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?
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I’m a weak reader (by that I mean, it’ll take me a week to read a single page of music), so take these comments with a grain of salt. I play all my gigs and most of my rehearsals with no sheets. Do I play the song exactly as written? No. Do I play them identically each time? Also, no. I can get away with it because I play an instrument that straddles the line between rhythm and melody. Even in genres where the bass IS the melody, I have the luxury of only providing my bandmates and audience enough recognition so that we all know where we are in the song.
I’ve attended a few auditions for some quasi-orchestral settings. They call it “Concert Band” or “Band” music where classically trained musicians play popular pieces like show tunes and polkas. I auditioned on drums with the Milwaukee Police Band after seeing them butcher a version of Cool & The Gang’s “Celebrate.” I found the whole experience excruciating and threw myself out the door before the conductor could get a good grip on me.
Turns out, they didn’t “butcher” the song. Each musician was playing exactly what was written. I’m accustomed to playing in an interactive way with the other musicians. I couldn’t just jump in and play the song just because I used to dance to it at the disco. If I applied a bit of backbeat, syncopation or crashed a cymbal at the wrong time, the bassist (who was an orchestral cellist) would literally lose his place in the sheet music. Besides, they didn’t rehearse songs the way I was accustomed to. For them, you could toss them a new piece of music and be playing it by the time the conductor swung the baton spectacles/testicles/wallet/watch.
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