Music Comes Alive Through the Art of Interpretation

Lately here at Strings, we’ve been working on producing three upcoming Strings Charts titles that will be published and released in the next few months. These range from string arrangements of rock originals to Latin-jazz standards to Eastern European dance music. As the music editor for the project, let me tell you that the process is both fascinating and enlightening! To help deliver a polished sheet-music product, part of our process involves proofreading the music with a group of fine, talented musicians—the Real Vocal String Quartet (rvsq.com).

At one point in the process, the group plays through the music proofs, while I check to make sure that the notation has conveyed the ideas of the composer or arranger to the fullest extent possible, and that the players are able to interpret those ideas clearly from what’s written on the page.

As it turns out, this proofing process is much easier said than done.

One of the charts in production is Grounded and Crazy in October: Rock Originals for String Quartet by composer, violinist, and producer Anna Stafford (annastafford.com). These two original compositions from Anna contain elements of many different musical styles—rock, pop, country, Eastern European, and classical to name a few. So defining the central stylistic focus of the book (and giving it a title to reflect that focus) was no easy task, but we felt that the rock elements in the music were predominant: hence the “Rock Originals” title. Anna’s recordings of the songs also provided a rock-oriented interpretation of the music, and we aimed to reflect that style in the notation. So imagine my surprise when the Real Vocal String Quartet played through the first tune and it sounded “Klezmer-ish” instead of rockin’! What the RVSQ latched onto in the music were the Klezmer-sounding elements, and the players used these as their foundation for musical interpretation. But Anna’s group had played the exact same music and made it sound like rock. How could this be?

It is because of interpretation.

The lesson I learned from the experience is that music can be written on the page with the utmost attention paid to articulation, text expressions, and specific notation, but ultimately the jump between what is on the page and what comes out of the instrument—the interpretation—is what truly defines music and gives it a style. You can give two people the same exact piece of sheet music, and they might play it totally differently simply because of their interpretations.

The experience has led me to look for ways to push the boundaries of music notation, and to try and find better ways to convey the composer’s ideas to the player, but it also makes me realize just how much of an art form playing music is. Ultimately, the musician—who uses artistic license while playing, and who executes his or her interpretation of the score—is an artist who brings the music to life and defines it.

Music lives in the art of interpretation.

I suppose that’s what makes playing music so much fun!

Graham Pellettieri
Music Editor
Strings Charts
graham@stringletter.com