Re: [Harp-L] Adler

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"CHARLES BASSI" wrote:
"Apparently Mr. Adler was primarily an ear player (harmonica and piano)
and didn't learn to read music till later in his life.  This is amazing
to me - his ear and musicianship were astounding."

Around 40 years ago I bought a method book by Adler, and in it he
described a rehearsal he did with a symphony orchestra in Australia
where the conductor asked him up to the podium, motioned to a passage in
the score, and asked Adler how he wanted it performed. Adler said,
"Please, for God's sake, don't tell the orchestra, but I can't read
music."  "Very good, Mr. Adler," said the conductor, "that's exactly
what I wanted to know."

It's obvious that Adler was a great, great talent.  Otherwise he'd never
have been able to memorize symphonic scores by ear, not to mention
playing them with a tone to die for (including at least three types of
vibrato -- throat, hand, tongue -- that I can identify).  But think of
how much more quickly he could have learned the pieces by reading those
scores to get his parts, instead of memorizing them phrase-by-phrase and
note-by-note from records or with an assistant playing them for him.  A
concerto or symphony is anywhere from 15-40 minutes of music -- that's a
lot of memorizing to do, and that stuff ain't easy to play.

In the same book, Adler talks about how wonderful it was for him to
finally learn to read -- how much more productive it made him in
learning new pieces, and how much fun it was to be able to jump right
into a new piece, whatever the style.

Reading doesn't make you a better musician necessarily, but it certainly
makes you a more productive and versatile one -- even if you're Larry
Adler. And you know, reading for harp is like reading for trombone --
it's a pretty rare occasion when they throw the really heavy stuff at
the harp player.  (They save that for the saxophonists.)  Just knowing a
little about it opens a lot of doors.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com