The Album for the Young contains some of the most masterful
insights into reading music -- properly reading music -- at the piano.
When reading is strictly a matter of eye / motor response much of this
music makes no sense or quickly palls.
Already in the interaction of the quarter notes and eighth notes in Melodie
(piece #1) the essential sound is either utterly boring or completely
compelling, depending on whether or not the ear is activated. Trallerlied,
of a similar texture, makes an even stronger case for the necessity of
attentive listening by the insertion of some subtly discordant measures
that I never liked until I learned to quiet myself down sufficiently to
pay them heed on behalf of an adult student who is quite determined to
get to, as she puts it, "the music part."
Determined to explore the actions and reactions involved in sight-reading I turned to Scheherezade
in whose rolled chords and meandering eighth-notes Schumann stops time
to spin out every sound. According to the story it is a matter of life
and death.
Fascination vs. boredom.
