WHAT IS THE POINT OF RECORDINGS?
ISN’T IT BETTER TO LEARN FROM THE PAGE?
Practice doesn’t make perfect but it makes things much easier. A difficult piece is one that takes a lot of work before it feels easy to play. Mostly this work which we call practice is about repeating things till we can make them sound as we think they should.
And how are we to know how they should sound? Where is this image of the ideal performance going to come from? Until we are experienced, we will form a rough image from the printed page: notes, rhythms, dynamics etc. But we may not feel that this image of the piece is alive, until we hear someone else play it. The slow speeds necessary to learn new pieces can make it difficult to form a vibrant image of how the piece should go. Technique in all art is acquired in the early stages by copying. A recording of the piece you are learning gives the opportunity to refresh your image of the music, and perhaps also refresh your practice too, if things are feeling jaded.
Much of what happens in a lesson (where we often teach from a second piano) requires the pupil to listen critically and acutely, to hear differences of nuance, and be able to re-create these in one’s playing. This work continues at home by listening to a recording of the music one is learning.
In time, you will develop more ability to visualise, or audiate, the music you are learning from what you see on the page. But there will always be a place to listen to other performers to experience a range of interpretation, and to be inspired by the playing of great musicians.