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Originally posted by BruceD: Originally posted by tomasino: [b]
But being that the practical reality is that music teachers are largely unprepared to teach stage savvy, I seriously suggest getting into theatrical productions, particularly musical theatrical productions, or take some acting classes.
"Acting for the Lyric Theater" was a class offered by the theater department at the University of Minnesota when I was a music student in the 60's. Aimed at singers, it dealt directly with how TO PHYSICALIZE THE SENSE OF SUSPENDED TIME INHERENT IN MUSIC.
It would have been of great benefit to musicians of all instruments. If anyone is at a Univesity that offers a class similar to this, I heartily recommend it.
Tomasino I won't deny that acting classes, classes that help one feel comfortable on stage and that give one the experience of communicating with an audience from the stage are all very helpful in many ways, not the least of which is getting the performer to feel comfortable on stage, to lose his inhibitions so that what he does on stage appears natural and unaffected.
However, Tomasino's cricitisms of many pianists' lack of stage presence acknowledged, I would like to hear from him - since he's participated in this sort of training - what specifics would apply to helping a pianist present a more communicative persona to an audience. More than 95% of a pianist's time on stage is spent seated, facing the keyboard, not looking at the audience and concentrating on communicating through his performance. Unlike a singer who can look at his/her audience, who can communicate with gestures and expressions that underscore the text of what s/he is singing the pianist does not have those "luxuries." Even most other solo instrumentalists face the audience and most stand, so they can rely to some degree on visual contact and on "body language" directed at the audience.
While I am willing to admit that many pianists - amateur and professional alike - do need training in developing a communicative stage presence that is felt from the moment they walk on stage, it seems to me that the pianist's resources for doing so are extremely limited.
Therefore, I would like to hear from Tomasino - or someone with his training in this area - less about how poorly some pianists project themselves on stage and more specifics that would help create that elusive pianist who will have the attributes that Tomasino - and others - might be looking for.
Regards, [/b]If you watch Brendel play, you'll see him change posture, facial expression, and occasionally do certain movements with his arms and hands, all of this as a studied reaction to the music. For instance, when he plays the middle part of the 2nd movement of Haydn's B minor sonata, his posture is elevated (see the documentary Alfred Brendel: Man and Mask, and judge for yourself). Another example: when Liszt asks for a crescendo on a sustained note, he tries to convey this through his movements. You might also like to read Brendel himself on the subject (if I recall correctly, and it is possible that I don't, Alfred Brendel On Music has something on it).
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Brendel also keeps a picture of Liszt on the wall above his piano to "remind [himself] what performance is about".
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Bruce D and I had an exchange about this subject a year or so ago. I'm going to re-post what I wrote to him then. It's long and involved. I hope you'll take the time to read it.
Here goes:
You’re right, Bruce, I have not addressed what a pianist can do while performing as part of “stagecraft.†I’ve skirted the issue, feeling I had to create some credibility as a thoughtful person before writing about something to which so many fine pianists seem to be so strongly opposed. What you’re getting at is the word I so fear to use—“showmanship.†I fear some fine pianist on the forum will bring up the three L’s—Liberace and that other double L fellow—and then hoot me off the forum with a dismissive wave of the hand.
I’ll charge ahead anyway, but before I do—this could be another overly long post—I want to remark on a few comments you and others have made.
You say it’s not “natural†for you to bounce and sway. I don’t mean to advocate that you should, but I do want to quibble with your use of the word “natural.†Don’t you really mean “habitual?†And don’t we regularly supplant performance habits with other habits-- such as fingering. We get into the “habit†of playing a passage with a certain fingering, and after while it seems “natural.†Later a teacher points out to us that the fingering doesn’t work particularly well, as we’re always dropping a few specific notes, and suggests a different fingering. But it feels “unnatural.†So we practice the new fingering, and after while, it feels “natural.†Haven’t we really just replaced one habit with another? One fingering is not more “natural†than the other, but one may very well be a better use of nature.
If it is not “natural†for you to bounce and sway—again, I’m not advocating that you or anyone should—I suggest that at some time in your training you habituated yourself to be still. You could have just as easily habituated yourself to move.
Another word with which I quibble, and that often comes up in response to discussions of stagecraft/showmanship, is the word “artificial.†May I just point out that “art†is the root word of “artificial.†What we do for an audience is performance, and nearly every aspect of it, whether we do it well or poorly, is artificial. We are “artists.â€
Now I’ll get to the nub of what you’re asking about: high, theatrical gestures while playing the piano, showy gestures, dramatic gestures.
As a singer, I know the value of stepping into a high note, or using a certain gesture that is idiomatic to the music or poetry I am dealing with—don’t worry Bruce, I’m getting there, I’ll address your question. I’ll get back to the piano soon.
I learned the real value of “dramatic gesture†during the rehearsals for an opera. The stage director wanted me to “step into†a high note. “Just take two steps forward and lay into it,†he instructed. I responded with the “it’s not natural†argument, followed by the “artificial†argument. But he wouldn’t have it. “Just step into it, and allow the gesture to fire you,†he insisted.
I sort of knew what he meant, and at his direction tried the passage again, and “allowed the gesture to fire me.â€
And something wonderful happened. My high note was better than ever. It now had an edge that was appropriate to the musical and dramatic moment. Other gestures, involving my face and arms, came into play as well. I was not only technically better, I was theatrically better to boot. The other cast members broke out into applause.
Now, to follow up on this observation vis-à -vis piano: take a look at this passage from the andantino of Schubert sonata 959. That leap from the d# to the c# major chord is tough, and easy to botch up, and if botched up, it’s very exposed.
