more fun to hear certain things in practice than look at it on the score, and it comes more readily to me that than reading the music for several parts. It does put the writing in a whole different light, though.


As almost always +1.


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

So second part of the question:

Do you think it would be in bad taste at a live concert to bring a score and follow along? I have never done this, but I have often been very tempted.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

No, I have never brought a score along- at concerts I focus on watching the musicians and enjoying the live experience. Most often before a performance I will listen to a piece and if I don't know it well I will follow along with the score.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

JeffD said:


> So second part of the question:
> 
> Do you think it would be in bad taste at a live concert to bring a score and follow along? I have never done this, but I have often been very tempted.


I can see how it would be tempting! But I think it might be a bad idea. The rustling of the pages might be distracting for the people sitting near you. Also, you would probably have trouble seeing the score clearly because of the dim lighting, so you might end up getting a headache trying to peer at the notes!


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## Guest (May 27, 2017)

I know of one late, great, delicious-piece-of-eye-candy conductor who never followed the score;


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Yes - I love to watch the "score-video" channels on Youtube. Very entertaining .


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## JeffD (May 8, 2017)

Bettina said:


> I can see how it would be tempting! But I think it might be a bad idea. The rustling of the pages might be distracting for the people sitting near you. Also, you would probably have trouble seeing the score clearly because of the dim lighting, so you might end up getting a headache trying to peer at the notes!


I hadn't thought of the lights, but I did think it might disturb others. And if I sat in the front row it might bug the performers.


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## Bruce (Jan 2, 2013)

*Scores*

I follow a score occasionally, especially with difficult pieces. I find that sometimes I can see certain patterns of notes that I don't particular hear without the score. It helps me see how certain themes are transformed and used in different movements of a work.


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## Guest (May 29, 2017)

Heck148 said:


> Can you believe, that certain musicians - Nadia Boulanger for one, Boris Goldovsky, Leonard Bernstein [probably James Levine and Daniel Barenboim, too] - could sit down, open an unknown, or new score, and *sight read* it on piano -* full score, all staves* [not a piano reduction] - *with all the transpositions* - F horns, Bb/A clarinets, Eb clarinets, etc, etc!! Now, that takes talent!!


This inspires awe.

I enjoy following along with the score. I have several of the Dover full-score editions with a few more on the way plus two of the symphonies for solo piano (Brahms complete and Tchaikovsky 4-6). I only wish I was a good enough pianist to actually PLAY the piano reductions. I still enjoy them.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

carol235 said:


> This inspires awe.
> 
> I enjoy following along with the score. I have several of the Dover full-score editions with a few more on the way plus two of the symphonies for solo piano (Brahms complete and Tchaikovsky 4-6). I only wish I was a good enough pianist to actually PLAY the piano reductions. I still enjoy them.


There is a piano roll version available of Mahler playing mvt I of Sym #5 on piano...very interesting!! It was available online, but I've long since lost the link...


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I often listen with a score, especially if my listening is work related. But when approaching a new piece I prefer not to see a score for quite some time. Absorbing what is aesthetically salient and accessible by ear is the most essential step for me in understanding a work, and for deciding what I might want from a closer look at the notes. Having the notes in front of me from the beginning can send my mind down distracting side channels better left till later.


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## Rys (Nov 26, 2016)

I said this in an earlier post some months ago. I love following along with the score. It helps me appreciate the composer; as I often compare music to music I like more. (still working on that nasty habit).

Youtube videos with the score are a blessing. Paper scores, although hard to get, are ideal.


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Rys said:


> I said this in an earlier post some months ago. I love following along with the score. It helps me appreciate the composer; as I often compare music to music I like more. (still working on that nasty habit).
> 
> Youtube videos with the score are a blessing.* Paper scores, although hard to get, are ideal.*


It is hard to get a hold of some scores! If you live near a university library, that might be an option. Some university libraries offer community cards, where members of the community can purchase a library card which can be used for borrowing privileges. That's how I get many of my scores from the UC Davis library.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

for scores - try:

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/

I've been pretty successful getting most titles - but - they aren't cheap!!


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## Rys (Nov 26, 2016)

Bettina said:


> If you live near a university library, that might be an option.


Thanks for the tip! I never knew that was an option! The nearest university is thirty-fourty minutes away, when I'm out there next I'll check on that.
:tiphat:


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

I think it's probably cheaper to download the pdf files from IMSLP and just print them out.
The scores they have there run into the 20th century. So unless it's a modern score a person requires almost anything can be found there.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

JeffD said:


> One of my great pleasures is to follow along with the score. I dig out my Dover edition and put on the CD, get all set up with coffee, a bright table lamp, and my glasses, and key the remote. Bliss.
> 
> I am addressing my question to the non-professional, not musicians or music critics or music teachers who get paid to read a score.
> 
> Does anyone else follow the score _for fun_?


Yes. I do too. Not all the time but I do it if I want to get really immersed in the music. Usually it's one of my Eulenburg miniature scores or my not so miniature Boosey and Hawkes full scores!


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

eugeneonagain said:


> I think it's probably cheaper to download the pdf files from IMSLP and just print them out.
> The scores they have there run into the 20th century. So unless it's a modern score a person requires almost anything can be found there.


I do that frequently. The exception is for pieces I intend to work on with my clarinet. Then I will want the best quality printing I can find. It's much simpler to get the notes right if I can read them correctly.

One big problem with Sheetmusicplus is shipping time. For obscure editions it can take weeks.

I used to buy sheet music at Patelson's (sp?) and Frank Music in NYC, but they're both gone. Juilliard has a store, but as I recall there's less available.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> I used to buy sheet music at Patelson's (sp?) .....


ah, yes, Patelson's, near Carnegie Hall IIRC....the good old days.........


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

I think using the score is always helpful.


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## Brucknerphile (Sep 5, 2018)

Reading a score has always helped me appreciate a piece of music, even one that I may not really like. Seeing the architecture of a piece as you hear it is nothing but a major assist to its appreciation which might even include actually liking it after several listenings.
It also helps me when I go back to the keyboard to work on other pieces. ( I am a low intermediate digital keyboard player.) More listening with scores helps my general reading abilities.
Now that one can acquire scores so easily on the internet (eg. IMSLP) or watch those fascinating YouTube channels where you don't have to turn the pages and cannot get lost it is a real pleasure.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I wish I had the time and the ability, but I cannot read music. This is more my speed (where I only have to follow a simple melody line, which starts about 35 seconds in).


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Fritz Kobus said:


> I wish I had the time and the ability, but I cannot read music. This is more my speed (where I only have to follow a simple melody line, which starts about 35 seconds in).


I can "follow the score" sometimes, but I certainly can't hear the music by looking at it. Story of my life, it seems. As a wee tyke, I tried out for church choir. The choirmaster played a triad on the piano and said, "Sing the lower note." I ended up somewhere in the middle. He said, OK, you're a soprano."


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

KenOC said:


> I can "follow the score" sometimes, but I certainly can't hear the music by looking at it. Story of my life, it seems. As a wee tyke, I tried out for church choir. The choirmaster played a triad on the piano and said, "Sing the lower note." I ended up somewhere in the middle. He said, *OK, you're a soprano.*"


Ouch. OTOH, there are few male sopranos out there and some even have produced albums. Maybe you should have pursued it.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Fritz Kobus said:


> Ouch. OTOH, there are few male sopranos out there and some even have produced albums. Maybe you should have pursued it.


When you're six years old, being a soprano is no big thing. The soprano generally sings the main tune and doesn't have to make harmony.​


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