Thursday, April 26, 2007

Lynn Harrell - Comparing cello to a singer

You have, on a number of occasions compared playing the cello to a singer and his or her techniques. Could you elaborate on that?



Certainly. It's my favourite subject. I think when people hear string playing and they like it, they're moved by it, it's because the string player has a sense of making the string instrument sound and speak and sing like a singer. So there are aspects of singing and speaking that are things we should try to copy and emulate.
...I sense those things and the connections of a good singer to playing a string instrument in a vocal way.
The variety of consonants in language, and the variety of colour of vowels - from the difference in vowels in French, German, Italian, they're just so many colours. The beginning of a breath should sound different than the end of a breath because if it sounds the same it's not a living breathing, alive animal. Sometimes that's extended so a string player is bound to just hold a note and its kind of an abstraction. And vibrato is a natural function of singing, so sometimes you vibrate on a string instrument very fast like a soprano, or sometimes very slowly like a bass singer. Of course when you vibrate very slowly and you're playing in the high register, it just sounds like a very fat over-the-top Wagnerian soprano who should've stopped singing twenty years ago. Which is of course funny. We all think of that as funny. So I can make people laugh by demonstrating (and he does that here, singing… "ooohhh") kind of vibrato. But it's appropriate in certain very low notes, because that's what happens with the bass singer down in the very deep register, where it vibrate much more slowly.
So there's breath, there's colour, there's articulation, and there's rhythm. The notation of music is divided mathematically by twos and threes. But there's a lot in between a two and a three. There's a lot in between that. And of course, there is in language and speech and poetry, there's sense that we can alter, with an educated guess, a classical rhythmic function much like in the La Mer (which was being rehearsed next door, and he demonstrates with notes from more vibrant to languid styles rhythm).

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Piano Trek


Stage, the final frontier.
These are the voyages of a mad woman and her piano.
Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new mistakes and to seek out ways to survive to them during the performance
To boldly play like no one has played before

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould


"There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion"
~ Sir Francis Bacon

Gould was emotionally reticent even in infancy. He never cried; he hummed instead.

His private motto: "Behind every silver lining there's a cloud"
"My ability to work varies inversely with the niceness of the weather."
He identified himself as a Nordic man, and all things southern and Mediterranean were anathema to him: sunshine and blue skies, spicy food, physical exertion, easy sensuality, emotional openness, Italian opera. He hated bright colours, and equated red with violence; at the age of four or five he flew into a tantrum when someone gave him a red fire engine. His favourite colours were "battleship gray and midnight blue" and he loved black and white movies, including war movies, ....
When he was eight, is parents took him to wee Walt Disney's Fantasia, and he hated its "awful riot of colour" as he recalled years later. "I went home depressed, feeling faintly nauseous, and with the first headache I can remember".

His hands were naturally agile and flexible, and he instinctively guarded them. Even as an infant he would pull them away or turn his back if someone threw or rolled a ball at him. Once, when he was just weven or eight, Jessie Greig asked him to join in a game of marbles. He wanted to play, but when he put his hand down and found the ground cold, he withdrew it at once, and said "I'm afraid I can't".

Gould's first name is frequently misspelled as "Glen",..... and Gould himself used both spellings interchangeably throughout his life. In fact, it is difficult to find a specimen of his signature which a second "n" is clearly discernable. To his record producer Andrew Kazdin, Gould offered a lame explanation: he had discovered early on that if he started to write the second 'n' he would be unable to stop and would end up writing three 'n's.





The organ, Gould later said, gave him a taste for Bach and other early music, and had a profound influence on his piano style. It taught him to "think with his feet", which led to a fondness for bringing out basslines (he was also left-handed, incidentally); taught him to "think of music as being played by three hands - the feet acting as the third hand," which led to a passion for counterpoint unusual among pianists; and it taught him not to pound the keys but to develop a technique based on "the tips of the fingers," to make expressive nuances through slight shifts of tempo instead of dynamics, both of which encouraged his clean, "upright" clearly articulated piano playing.

Arthur Rubinstein was once asked on television what he would wish for if he were given a second chance at life; he replied, " to be born with Glenn Gould's hands."
And there is the testimony of colleagues like Jaime Laredo, who recalled that he was open-mouthed as he listened to Gould play transcriptions between takes in their recording sessions; he thought Gould's technique superior to that of any other pianist.
"He really did have a magnificent technique," Charles Rosen said. "He could have developed terrific octaves quite easily if he'd wanted to. he just didn't want to."
In an interoffice memo from 1981, a Steinway and Sons employee referred to Gould as the one pianist of his generation with "complete tonal command" - comparable to Horowitz - and more than one critic and fellow musician considered his technique to have been perfect, perhaps the greatest of the age.
Still, to acknowledge that Gould could have played Chopin's etudes or Liszt's B-minor sonata or the Rach3 does not mean that he was physically (never mind temperementally) suited to making a career of such music.

