Every Performance has its own preparation requirements, but all performances have things in common. Each participant knows what their job is: to achieve a performance that best communicates the ideas and feelings intended.
All the performers shown here should know what to do,(what to play,sing etc.), and when to do it,(when to start and finish, when notes are to be played etc.), Being clear about these are necessary to achieving the goal of communicating ideas and feelings by sound.
Most of your time in music studies is learning what to play, and when to play it.
The What of playing:
For example,if you pick up your recorder, you need to know what fingers to put where along the tube of the instrument, how hard you should blow air through the recorder's mouthpiece etc. and ...
The When of playing:
You also need to know when to change your fingering for another note, when to take breaths etc.
This still leaves the ever-present Why? It is at this point that I ask my students to consider themselves artists, who happen to use music as their medium; rather than 'musicians' who have trained as a technician on an instrument.
Let's consider the why? question. If you keep in mind Why you are asked to play something in a particular time and place, I believe you are encouraged to explore unique ways of achieving the artist's goal, rather than playing a passage in any one proscribed way.
For example, there are many ways to express the feeling of 'love', or the idea of 'triumph' on a trumpet. So many ways in fact, that teacher and pupil may never claim to have found the right way to express them. When in an ensemble, it is usually the role of the conductor or each section's first chair to inform those beside them as to the preferred interpretation. This unanimity enhances an ensemble's expressive power, and is commonly referred to as 'tightness'. Rather than giving up one's own power as a creative artist, you are sharing a more experienced musician's concept with the audience through a demonstration of unity and collaboration. This further demonstrates why Music has the power to transform society.
While there is no 'right' way to play a piece of music, one does not therefore have a license to play an instrument without regard to good technique. By this I mean to play an instrument in a way that either shortens your playing life on the instrument, or by unintentionally limiting an instrument's expressive range through adopting poor playing practices. In the case of the trumpet student, for example; a student might insist on applying the lips forcefully against the trumpet's mouthpiece, ignorant of the effect this will have on their stamina and range. A piano student would be foolish to damage the hands and back by using poor posture at the keyboard, easily avoided by following a piano teacher's advice.
The Job of the performer is to convert the composer's intention into sound by doing the following:
Article concerning proper etiquette as a player, for all players, not just horn players:
http://www.hornsociety.org/publications/horn-call/online-articles/27-the-horn-call/online-articles/149-advice-for-amateurs
The What of playing:
For example,if you pick up your recorder, you need to know what fingers to put where along the tube of the instrument, how hard you should blow air through the recorder's mouthpiece etc. and ...
The When of playing:
You also need to know when to change your fingering for another note, when to take breaths etc.
This still leaves the ever-present Why? It is at this point that I ask my students to consider themselves artists, who happen to use music as their medium; rather than 'musicians' who have trained as a technician on an instrument.
Let's consider the why? question. If you keep in mind Why you are asked to play something in a particular time and place, I believe you are encouraged to explore unique ways of achieving the artist's goal, rather than playing a passage in any one proscribed way.
For example, there are many ways to express the feeling of 'love', or the idea of 'triumph' on a trumpet. So many ways in fact, that teacher and pupil may never claim to have found the right way to express them. When in an ensemble, it is usually the role of the conductor or each section's first chair to inform those beside them as to the preferred interpretation. This unanimity enhances an ensemble's expressive power, and is commonly referred to as 'tightness'. Rather than giving up one's own power as a creative artist, you are sharing a more experienced musician's concept with the audience through a demonstration of unity and collaboration. This further demonstrates why Music has the power to transform society.
While there is no 'right' way to play a piece of music, one does not therefore have a license to play an instrument without regard to good technique. By this I mean to play an instrument in a way that either shortens your playing life on the instrument, or by unintentionally limiting an instrument's expressive range through adopting poor playing practices. In the case of the trumpet student, for example; a student might insist on applying the lips forcefully against the trumpet's mouthpiece, ignorant of the effect this will have on their stamina and range. A piano student would be foolish to damage the hands and back by using poor posture at the keyboard, easily avoided by following a piano teacher's advice.
The Job of the performer is to convert the composer's intention into sound by doing the following:
- Coming to some understanding of what that intention is.
- Training themselves through a variety of means on their instrument so that they can communicate that intention to the best of their abilities.
- Follow conventions/rules set out for the performance.For example, being on time, dressing appropriately, behave appropriately etc.
Article concerning proper etiquette as a player, for all players, not just horn players:
http://www.hornsociety.org/publications/horn-call/online-articles/27-the-horn-call/online-articles/149-advice-for-amateurs