I don't avidly follow gymnastics in general, nor do I avidly follow the Olympic games, but people I love like to watch, and I watch with them. I have been using it as an opportunity to observe and learn about different things that I feel may apply to my life as a performing musician. Gymnastics is fairly performance-oriented and is pretty similar in some ways to a solo performance with music, and I have been pondering different elements of what I see on TV.
An impression that I have about the gymnasitcs that I have seen in the Olympics is that it is very "skill-based" in that, it seems, the entire point of any routine is to accomplish particular skills that earn the olympian particular points. And, depending on how perfectly the skills were executed, the routine is either successful or not.
What I find a bit odd is that I feel like there is something missing from the endeavor. I understand that there can be beauty in executing a particular skill quite well, but I can see on their faces the intense concentration on accomplishing the skills themselves, and that is what the entire routine becomes "about." Each motion is merely a preparation for the next skill, and the entire concept of the routine becomes this calculation of events with starts and stops and a seemingly-missing artistic fluidity (as a generalization). It seems there should be a stronger element of dance as the overall impression; and a stronger element of art.
I know that what makes art art is very subjective, but I can't help but feel like something is "missing" for me when I watch these routines. I understand that my concept of what gymnastics is supposed to be may be way off, perhaps it is only and entirely skill-based, and that is practically all that matters. I just think it could be more than that though.
I was thinking about this in relation to music, and imagining what it would be like if a pianist addressed a piece of music like a gymnastics routine, one skill here, another skill there, and the rest of it filler. I realized that some people actually do approach playing in that way and while I realize the need to become very proficient in the skills required by a piece, I have always thought of that proficiency as serving the purpose to actually transcend the skill itself and meld into a bigger realm, perhaps what I think of as art.
I am curious though, is that what competitions are actually about ? Judging from some of my own experiences, I would venture a form of "yes" though, I am not really positive. In that line of thinking, do some people or rather most people become stuck in the realm of accomplishing the skills for the sake of accomplishing the skills, and only a few transcend into a bigger realm ?
These are just impressions and questions, and yes, they are musings, but they are changing the way I think about what I do with music.
Topic: Impressions of Olympic Gymnastics -- art ?