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"I don't want to think too much about my playing or I'll get like that centipede who was asked which foot he moved first and became paralysed, just thinking about it."

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Glenn's take on his father's relationships, which I believe is spot on in general.
not appropriate for a person to change their spots so radically for the sake of another person
all relationships are addictive - just as much as alcohol or tobacco
one develops what one thinks of as an intense need to be with a particular person, to translate all your activity, everything that you do in the course of a day, and while that may be a fascinating exercise, it's also exhausting and it has one other great disadvantage - that it distracts you from contemplation, from looking inward, to really meditate upon the shape of your life - one doesn't do that (in a relationship) because one thinks one is starting one's life. When a relationship is new, there's a much greater intensity.

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Gould and Yamaha

He was testing Steinways as late as May 1981, but never found one to replace his old friend (CD318) permanently, not even instruments which has served artists like Rachmaninov and Horowitz. As always he found the new Steinways, especially the American ones, ranged from "terrible to pathetic" in tone or action or both, and he was not the only Steinway artist to complain at this time: the 70s is generally considered to have been the low point in the company's history.

He tested other pianos - German Steinways, Bechsteins - and finally defected to Yamaha. He first tried a Yamaha ...... and was deepley impressed by the piano's action, which had the responsiveness and the minimal aftertouch he craved. He also liked he intimacy, clarity and brightness of Yamaha's tone, and though he did not consider the sound completely satisfactory - he found the bass unfocused - he knew he could work with it.

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"The Wars" soundtrack
.... the most important classical theme is that of Brahm's tender Intermezzo in E-flat major, Op.117 No.1, which Gould called "Rowena's Theme". When it first appears in the film, it is associated with Robert's beloved, disabled sister Rowena, who dies before he goes off to war - according to Nielsen and Philips, Gould developed one of his obsessive adolescent crushes on Rowena, and was for a time watching one of her scenes every day. Brahms, incidentally, noted that the piece was based on a Scottish folk song, "Sleep Softly, My Child". The theme is woven throughout the score. In its original key, it is assoc with images of farewell, longing, remembrance; Gould wrote, "If you want the musical-mystical-metaphorical significance, E flat major is a key which composers have frequently assoc with the idea of resurrection (he was probably thinking of Mahler's 2nd symph). The theme also appears in Eflat minor, usually in a hauting version for one or two choirboys when someone dies. The theme hovers over the score like the Angel of Death. The score is in fact unified harmonically, with E flat (major and minor) as principal key. The most important Hymn, "Abide With Me" appears in E flat, and when Gould needed a new theme for the sequence involving Harris's ashes he chose Brahm's dark Intermezzo in Eflat minor, Op 118 No6.

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Gould as conductor
..... wearing layers of shapeless dark jackets, flannel shirts and pants (plural) despite the summer's heat, and carrying a large, gree plastic garbage bag containing his musical score, notepads and paraphernalia.
Wholly dedicated to the music at hand, Gould was not interested, like so many conductors, in matters of power and personality, and so came across unpretentious.
"What struck me the most about my encounter with Glenn was his unfailing politeness and encouragement to the musicians. He was animated, resourceful, inspiring and sympathique throughout. He did his best to make us all feel like partners in the endeavour rather than sidemen to his maestro. We were all on a first name basis. In fact, he had taken time to commit everyone's name to memory before meeting us, and he made sure to shake everyone's hand at the end of the final session, something none of us expected." ~Timothy Maloney, clarinetist

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Gould on Pedalling
"We are not trying to sacrifice in the piano what the harpsichord did not have, but rather to create an impressionistic effect of what the harpsichord did have."

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"I'm not anti-social, but if an artist wants to use his mind for creative work, then self-discipline, in the form of cutting oneself off from society, is a necessary thing."

"These aren't personal eccentricities, they're simply the occupational hazard of a highly subjective business"

"I don't go to concerts, sometimes not even to my own!"

"The greatest of all teachers is the tape recorder"

=

Monday, April 16, 2007

The Art of Possibility

by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander

You need a "catchy" catchphrase, so that you can recall them instantly when the time comes.
Once you are in the habit of using them, these practices will reliably land you back in the boat, reoriented in a universe of possibility.


