I’m extremely nervous about doing things by memory. Truth be told, I haven’t had to do anything by memory since I was in college. That is not to say I don’t have things by memory. Of course I have solos from major works by memory because I’ve learned them and learning them means they are in my fingers. BUT … I like my music on my stand. It’s just comfortable that way. I can play every English horn solo in the Nutcracker by heart, but I’ve never had the nerve to close my book and play. Some of my colleagues have done that. And some folks who do musical theater shows don’t even open their book any more, they’ve done the show so much.

I was reading about a Meredith Monk concert, and memorization comes up:

Classically trained instrumentalists typically react with horror when asked to memorize a part, at least as members of an ensemble.

“Instrumentalists really like to have it on the page,” Monk agrees.

For one of her pieces, players had to memorize an hour and a half of music. They found it difficult, she says.

The singers in the Meredith Monk Ensemble, on the other hand, have a “much more kinetic way of learning music. From my way of thinking about things, it cuts out one step, because the music is in the bones,” she says.

“For me, memorizing from the printed page is so hard. It’s a visual kind of memory. If you learn it as you go along, it’s a muscle memory.”

The last time I played a solo for church I had a basic plan and played and improvised, so no music — no music stand in fact — was used. It’s true: the music was in the bones, so to speak. And I like it when it feels that way.

I still want my music on the stand for symphony, opera and ballet though. I’m too chicken to go without!