Charles Dalmas, in an impressive posting that invites comment, writes:

>Even if you read music, you cannot glean any useful information about a
>message or statement from the printed page.  You know what the music is
>conveying only if you know the piece, and have heard it before.  Without
>this contextual knowledge, it is impossible to know what the music is
>saying just by looking at the printed page.

Actually, that's not true at all, as I mentioned in a post a couple of
weeks ago.  Most professional musicians can sit and read a part or a score
like reading a book.  When I study a score I can glean a tremendous amount
without listening to a recording.  Want to know a secret? For a long time
I had a score to Firebird in the bathroom!  Instead of reading the paper or
a magazine, I'd sit there and enjoy the horn solo of the Finale, or analyse
the rhythms of the bassons, flutes and clarinets in the first movement (no
pun intended).  Sorry to be scatalogical, only to illustrate that the
printed page can offer a lot of musical pleasure to someone who reads music
fluently.  Even if you've never heard the piece before.  I had a score once
to the Bartok suite for string orchestra, didn't have a recording, had
never heard a performance, but I practically memorized that score.  Later,
when I heard a recording, I was very disappointed because it didn't convey
as much to me as my own analysis and how I had heard it in my head.

David Runnion
http://www.serafinotrio.com/