The interesting thing, whenever we are in anger it is so much easier to express it and expression somehow becomes much more "natural".
I have been thinking about this, and for me, I have decided that it is because after a certain point in my anger, I actually "lose myself" -- or perhaps more accurately, my self-consciousness goes away (which I tend to have plenty of
). Suddenly my intentions become very clear and my 'being' becomes enacted (like I am a puppet) by my intentions. This actually happens very often when my self-consciousness goes away (for example, after maybe a couple of glasses of yummy red wine
) -- expression in general happens much more naturally for me at these times (or perhaps that's not entirely true really. Perhaps it's only that my expression does not ALSO contain the element of trepedation and insecurity any more).
Very often (and I find myself doing it, as well) while practicing we get into some technical details and get burried there, forgetting what we actually want to say.
This connection in fact, is in the music itself, its image, character. Just find it, identify yourself with it and everything will get on its places. Be creative, open minded, and don't afraid anything.
I've never met anybody who could establish this connection in his students, as L. Naumov.
Right on the spot he would create such unbelievable plots, where the music would become so vivid and its content so clear, that it would spark such a feeling of inspiration!
All the technical problems were on secondary place just to serve those images.
No wonder he had a line of students who were such unbelievable virtuosi.
It is impossible for me to illustrate in writing what he was doing, but I found a M. Vengerov's Masterclass, where you can see a very similar approach:
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Hopefully, you enjoy it.
Thank you for posting this video, it was very great to watch and learn from
. I am being reminded of something that happens for me when I am learning a character/role for an Opera. Once the scene is set in my mind and I really get a feel for what my character is doing and why, what each of her movements mean and what her expression is, what the words are relaying and what kind of subtleties may better express the meaning of the words, the technical challenges of the 'notes' tend to clear up and the music comes very much alive -- even when I am not rehearsing it with the rest of the cast, but with only myself. I also remember everything better, too, when the whole picture is involved. I think that this point is very pertinent for me.
The big differences are, with Opera, the roles are set, the story is set, the words are set (and, there ARE words to begin with), there is a whole scene and so on. I mean, there is still the need for me to make it my own, but somehow I feel more permission with Opera because 'acting' is involved, and everybody knows that actors need to build a character from within their own self, too. And, everything that music is "supposed" to portray is actually happening visually AND aurally; it's in multidimensional form and something that my entire body and spirit is involved in.
Anyway, with piano, I don't feel that same permission. I am sometimes tempted to make up entire fantasies and stories in myself for what a work means to me (and, in general I am a story-maker -- any situation or person that I see, I have a story for them) -- in a sense, create an Opera or a scene of my very own to fit the music. And, often I will pull on little things like this for my students in order to get a proper sense of what a passage is trying to say. But, I get stuck somewhere in the academia of it all -- and it seems there is a whole thought out there that says we are not supposed to assume that we know this kind of thing about what the composer is saying ... yadda yadda. But, I can see now that I need to get over that sense of holding back. And, I realize that this thread is talking about improv, but it all relates for me, because I have been trapped somehow in my improvs by some of the same lineage of thoughts as I have been trapped with in written music.
I actually remember the first time I was listening to a recording and realized that what I loved so much about this artist's ability was the fact that he used his imagination so INCREDIBLY (and believe me, he had quite an imagination in person). And, to be honest, I had a moment of truth in realizing that 'we'
get to use our imagination (well, sign me up please). But, somehow I thought it still was a secret, as though most people would not hear his imagination and they think only that his playing is brilliant -- so, that my imagination would need to be a secret, too. And, this was only a couple of years ago. To me that world is entirely unlimited and somehow makes me feel as though I can rise completely above some perspective I have entertained for awhile now -- but I am not feeling true permission to do this until just now (okay, and I still wonder if I can really technically express what my crazy imagination will say).
Anyway, I feel I very much also lack musical vocabulary -- and, there is something very specific to that. It's that I can't seem to have certain things stick in a meaningful way for me when I try to learn them out of context. I am, unfortunately, SO TIED to context and story that it is virtually impossible for anything (in life, even) to make sense to me without. ARGH. I am, in general, always searching for greater context (and there seems always to be a greater context in everything) -- this is an accurate definition of my soul's/life's search.
Something that hit me in watching this video that you posted is that M. Vengerov seems to actually know what the things he is depicting are like -- in person. He has seen these people on their bikes, he has seen the great wall of China, and okay, there are some parts that perhaps he has not seen/done (like climbing it and floating down with an umbrella). In these cases his knowledge is directly influencing what seems like an imaginative intuition. And, I am tempted to feel very limited in my knowledge of many things. And, this is a vicious cycle for me between these last two paragraphs. I have been stuck between them for years, actually.
For me, almost any "experience" I want in life, I simply imagine it and it is as though I am there (though there are some things I do not dare to let myself imagine and have actually had to work very hard to get my imagination under control throughout my life) In some respects I have HAD to have this be the case -- but I still feel very limited in the sense that, if I had more real-life experiences, perhaps my imagination would be better.
Now, I am all wound up and need to go DO something ... hee hee. But, somehow all of these things are coming out of me and they are important, at least for me to put into words and to know. My trouble is having any perspective on them.
Okay, I go now. Thanks for ... well, all of this
.
Topic: Lost myself -- improv 4.29.07