When do you feel like a piece is "yours"?

[lwl]

At what stage do you feel like you "own" a piece (at least within the limitations of your technical abilities)?

By this, I mean: At what stage of learning and preparing a work do you feel like you have figured out what you want to do with it musically, that you can successfully express that vision to the audience, and that it sounds personalized?

Once you feel that you "own" the work, do you ever change your mind? How often, and why?

[Sound Dreamer]

why are pple obessed about ownership? how can a person truly owned a piece of music?

[Dorin]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sound Dreamer:

why are pple obessed about ownership? how can a person truly owned a piece of music?

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I don't think she means "own" as in "own" in "ownership".

[Sound Dreamer]

oops..sorry, then what does this own means?

[lwl]

Read the second paragraph of my post.

[Primrose84]

this usually happens a couple months after i've performed the piece for its intended purpose (ie: juries). it kinda settles in from the tension of getting it done in time...i like having a piece that well learned where i can play it even completely cold...its comforting.

[Dorin]

quote:

---

Originally posted by lwl:

By this, I mean: At what stage of learning and preparing a work do you feel like you have figured out what you want to do with it musically, that you can successfully express that vision to the audience, and that it sounds personalized?

---

See the quote.

Maybe more like "under your belt"?

[Mu0n]

I don't feel it ever happened to me yet.

I've been doing finger drills this past month; shaping up your nervous system is costly in time and dedication.

[Jeswinky*]

Never yet, even though I've practiced hours and hours on pieces, have I felt that the piece is mine, under my belt, personalized. I've learned that making music good requires more than the number of hours I practice.

I imagine that a piece will feel like it's mine once I learn how to put myself in it. Until then, the piece owns itself.

[Viola Girl]

This "ownership-sensation" has only happened to me once, and I am not sure I quite know how or why it happened.

In high school, I worked on Bloch's "Suite Hebraique" and I really felt a CONNECTION with that piece. I loved playing it, I loved all the intervals...

Others noticed this connection, too. I played it for a few competitions that year, and won them. Most of the judges laughed and asked if I had any Jewish blood in me (the joke was that I am full-blooded Korean ). My sophmore year of college, the conductor was so excited I won the concerto competition, because he had wanted to perform it with me since he had heard me play it at my entrance-audition.

I don't think I have ever been able to play any other piece with this kind of feeling and intensity, although I have really tried.

Strange,

VG

[jake]

For me to own a piece, I usually have to come back to it a second time.

The first time through I learn it (memorize, fix intonation, get everything how I want it) and then I have to perform it.. in some setting be it informal or formal.. a couple of times.

When I come back again after a month (or a year) away, I always feel as if the notes are secondary to the musical expression, and everything just works.

[HuangKaiVun]

Once a piece is fully memorized, I feel totally comfortable with it.

[Pascal]

Hi,

I think I "own" a piece when I can play it drunk, in a noisy environment, have memory slips, improvise through them and find my way back without anybody noticing... be able to change the bowing and fingering when the feel arises And above all, let it rest for a few months, and be able to play it again from memory. I "own" less than 5 pieces

Cheers,

Pascal.

[flamenco]

I can pick it up anywhere from within it. I understand the structure and flow. I can play it if woken up at 2 am. I feel that I understand what the composer was after. I don't usually change interpretation from this point. The score is usually very heavily annotated. Sometimes I change things a little. I can see notes of various ages on pieces I first addressed 20 years ago, but very few.

I can perform pieces I am not that familiar with, but I don't get the same sense of intimacy.

[DougH]

Yeah, I'd go along with Jake.

... and, after 'automatic' changes have had time to creep in. A 'right' phrasing starts to happen by itself.

Since I learn most things from scores, when I do get to hear another's (proper?) version, I'm always intrigued by the difference between the two.

Having fun,

Doug

[Andrew Victor]

Lydia,

Interesting question! My first answer vanished upon closer examination - so I give you my second answer.

I actually feel like I "own a piece of music" as a completely internal thing. Therefore, I can own a piece before I ever try to play it. Perhaps upon hearing someone else play it "just so."

However, my ownership is not legitimized until I feel that I can play it in such a way as to transfer that same feeling of internal "ownership" to those who hear me.

As a player, I have not felt I owned very many pieces - not as many as I have as a listener.

Perhaps it's one of those "love," or "imprinting," or "bonding" things.

Andy

[bob kogut]

It becomes 'mine' when it stops being a string of memorized notes and phrases, and takes on a life of emotion, which is the original intent and purpose for music anyway, like when it makes the hair on the back of the neck stand up, or brings a tear to the eye.

Bob

[bleeviola]

When I can easily play it from memory, it starts to feel like a part of me. This rarely happens if I don't memorize.