The written form of music as a form of collectibles for music lovers. Whether single songs, the music for a complete ballet or Broadway musical, or the full orchestral score for classical music, a collection of music is not only useful, but important. How much music has be preserves because someone saved the printer version. Although today it would seem safe to forgo collecting modern publications, since there are thousands printed and music libraries at almost all university libraries, still, the pages you collect may be the only ones preserved over time.
Preserving the written form of music allows it to be reinterpreted again at a later date.
Single sheets, for a single song, usually have nice graphics on the front. These covers preserve the art style of the time, or a retro look for songs republished. The cover may show the singer who made the song famous enough to warrant printing it for public consumption. Past single sheets are highly collectible for these reasons, besides the actual music inside.
Songbooks that contain the music for a film, play or ballet can bring many hours of pleasure to the music lover. Seeing how the music looks while listening to it keeps the listeners mind on the music, and even for those of us who do not play seriously, seeing how the music is put together can be informative. There is one variation on a theme by Paganini that is very fun to look at while listening to it. (Can you guess which one?)
Sometimes the only way to get the music you want to learn to play requires the purchase of the complete score. I bought the score to Swan Lake in order to learn a two-minute passage. However, I can still enjoy the rest of the printed version while listening to the music if I want. I also bought the score of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem because I wanted to know the words, even in Latin, and to watch the music as I listened. I am not a great music lover, so if I can enjoy printed music, a real music lover would undoubted do so too.
Songbooks of popular music tell the future about the here-and-now, as well as allowing the classical musician to noodle around with light music, between real practice and performances.
Fakebooks: I though I was being so clever to copy the music for the songs I liked best and wanted to have at my fingertips into a spiral bound book of blank music sheets. Turns out everyone has a fakebook. But it is still a neat idea, and keeps the popular player from having to haul around sixteen pounds of published material when all he needs is the melody and chord designation, or perhaps just a reminder of how the song goes. I imagine just a hint brings back Christmas carols, after many years of playing them. But a hint may be needed, if it has been months since the song was last played or the song less popular than some.
Good music deserves to be collected and preserved, so collect the printer version of the music you like best. Your collection may be the only source for some of the music in the future.
* * * If you came here hoping to learn to read music, please go to how to read piano music. This site has the beginner’s information you need. * * *
* * * Or you can learn to read drum music here. * * *
The images on this post are from Stock Xchnge.
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