In an orchestra why do they use sheet music??!
Question: I mean do'nt they know the songs off by heart having played them throughout their careers?
Answers: I mean do'nt they know the songs off by heart having played them throughout their careers?
Throughout their careers? Most orchestras probably learn half a dozen new pieces every month. Anyway, there's two points to my answer:
1) While it's true that they could probably learn the notes through repetition and muscle memory, notes aren't the only important things; there's also dynamics (loud and soft) and articulation (e.g. legato, staccatto...) which are equally important, and are harder to remember exactly.
2) Even if you know a piece of music off by heart, sometimes you need the score in front of you to jog your memory. Sound confusing? I'll explain; when I have learnt a piece of music, I don't actually read the score note by note, as that would take too long, but having the score in front of me helps to remind me of the basic structure of each section and how the sections link together. For the majority of pieces I know, if you took the score away, I wouldn't be able to play it properly, because my memory aid wouldn't be there.
Basically, musicians use scores even when they've learnt a piece because it contains specific information on how each bit of a piece should be played, and also because the score serves as a memory aid, as the musician will recognise a section of notes and their muscle memory will kick in so that they can play the notes almost automatically, and so they can concentrate more on the dynamics and articulation.
Sometimes, no matter how well you can play the peice reading the music, even if you done it for years, as soon as you take the music away, it's impossible to play
They probably do know the music off by heart ( in their minds) but are probably better off reading it and playing as they go rather than trusting to memory.
Confucius say "weakest ink better than strongest memory"!
You didn't manage the word "don't" correctly, so why should they rely on their fallible memories?
Well they need to learn it to start off with. And most of them probably know it but it's better to be safe than sorry lol
I guess if they have a break where another instrument is playing then they'd need to know how many bars to rest for etc.
Also things like dynamics etc are sometimes altered and need to be written down.
Mainly to make sure they're all playing the same thing and there's no chance of them playing it wrong lol If you're doing it solo people probably wouldn't notice you going wrong. In a group you would =)
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It is normally the soloists that learn the solos off by heart ... however, I'm a Tuba Player. So if I were to learn all the pieces, most of it would make no sense in my head.
Also, if you make a slight mistake, it can ruin the entire piece.
There are certain markings in music too, like volume or intonation, as well as rehearsal markings like .. "watch the conductor" 'cos you always miss it.
Hope that helps.