Tips on score study and analysis

The ultimate aim is to be intimate with the music, the intentions of the composer and how you would like to put your own stamp on the music. You must be passionate about the music you conduct, otherwise every gesture is a lie.

I am finding more and more that becoming intimate with the music is, by necessity a time consuming process. We are often tasked to prepare scores at a moment’s notice, a commission perhaps or a recording session dumped on our lap where we have very little supportive material from which to help in our preparation. We dutifully do what we can do, and often it is a very successful and satisfying outcome. For me however what is most satisfying is when I get a fair amount of lead time to prepare the music. And after every rehearsal of the repertoire we glean just that little bit more about the composer and the music itself. I like the analogy of the microwave oven as opposed to the slow cooker. When cooking, a microwave oven does the job, the food gets cooked, but the flavours aren’t necessarily there. The slow cooker however enhances and allows better distribution of the flavours and over a period of time you can add different ingredients and it ultimately can become a much more sophisticated and exotic dish.

My aim ultimately is not to battle with the complexities of the music, but rather be enveloped and totally intimate with it. I yearn to be ‘inside the music’ as much as possible.

I see so many conductors waving their arms outside the music, as said before rather than ‘music in your hands’ but ‘your hands in the music’. I love that expression!

Step 2

• Acquire an overview of the work itself. Leaf through the score to get an overall feel of the work.

• Make a note of the instrumentation and in particular whether there is anything unusual about the score. Is it a transposed score or in concert pitch?

• Note keys, tempos, clarify unusual musical terms.

• Refer to an individual part from the music set and make sure your score correlates with the music your players will use with regards to rehearsal letters and bar numbers. If it doesn’t, edit your score accordingly. Using a 2B pencil mark in relevant bar numbers to make sure your rehearsals are conducted efficiently and accurately. Marking a score for the purposes of rehearsing and ultimately conducting a performance is a very personal thing. Some of the great conductors fill their scores with markings; others don’t mark scores at all. I like to use coloured pencils; blue for cueing instruments, red for dynamics and green for tempi and style markings. It is important that the markings don’t get in the way of the music. So, in this way, don’t over mark.

Step 3

• After determining a comfortable tempo, sing (or play) through the work by following the important themes. Try not to stop. Develop the technique of sight transposition, for example being able to transfer from one melody to another in a piece, from part to part, transposing at sight in order for you to retain correct tonal centres. Practise on the simplest of scores at first and you will gradually develop this technique.

• Singing leads to expressive and interpretive insights and it goes without saying that the importance of sight singing skills cannot be overemphasised.

• Internalise the themes and parts and attempt to hear the timbre of the actual instruments. Imagine as you sing the sound of that flute solo, that celli soli, that brass chorale, that bassoon melody. Straight away imprint on the score or internally these timbres. In this way the black dots on the paper begin come to life.

• Repeat the process may times in order to gain a real emotional feeling of the work, one that hopefully ‘marries’ with that of the composer.

• Consistent reviewing, over and over, again and again, section by section is the best way to internalise the music and create that intimacy that you must have with the music.

Step 4

• Create a flow chart on a separate piece of paper, mapping out the structure (indicating bar numbers of each section). Ascertain the overall form of the work. Map out each important theme and its key centre. Include any relevant additional information in each section to give you increased familiarity with the music.

• Acquire a more detailed knowledge of the score by analysing each of the following:

  • • melody – find all themes and fragments. Mark in tonal (key) centres

    • harmony – think vertically, make note of unusual chords and progressions (pencil these in under the relevant chords at the bottom of the score)

    • rhythm – search out important rhythmic motifs, ostinati, incidences of augmentation, diminution, hemiola. Search for tempi relationships between sections

    • texture and orchestration – think in terms of allowing the melody to be heard at all times. Analyse density, instrumental combinations

    • form

    • dynamics

    • technical – study each individual part, noting any possible technical problems. Consult a relevant professional player for advice on things like string bowing, the use of percussion, understanding of mutes with brass instruments and the effect mutes have with timbre and intonation.

    • percussion parts – spend a deal of time just studying the percussion parts. Find a plan of attack in order to ensure the percussion parts enhances the music, not engulfs or consumes it. Make sure you become familiar with what the composer is trying to achieve with the percussion writing.

    • conducting issues – possible technical problems such as difficult meter changes and cueing

    • interpretation – give full reign to your imagination, emotions and intuition.

For rehearsal purposes I mark in at the bottom of the relevant pages the bars/ sections I will rehearse for that particular rehearsal. I use an asterisk to draw my attention to what needs to be rehearsed. I now use Post-it notes (tabs) a lot, sticking them at the top of my score pages indicating the next important section to rehearse.

After the rehearsal, if I am satisfied those aspects have been attended to satisfactorily, I erase the markings and remove the tabs. Based on my review of that particular rehearsal I will then add new things to address for the next rehearsal.

Once you have completed your step-wise study, start again! The score should be in your head, not your head in the score. Work hard to develop your aural skills. A conductor should be able to sing every note on the score. Remember, your musical interpretation or internal imagery is conditional to you hearing what the composer has put on the page. On the podium, neither the piano nor a recording will be of any help whatsoever to you!