Why can bands play for hours often utilizing different instruments without ever looking at sheet music, but orchestra musicians always read from sheet music?

Question

I saw a clip where a pianist was playing and someone was turning her pages for her, but they fumbled and dropped the sheet music. The pianist kept on playing, but it got me wondering why have the sheet music if she knows the song anyway. Do they really need it? Why can’t they just learn the songs like all bands do?

In: 5311

Answer 1

Think about sheet music/conductor the same way you think about “in ears”

Any professional (band) musician is wearing an in ear monitor, like an earbud, that plays some kind of audio, backing track, pitch guide, or directions from a manager. That’s how they know what’s happening, where they are in the song, what’s next, etc. Plus, there’s generally only one person playing one part that they most likely wrote and they can hear themselves in the monitors.

With an orchestra they’re playing with 30+ other people by ear at the direction of the conductor. They likely didn’t write the music and don’t perform the same songs over and over and over to the point they’ll have them completely memorized.

Someone like Metallica plays the same songs over and over at practice and almost everyday while on a tour. For years and years. Your average orchestra member might get sheet music, practice it a dozen or so times with the group, play a concert (maybe a dozen) then never play that particular song again.

In addition, music generally follows patterns. A melody, a chorus, a breakdown, an interlude, etc. Think of them like blocks. If you know what each block’s pattern is and then you know the pattern of the blocks, you can memorize a song easily. Whereas orchestral music is generally more complicated, precise, and doesn’t always follow an easy pattern. The melody at the beginning may change multiple times throughout the song.