Re:Turning Over: Why page turners matter
by throwaheyy on Friday October 04, 2019 @03:23PM
(#21161008)
I have been recruited as a page-turner more than I've needed a page-turner (usually played from memory). I think being the page-turner is more stressful because you can screw up the performance just as badly, but resulting from a much smaller level of negligence. That makes it seem so much worse if it happens.
I'm a classically trained musician, but have little experience playing piano, yet I've been recruited to turn pages not infrequently. Somehow there seems to be more pressure as a page-turner than as a performer. I always felt extremely conscious of my place beside the musician, while as a performer, it is much easier to lose ones self in the muscle-memory and flow of a piece. Page-turning requires, as the essay describes, a special kind of focus.