wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

there was a fampus page turner w/ a very unusual name - ring a bell?

I too enjoyed the show, especially hearing our former Northwestern student Michael Brofman. The main reason to use a page turner is so that the pianist does not have to omit notes!! Publishers do not always lay out the pages in a way that makes it possible for the pianist himself/herself to turn. We recently had the eminent pianist Lambert Orkis at our University. He and others, such as Martin Katz and Warren Jones, do not use turners simply because in their wide touring lives, they have had too many disasters with incompetent turners. The task is indeed a very scary undertaking. Good turners are worth their way in gold.I as an active pianist have many horror stories!

I enjoyed the interview very much, especially the part with Joanne Kaufman about pianist Samuel Sanders, for whom I turned pages a number of times in the mid-1960s. I had gotten to know Sam at Fontainebleau during a summer festival and when we both returned to NYC I turned for him in some rather difficult pieces. Sam was one of the most neurotic (and nicest) people I've ever worked with. He didn't want the page turner to look at his hands at all. Before he started playing (I snuck a look) his hands would be shaking to the extent you wouldn't ever believe he could play. However, the moment he played the first note, he was totally secure and no shaking at all. It can be a very nerve-wracking job, but it's fascinating to watch such wonderful musicians (I also turned for Clifford Curzon) up close in action.

I was turning pages for my piano teacher who playing Brahms's B major Piano Trio, which exists in 2 versions: the original, and a later revision. (Perhaps you see where this is heading.)

It so happens that the first 2 pages of each version are largely the same. As luck would have it, I insouciantly opened the book to the wrong version, but it wasn't until I turned the first page that a panicked look befell the pianist's face, and he eeked out that it was the wrong version. The show must go on, however, and I have a blurry, frantic memory of flipping through pages until I found the correct page.

It so happened that my piano teacher had many years ago written a thesis on the differences between the 2 versions!

I agree the skill would be getting to "know" the singer.

There is a lot to juggle but I am sure they must have rehearsal, why is the host acting so surprised and quite frankly, dense?

I would agree that this important function should never be entrusted to a machine.

At a Merkin Hall recital once, I saw the page turner turn the page, immediately followed by the pianist leaning toward him as he continued playing masterfully, followed by the page turner standing back up and turning BACK one page -- apparently he had turned two pages! This was followed by the page turner's face turning bright red!

I am a dancer, and it seems clear to me that turning pages is a dance. I would bet that dance training for a turner (who obviously must read music competently) would solve the problem of anxiety. The music that is being played is a score. Timing of when to stand and turn, the sensitivity to the musician's rhythm, and the negotiation of the musician's space and sightlines are all skills that could be learned through dance training (wouldn't take years, maybe a couple of hours.)

I was a college piano student and I remember turning pages for a pianist who was a guest with a piano trio. Schubert. I wore a yellow sweater. (advice - don't wear bright colors). It was terribly stressful.

Years later I was playing Stravinsky with Boston Ballet Orchestra. I decided not to use a page turner, but you have to make decisions in practicing of where you will turn, what you have to memorize to make the turn possible, and various copying. I was so stressed out by the page turns I didn't play as well as I would have liked. I decided to ask a friend to help me with it - it went much better!

A very entertaining show - I will definitely be emailing this link to a friend of mine who is a concert pianist and has, as you may imagine, some very funny and very horrifying stories about her experiences with her own page turners.