1. The Architectural or General Impression.
2. Detailed study of the individual parts.
3. Detailed study of individual sections (strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion).
4. Mental hearing of the composition in parts and as a whole.
5. Piano transcription as a means of checking up and ratifying the mental concept.
When a building is viewed for the first time hardly anything more than a general impression of the type of architecture, size, symmetry, and color is made upon the mind. The details of construction, materials used, number of floors, style of windows and doors are only comprehended after closer study.
At the first perusal of a score, which should always be away from the piano, the impression made is just as general as in viewing the building. Hardly more than the contour of the melody and bass, outstanding climaxes and general character can be grasped at the first reading.
Next, a reading through either with or without piano, of each individual part reveals the details of construction, and the playing on the piano of the various sections gives the harmonic and polyphonic content of the work. A practical knowledge of Instrumentation is most helpful at this stage of the work.
After this detailed study, the work should be read through mentally at about the speed of actual performance, the climaxes noted, the emotional content determined, and a diagram of the form fixed in the mind. There is always a danger of losing the perspective of the work as a whole if too much detailed study is indulged in. The ability to read and hear music without the aid of an instrument is absolutely essential for the conductor. It can be acquired to a degree by proper study. Such works as Wedge’s “Sight Singing and Ear Training” (G. Schirmer) and Robinson’s “Aural Harmony” (G. Schirmer) are invaluable helps. “Musical Form” by H. Anger (Augener) is a most practical treatise on the subject and contains clear instructions for analyzing the piano Sonatas of Beethoven and the Fugues in Bach’s “Well-tempered Clavichord.”
Upon being questioned as to his opinion of the importance of the conductor’s “ears” or hearing, Wilhelm Furtwängler, the eminent German conductor, made the following reply: “Generally considered, there is no such thing among conductors as a good or bad ‘ear.’ There is only a greater or lesser mastery of the material, that is, the score and its every detail. One can only hear individual mistakes in the complicated mass of sound when one knows completely just what the composer wanted.” (Pult and Takstock, Dec., 1925).