Score playing
Playing a polyphonic score directly at the piano without a prior piano reduction.
What it means
Score playing denotes playing a polyphonic score directly at the piano without a piano reduction being available. The player condenses the many staves of an orchestral score into a playable texture for two hands. This requires reading transposing instruments, knowing old clefs and deciding which parts are essential.
Musical use
The ability belongs to the training of conductors, repetiteurs and church musicians. It serves the study of a score, rehearsing with singers and choir and the preparation of performances. Composers also play their drafts at the piano in this way. Excellent score players give the piano the sound of the orchestra by weighting parts and distributing registers.
Score playing should be distinguished from playing a piano reduction, which has already been arranged for the piano, and from mere score reading, in which one follows the score only with the eyes and in the head.
Performance practice
Practise score playing with small formats such as choral pieces or string quartets and move later to orchestral scores. When playing, decide first which parts are essential and leave out the rest; clear flow matters more than completeness.