Musical Motions

While music is not a visual art in the purest sense (ie - witnessed through our eyes), musical motion and expression does create a sense of motion in our mind. The evidence is simple. Listening to music makes most of us MOVE. The music creates an internal motion that is transmitted throughout our bodies and converted to real, physical motion. While performing music, most great musicians experience this same sensation. Can great musicians separate their musical performance and physical motion? In other words, can great musicians limit their physical motion to only what is necessary to play their instrument? I tend to think not. The visual aspect of performance is both necessary and critical to a vibrant performance, even if hear only through a recording.



The video is a pretty good NON-EXAMPLE of how motion and music are connected. While the robot had to have the movement programmed in, we as humans do not. We react to music! We INTERACT with music! Whether we are actually seeing a musical performance or not, moving to the music while performing seems to enhance the actual music (without even seeing the performer).

Musician performance movement is a debated subject. The debate is often tied to "how much movement is appropriate?" Rather than debate, lets set the scale to include all motion and leave the debate to another post. Many movements are incredibly subtle, an eye brow lift, a knee bend, a slight turning at the waist. Some motions are huge, like explosive dancing motions. For this post, motion is motion, no matter how small or large.

When teaching, I teach motions such as breathing and cuing. They are great places to start a young musician. Teaching a player how to establish a "mood" with something as simple as their breathing, is really empowering. For example, lets say a player has just finished a beautiful lyrical passage. The entrance following this section is a much more dynamic, rhythmic section. If the player breathes using a slow, subtle intake method, we may assume the next section is going to be just as lyrical. And more importantly, as a player, they may not really be "feeling" the rhythmic drive and energy they need to begin the section. Breath is a movement. We have to physically move our bodies, big parts in fact, to take a breath. Engaging all of the parts of our bodies to take a "proper" breath, in the mood of the section we are about to perform connects us internally, mentally, emotionally and musically. Our music performance will benefit from all of those senses, motions and emotions being in sync.

Cueing is another great exercise for a young musician. The goal is to get the player comfortable with physical motions other than those to just play the instrument. This can be incredibly difficult for a young musician (and adults). I use cuing because, well, here is the secret, "Cuing is actually pretty tough, and this one action alone can help lay the foundation for simpler motions." My logic is, start with something pretty hard, but make it seem easy. Once a young musician gains some skills in cuing, they start to free up in terms of other more subtle movements (and thus, free up musically). I start with cues such as cut offs. These are taught in the context of working with an accompanist. Younger students don't have to be working on solo literature with a live accompanist to practice this. We can all practice cut offs with ourselves, with programs like SmartMusic or with live accompanists.

Musicians of all ages benefit from connecting music and musical motion. As players, motion adds another dimension to our connection to the music. Allowing ourselves to FEEL the motion and act on that feeling through real, physical motion, will elevate our musical performance level.

Quartet Vibrato

Reading "The Art of Quartet Playing, the Guarneri Quartet" has given me some really powerful insights including how to think about vibrato in our quartet. Vibrato can easily fall victim to becoming a "routine" component to making music rather than a fundamental nuance, artistically integrated into the overall performance of the tune. Routine vibrato is the kind of vibrato that is always the same, same speed, same degree - all the time, no matter the musical style, ensemble mixture, dynamics, or..... Approaching vibrato as a fundamental nuance to performance immediately challanges us as a quartet to thoughtfully integrate vibrato into the score.

So the challenge is laid out - Integrate Vibrato, be Thoughtful about Vibrato, Have a Plan (and justification) for Vibrato Use, Ensure Group Involvement in Applying Vibrato. Sounds easy right?

I've taken the material from the book and developed the following list for consideration.

• Ensure all members of the group have a fundamental understanding of vibrato production.
• Ensure members feel confident in their own production of vibrato -- ie -- all have applied the fundamentals of vibrato to create variations in vibrato, including speed and degree and application at various dynamics.
• Recognize that vibrato is not standard. The amount and degree of vibrato WILL vary for the group and for individuals.
• Recognize that vibrato is not ALWAYS ON. A non-vibrato passage can be very powerful.
• Recognize that mixing non-vibrato layers with vibrato layers can help bring out musical priorities.
  
• Recognize that vibrato can bring emphasis to a lesser important musical line (this is a negative thing :-)
  
• Recognize that vibrato should be discussed, decisions made and marked into scores and parts.

This seems like a lot to think about... and it is. In the book, this topic takes several pages with examples, and additional converations. I've just brushed the surface. Our art and our desire to better our performance requires indepth study of the elements. Vibrato is one of the elements worth dissecting and understanding.

Merger Arts: Combining Visual with Musical

The digital age has opened many avenues for the creative promotion of musical art. Besides the obvious distribution channels, ie web postings, podcasts, online downloads for purchase (iTunes), there are some amazing examples of digital "merger" arts. I like to call this a Merger Art because one art promotes the other. In this case, the digitial animations and music work together seemlessly, merged together to form a single experiences. One without the others seems a bit pointless.

The AniMusic videos are not new, I remember seeing the bouncing ball example about a year ago and was almost convinced it was real. Now enter the HD world. This morning, I downloaded the HD version of "Resonant Chamber".

If you are so inclined to download at 280MB of this single video, it took me about 15 minutes on cable in the early am. In the end, I now have a great clip to watch when I want to.

So, what does this have to do with quartet performance?

First, what I love about this clip is the visiual aspect of what is going on in the music. The animators do an incredible job connecting us to the music by being at the right place at the right time VISUALLY. There is a section where the bass does a gliss'ed line. As it is played, the view is of course on the bass. Seeing and hearing the bass line creates a great connection to what is going on musically. This "vision" of what is going on is something that all of us have experienced. For example, after you have heard a piece, or practiced a piece, the music starts to BECOME more a part of you. In essense, we can start to "see" the music. We start to anticipate what is coming up and start to visualize the sound. This is an amazing phenomenon in my mind. It is one of the great occurances that makes music so enjoyable. The Animusic clip is a great way to actually visually demonstrate this "merger" of the mind's eye and the musical sounds.

Secondly, and somewhat connected to number 1, is a lesson for all musical groups. The visual hand off of musical lines throughout a composition is what really makes an audience connect to the music. When I think of some of the greatest recitals I have heard (and seen), I think of groups like the Canadian Brass, The Nuclear Whales and the New Century Sax Quartet. I would also add groups like the New York Phil to that list on a larger scale. The point is with each of these groups, the musicians interact in a way that hands off musical lines throughout a performance. The audience can not only hear, but see how the lines connect. The motions are subtle. Disconnected from the music they would almost if not totally be inperceptable. Sometimes the connection is eye contact between performers. Other times, a shoulder node handing off a melodic line to the next perform in the line up. For groups that move about, a step forward or back depending on the musical phrase or priority brings about the vision. Of course, groups that sit, like the symphony are capable of making these visual musical connections. The way that this example of Animusic scripts the perspective throughout demonstrates a good lesson for all groups. Creating the visual connection to the music can be incredibly powerful.

Learning from our world around us means we have to step outside our domain once in awhile. When you have the time, download the clip and others and see what inspiration they could create for you.