Technically, it is important to get the forearm quite high, so that I can drop my hand as directly into the chord from above as possible. If I approach it from the side, I’ll mess it up. It’s like a basketball player at the freethrow line. It is necessary to get the ball quite high above the net, otherwise the ball is apt to bounce off the rim.
But the secret for me is that I don’t think of it as technically necessary. I think of it as dramatically necessary. When my forearm goes up, I am keenly aware that I AM CUEING MY AUDIENCE that something dramatic is about to happen, and even more importantly, I AM CUEING MYSELF—I am allowing the gesture to fire me.†This “firing†seems to penetrate every nerve ending in my body, and I play technically better as a result. I get a better sound.
Here’s another example: the last page of the 1st movement of Ginastera sonata #2. Take a look at the very last measures, where, at a rapid tempo, the pianist goes from the very bottom of the piano keyboard to a fairly complicated chord at the top of the piano. I make the same arguments here as I made for the Schubert. It is technically necessary to get hands and arms well above the keyboard. If the pianist goes at it from the side, it will be botched.
But, for me at least, it is just as important to think of the high gesture as A DRAMATIC GESTURE, ONE THAT FIRES THE AUDIENCE AS WELL AS ME. When I approach it that way, my body works better: it coordinates better, and I’m much less apt to miss the chord.
The same phenomenon can take place in quieter passages. The gestures may be less dramatic, but may still be theatrical and effective. For me, I always try to be aware of the visual expressiveness of my hands, BOTH TO MYSELF AND TO THE AUDIENCE, and find that it helps both technically and theatrically.
This approach doesn’t seem tawdry and phony to me. It’s not like bouncing around on a pogo stick while playing taps on the cornet for cheap applause. Rather, it seems highly artistic in the best sense of the classical music performance tradition that most of us on the forum practice.
Going on just a bit further, I feel strongly that many of the budding virtuosos I see and hear every Thursday afternoon, and many of the budding virtuosos whose posts I read in this forum, are off on the wrong path with the constant mantra from teachers and colleagues to “be still,†“less is more,†and the constant hooting and jeering of pianists who seems to have a flair for the dramatic, and experience musical and dramatic value in getting the hands well above the fallboard. At the very least, young and gifted pianists should be encouraged by their teachers to experiment with theatricality along the lines I have suggested in my last two posts: to understand stagecraft in the sense of lighting, eye scan, personal demeanor, how to walk confidently; and directly to your question, how to best visually exploit the composer’s intent to best effect while at the keyboard.
Tomasino
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do so with all thy might." Ecclesiastes 9:10
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"Technically, it is important to get the forearm quite high, so that I can drop my hand as directly into the chord from above as possible. If I approach it from the side, I’ll mess it up. It’s like a basketball player at the freethrow line. It is necessary to get the ball quite high above the net, otherwise the ball is apt to bounce off the rim."
I can see how dramatic gestures could assist a performance and I can understand how it would affect how you feel you are playing. But I can't see how what you describe can be of any use technically. The further you are away from the surface of the keys the more control is necessary to keep on target - the greater the distance the more the work. Also, I never believe it when people claim to drop onto the keys. It may be something (one of the many) that people imagine they do, and by imagining so achieve a way of playing that is, for them, quite effective. But I seriously believe that no-one actually does it.
To go a bit further. There, logically, would appear to be two ways of calibrating drops into the keys for different sound-levels; first by varying the distance from the key surface with concomitant extra work needing to be done to at least keep on target, and secondly by somehow preventing or slowing down that drop where most of the work would have to be for a negative effect[1]. I simply do not believe that anybody does this - nor should they.
[1]Anything else is not a "drop".
John
Vasa inania multum strepunt.
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i think it's pretty brilliant
accompanist/organist.. a non-MTNA teacher to a few
love and peace, Õun (apple in Estonian)
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Originally posted by apple*: i think it's pretty brilliant I think you're pretty cute.
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Originally posted by cherub_rocker1979: [ If a student plays beautifully while 'making faces' or staring at the ceiling than you shouldn't try to change them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why not learn to play beautifully without distracting mannerisms? I would guess for some this would be very difficult(and perhaps not even possible), but I think that for most it would be quite easy to adjust.
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Originally posted by apple*: i think it's pretty brilliant What is pretty brilliant?
BruceD - - - - - Estonia 190
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coming straight down from above for brilliance and volume.. (rather than from the side)
i do find a beautiful tone with that attack.. and the thought of building a little suspense as well is very appealing. I like to get the congregation excited.
i'm pretty simple.. these things are novel to me.
accompanist/organist.. a non-MTNA teacher to a few
love and peace, Õun (apple in Estonian)
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For a fairly thourough discussion of the advantages of dropping the forarm from a height as opposed to moving the forarm horizontally, check out this thread. http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/2/14612.html Tomasino
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do so with all thy might." Ecclesiastes 9:10
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The question of dropping any part of the arm vertically as opposed to a lateral movement is a red herring. I have no problem with what people imagine they do (a bit more with some people's imagined results) but I don't see the point of basing a whole method of playing on a delusion. And, from a pedagogical view-point, it is far preferable to describe the actual movements used rather than imagined fancies that might lead there. When people start talking about refinements to dropping the arm they are invariably talking about something that is not dropping the arm.
The reason some people take so long to assimilate this so-called technique is that it just doesn't stand up to reason and they don't really know what the teacher is looking for until the teacher says they have it. What a state of affairs.
John
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i must say, that after a few days of incorporating the notion that the hand should drop directly onto the keys (in any style of legato or nonlegato attack) has affected my playing profoundly especially for the ensemble work.
it provides such clarity..
any way, thanks for that notion.
accompanist/organist.. a non-MTNA teacher to a few
love and peace, Õun (apple in Estonian)
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