Originally Posted by Notes Norton
When I was either in middle or high school, the band director played a number of recordings of the same Viennese waltz. He told us to listen to how the different conductors rushed the second beat by different amounts. It was a valuable lesson in critical listening, instead of just hearing.

It also taught me that musical notation is not exact, but in many cases just an approximation.
All of my ensembles are told at some point, "The black spots are just marks on a page—that's not where the music is. The music always comes from you."


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