What's the best way for a Composer to study a score?

Taken from our team chat:

10/02/2020

Rhyan D’Errico
Question for all the score studying folks out there - what’s the best way to study a score? I wanna do some intense score study, but I want to get the most out of it. Do you just read along with the music? Take notes? Mockup the score? Etc

Nestor Estrada
I use what I learn and always compose a short piece, or if I'm working on a project, sneak ideas of what I learned orchestration wise or harmony. But I always make sure to reuse the ideas I learn over and over again so it sticks with me. Same as if I'm learning a guitar riff. Especially when it comes to harmony or voicing, that has to be grilled in your head for it to be of any use. Also, I try to understand why they used certain things. If you understand the why, you can use that to expand on the ideas rather than just copying.

But generally, I take notes in score books and only apply to new ideas rather than copy. That's my approach though. I'm sure others have different ways that work for them. This way works for me.

And I always check how they dovetail things. Extremely useful - Stravinsky's rite of spring is madness. I learned so much from that one!