Composers that can't read sheet music- Page 2
Composers that can't read sheet music
#25re: Composers that can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/22/09 at 9:55pm
wow, I didn't know so many of these composers couldn't read sheet music! I'm always surprised when performers say they can't, but composers?
although I do think I knew about Irving Berlin.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#26re: Composers that can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/22/09 at 10:34pm
Berlin's piano, with its knee-operated stick shift to transpose the key is in the Smithsonian.
If Lionel Bart did write his own stuff, the final bridge in "It's A Fine Life" ("Not for me, the happy home. Happy husband, happy wife...) brings tears to my eyes every time I hear (with tears in my eyes, I'm typing). Great writing.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
nomdeplume
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/05
#27re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/23/09 at 4:20am
Songs came first, before there was ever sheet music.
So it really is not surprising.
If you have an ear.
heo1128
Broadway Star Joined: 7/9/08
#28re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/23/09 at 5:05amThe Avenue Q composer Jeff Marx can't read music, and actually teamed up with Robert Lopez so he'd have someone to write down his musical ideas.
sparrman
Broadway Star Joined: 2/21/07
#29re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/23/09 at 11:54amNeither Anthony Newley nor Leslie Bricusse could read or notate music. Ian Fraser wrote it down for them, and it's hard not to think he's due some amount of credit for the success of their work.
#30re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/23/09 at 6:17pmIf ever "Tunesmith" was a more appropriate name for a composer it would be the names mentioned in this thread..
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#31re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/26/09 at 3:51am
All these guys (and perhaps Mary Rodgers) who can't write music have one common reply to this thread.
"Maybe I can't write music, but I can damn well write a musical..."
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=972787#3631451
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=963561#3533883
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955158#3440952
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954269#3427915
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=955012#3441622
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?thread=954344#3428699
#32re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 7/26/09 at 9:49amDolly Parton wrote the music for 9 to 5...
I'm a professional. Whenever something goes wrong on stage, I know how to handle it so no one ever remembers. I flash my %#$&.
"Jayne just sat there while Gina flailed around the stage like an idiot."
njohn
Understudy Joined: 6/14/07
#33re: Composers who can't read sheet music
Posted: 8/2/09 at 12:20am
Brilliant ideas can come from anywhere. I'm not surprised at all. As long as the composer gives credit to those that helped him, then it's all good.
Updated On: 8/2/09 at 12:20 AM
Videos