Lesson 75: Contemporary Work, Part 3 — Collaboration with Living Composers

Prepare clear questions for a rehearsal with a composer.
Compare two ways to play a passage and explain your choice.

Play the question as well as asking it.

A composer can help explain a score’s unclear points. Bring a prepared passage, a clear question and a possible solution.

Before rehearsal

Learn a short section from the score you used in Lessons 73–74.
Check the legend and edition before listing unanswered questions.
Choose the two questions that most affect the sound.

Ask a clear question

Possible error: “This fingering gives these pitches; are they the sounds you want?”
Performance choice: “Should this silence separate the sections or connect them?”
Possible change: play the written version and an alternative, then ask which fits the piece.

Try the answer

Record the passage before and after the change; mark agreed choices in your score, then check that you can repeat them.

If a composer is available, agree a short rehearsal; otherwise ask a partner to respond using the score’s instructions, and label any imagined answers as your own choices.

Now play these

Use your current modern score; find published editions through resources.