Music Video Lesson: Do You Have to Follow Dynamics in Musical Scores?

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. Robert Estrin here for you. You know, I got a question from a viewer and it's kind of a long one. So I want to read it to you word for word because it really brings up such an important point. It's from Joseph and Joseph asks, "Hi, thank you for the reply to my previous question. This doubt is about Moonlight Sonata, movement number one. I went through many videos on YouTube, these recordings were a little bit different from what is written. There are sustains, very slight temporal variations, and small pauses at some points of the recordings but these are not indicated in the notation. And I could say a majority of the portions were not in perfect tempo. Could you please explain on what basis these dynamics are made and how to know which place we should apply these dynamics? I have seen your Moonlight Sonata pedal usage video, a big thanks for that video."

So a lot of people are really confused about this. The sanctity of the score, what the composer intended. You hear this, "Oh, is this authoritative? Is that what the composer meant?" I got news for you. Composers, first of all, aren't or weren't always the best interpreters of their music. And you go, "Huh? How could this be? Beethoven must've played his music better than anyone else or anybody else." Well, think about this. The people, for example, who write screenplays aren't the best ones to direct it or act in it for that matter. Just because somebody could write a play doesn't mean they can act, does it?

Now what is the analog here? Well, you think about it. If somebody is reading the lines of a play, does it have all the inflections where to go up and where to go down, where to pause, where to go a little faster, where to go a little slower? Of course not. There are general indications in the play about the direction and the moods and things of that nature. And then the performer fleshes out and creates the character from these empty words, string them together and make some kind of meaning, bringing it to life. And that's exactly what we do on the piano. The score itself, you could literally program it into a machine. It's pretty easy to do that. If you took the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata and programmed every note exactly what was written for the rhythm, the dynamics, everything, it would be an abomination. It wouldn't even sound like music because the score is just a skeleton. I've talked about this before, it's not the Holy grail. It's just what you build upon.

Does this mean that you don't play what's written? No, you are playing what's written just like a great actor is saying the words. But how do they say the words? There's so many ways of saying them, the same is true with playing the piano or any instrument. You've got to make sense out of the musical lines just like you have to make sense out of the words in a play. You can't just read them flat, same thing with the music. Beethoven and all the other composers couldn't possibly write in every inflection of every note, notation doesn't work that way. It's impossible, that's why we have performers. The musical score doesn't come to life until it is performed. Think about that statement. It takes the performer to make the work of art alive and that is why you'll hear these nuances.

Now, of course, there's a limit to how far you can go before you're re-composing or playing an entirely different piece. You want to have integrity to the score, absolutely. Know that score and know what to play, but that doesn't mean that a musical line that doesn't have any dynamics is going to be flat all the way across. No, it will have a rise and a fall just like the words in a sentence do in a play. I hope that helps you understand the implications of what a score really means. And I hope this is enjoyable for all of you out there. You know, I really appreciate you joining me. You're welcome to subscribe if you haven't already. Once again, I'm Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com your online piano store.

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