The craft of Musical Communication

[dima_76557]

I would like to introduce you to an essay that may change your life as a performer if you want to be listened to, not just heard. My intuition tells me that this is the essence of the old school of piano playing if you combine it with a wonderful touch. Since this is a craft, it means it CAN be learned. I has not so much to do with talent, although "talented" people do most of it intuitively.

The Craft of Musical Communication by Marianne Ploger and Keith Hill ©2005
[edited by Cleveland Johnson]

Playing a musical instrument is a technical craft. Expressing music, by contrast, has been viewed as an art, a view held so long that it is rarely questioned. An alternate view, presented in this essay, is that expressing music is also a craft: it is the craft of musical communication, the art of delivery. It is possible to master technical skills while lacking in communicative skills, and vice versa, because these skills have very little to do with each other. Today, musical mastery is often measured by the former skills, not the latter, yet the greatest musicians are those who are highly skilled in both crafts.

The essay consists of two parts (everything is on one page):

The first part is called "The Art of Delivery" (11 techniques and their descriptions).
The second part is called "On Affect". Affect is the art of expressing, revealing certain emotions through music, not the emotions themselves.

Enjoy!

https://www.musicalratio.com/gpage.html

[awesom_o]

Brilliant essay! Really explains the scientific craft behind great artistry. Thank you! I've already sent it to colleagues and pupils alike!

[dima_76557]

By the way, they have an appendix page with samples to illustrate the techniques discussed in part 1: https://www.musicalratio.com/aboutthecraft.html

[outin]

I finally had time to read this and it really made a lot of sense...now I understand better why my pieces sound worse when I try to "perfect" them with the metronome or try to play as precise as possible...

[awesom_o]

The metronome and 'perfection' are not close friends. Professionals play with great rhythmic understanding of the music, and there is always a human element in their playing which over-practicing with a metronome tends to kill.

Great rhythmic understanding means that a player has a wonderful relationship to the pulse. It is always an organic relationship, though one that is very precise.

Gieseking wrote that many students would benefit simply by playing more rhythmically. In my experience, the people I have known with the absolute worst rhythm almost always practiced slavishly with a metronome for long hours.

Skilled players know where the beats are while they are playing. They hear the pulse in their own head and understand how the music wants to sound in relation to it. Using the metronome makes people think that they are counting while they are practicing, when it is in fact the metronome that is the one who is counting.     

[outin]

I've only used the metronome for a couple of times actually...but I tried it this summer with a couple of pieces where I knew I wasn't playing every measure with exact meter. Felt it was pretty useless though...
After reading this article I am inclined to think it's much better to make sure the "imperfections" are not from technical problems. And if they are (as some where in my case), the metronome surely is not the way to mend things...