Richard Pennycuick <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>This ties in with a thread Don Satz started recently to do with
>visualising.  If you (in the general sense, not just Steve) hear the Eroica
>in your head, do you "see" anything, whether abstract shapes or some other
>mental reference, or do you just remember the music without any form of
>mental-visual association?

Although I once had to study the Eroica score for a class, I don't ever
remember visualizing the score except for purposes of the test.  I have
heard of some performers making audio-visual associations-- I heard both
pianist Helen Huang (I wonder what became of her) and violinist Itzakh
Perlman say that they like to invent stories for some of the pieces they
play (I think Perlman was referring to a Mozart concerto).  However, I
haven't heard that this is a widespread practice.

>If you're remembering a piece of music you've performed, ie playing it
>through in your mind - I speak as a non-performer - do you remember the
>*sound* of the music, or the notes on the page?

I would be surprised if any musician said that he/she sees in their mind
the notes on the page.  Seeing the notes is merely the first step in a
long chain of translations which end with the produced sound, and it's
this sound, whether alone or in the larger context of a phrase, that
the performer must constantly be aware of, changing, and improving,
and ultimately guided by.

I remember watching an interview of violinist Nathan Milstein, where the
interviewer was trying to ask him a deep question, such as, "What goes
through your mind when you play the opening of the Bach [Chaccone?]? What
do you think of immediately?" Milstein looked a little surprised, thought
about it for few seconds, and then finally replied, "I think, 'Not too
loud.'" So not everybody makes up stories for their pieces!

Hector Aguilar <[log in to unmask]>