I won a scholarship to go to a super-amazing chamber music festival a few years ago and during a performance with pianist Peter Allen and violinist Jasper Wood, I was asked to page turn.
Jasper Wood was doing solo performances and then they played one piece together. And that piece was my first upfront-and-personal experience with Ravel's monster of a piece, Tzigane. OMG.
So it was pretty nice because the violin has a LOOOOONG solo introduction.
Then the hell started. So I was supposed to turn, but the piano score was totally nuts!! After a while I started following the violin score over top, which wasn't much better. I just then started counting bars...thank goodness I didn't screw up. Nearly had a heart attack afterwards!
And then at the end of the week my chamber music ensemble performed our Haydn flute trio that we learned and rehearsed all that week for like, 8 hours a day. I had a fellow pianist friend that also turned pages for me...likewise, pretty scary.
I guess people think it's helpful, but having this foreign arm reach across you suddenly when you're not expecting it can pretty much freak you out!
And during the freakishly schizophrenic and fast first movement, there's no room for error! But it went well...our host family was so proud of us and it was so much fun!
We're all good friends now, but I definitely learned my lesson...when playing chamber music, I'll memorize the goddamn part or I'll flip the pages myself, thank you very much!
And if I ever get asked to turn pages...I'll have to ask myself how desperately I want to be near this person...are they famous enough for me??
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Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgement
Of their unthinking drums.
- Emily Dickinson