Archive for the ‘Musical Concerns’ Category
402 • Inhale to exhale
Monday, November 12th, 2012
To facilitate expressive phrase construction,
feel (melodically),
project (rhythmically)
gesture (physically), and
think (conceptually) of the last beat in the bar as an upbeat to the following one.
401 • Quantum Entanglement
Monday, November 12th, 2012
Expression and dynamics are strongly correlated systems - they behave like linked particles.
376 • Rhythmical accents in forte and Sweet’N Low melodies in piano are not quite an interpretation.
Sunday, September 9th, 2012
296 • Practice pauses! Rehearse Rests!
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
The study of silence in music as a part of the expressive vocabulary is imperative to musical literacy.
266 • Not how, but why!
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Sometimes the sound (balance, colors, transparency, gesture) of a musician is purely an attempt at imitation of a sound of great pianists from recordings ~ for example the sound of the iridescent brilliance of Horowitz or the crystal clear articulation of Gould. Taking a great pianist's sound as an inspiration for a personal quest is beneficial. Taking an infatuation with the idea of a sound ~ the idea of one self producing that sound, rather than with the music that contains and necessitates that sound, which needs to be discovered and examined, i.e. trying to copy a great pianist's sound without understanding, is detrimental.
The mystery of the sound of the great pianists is not a matter of how - although that is a serious but approachable challenge - but a matter of why, which is the mother of that mystery. If one wants to learn from the sound of the great pianists, one has to investigate not only the physical approach, but also the motivation that produces that sound.
When ever Mozartesque Chopin or Chopinesque Mozart (or anything esque for that matter) is heard, the musician is in love with the idea of a particular sound, and with the idea of being in love with the music, rather than being actually in love with the music, with all of her demands and desires. The sound of great pianists is their own, quit trying to imitate it. And: Never stylize style!
260 • Baby pictures
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
The composer loves his special harmonies like his children, wants to show each single one; each is dear, each is special. Cherish the children of composers!
206 • Aeolus
Sunday, October 30th, 2011
Harmonic tension (dissonance) is like air pressure that needs to be equalized, resolved by a flow with direction.
170 • A sonata is a sonata is a sonata
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Music is its own language that works and speaks exclusively from within itself. It unfolds on several hierarchical levels in time and connects metaphorically to the archetypes of man. And as an art - like poetry - it doesn't tell us: it reveals. Ask Gertrude Stein.
- A weblog of thoughts, ideas, concepts, observations, suggestions, research, methodology, discoveries, rules, exceptions, aphorisms, and secrets from pianist to pianist.