1. It's All Invented
A shoe factory sends out 2 marketing scouts to Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying:
SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES

The other writes back triumphantly:
GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. THEY HAVE NO SHOES.

We perceive only the sensations we are programmed to receive, and our awareness is further restricted by the fact that we recognise only those for which we have mental maps or categories.

Eg. Picasso's paintings.

Most people already understand that, as with cultural differences, interpretations of the world vary from individual to individual.
Eg: 9 dot puzzle -> Think out of the box!
Enlarge the box, create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.
Every story is founded on a network of hidden assumptions.
The puzzle "assumes" you must draw within the square formed by outer dots.
If you learn to notice and distinguish these stories, you will be able to break through the barriers of any "box" that contains unwanted conditions and create conditions that support the life you envision for yourself.
The Practice
Ask yourself:
What assumption am I making, that I'm not aware I'm making, that gives me what I see?
Then ask yourself:
What might I now invent, that I haven't yet invented, that would give me other choices?
Since it's all invented, why not invent something that supports your goals instead of against it?


2. Universe of Possibility
World of measurement
We grow up in a world of measurement, and in this world, we get to know each other and things by measuring them, and by comparing and contrasting them.
And just as virtually everybody adds the clause "within the square formed by the outer dots", virtually everybody, whether living in the lap of luxury or diminished circumstances, wakes up in the morning with the unseen assumption that life is about struggle to survive and get ahead in a world of limited resources.

Universe of Possibility
In the realm of possibility, we gain our knowledge by invention. You attract your label.
The action in a universe of possibility may be characterised as generative/giving - producing new life, creating new ideas. The relationship between people and environments is highlighted, not the things themselves.
You are more likely to be successful , if you participate joyfully with projects and goals and do not think that your life depends on it, because then you will be better able to connect to people all around you. Resources are likely to come to you in greater abundance when you are generous and inclusive. When you are oriented to abundance, you care less about being in control, and you take more risks.
There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. =P


3. Giving an "A"
"Each student in this class will get an A for the course. However there is one requirement that you must fulfill to earn this grade. Sometime during the next 2 weeks, you must write me a letter dated next May, which begins with the words, "Dear Mr Zander, I got my A because.... " and in this letter you are to tell me, in as much detail as you can, the story of what will have happened to you by next May that is in line with this extraordinary grade. Phrases like 'I hope', 'I intend' or 'I will' must not appear"
" I am especially interested in the person you will have become by next May. I am interested in the attitude, feelings and worldview of that person who will have done all she wished to do or become everything he wanted to be."
The art of music, since it can only be conveyed through interpreters, depends on expressive performance for its lifeblood. Yet it is only when we make mistakes in performance that we can really begin to notice what needs attention. In fact, I actively train my students that when they make a mistake, they are to lift their arms in the air, smile and say, "How fascinating!"
The Secret of Life
The student, in a brilliant flash, had realised that the labels he had been taking so seriously are human inventions. The label C is invented, and the A is invented, so we might as well choose to invent something that brightens our life.
Give yourself an A
When asked what accomplishment he was most proud of, he simply answered,
"That I did the best I could with what I had."
Really, can anyone ask for more?
Giving yourself an A is not about boasting or reciting your accomplishments. The freely granted A lifts you off the success/failure ladder and spirits you away from the world of measurement into the universe of possibility. It is a framework that allows you to see all of who you are and be all of who you are.
Reconstructing Our Past
Re-evaluate the grades we gave others when we were children, the grades we gave our parents. As soon as you have the grace to give people A's, all sorts of thing are revealed that were as though hidden behind a veil. Letters pop out, memories return. There are new openings.
The adage "You can't change people" is true in the world of measurement, where people and things are fixed in character. But in the universe of possibility, you certainly can. They change as you speak. Who is doing the changing? The answer is the relationship. Because in the arena of possibility, everything occurs in that context.


4. Being a contribution
Let's settle on a game called I am a contribution. Unlike success and failure, contribution has no other side. In this new game, it is not important how much money you make. Those concerns are packed away in a box in another dimension. Life operates on a different set of rules.
Describing things as a game is twofold. You shift the context from one of survival to one of opportunity for growth. You also have the choice of imagining other games you'd rather be playing in these realms. Naming your activities as a game breaks their hold on you and puts you in charge. If the rules don't light up your life, put it away, take out another one you like better and play the new game wholeheartedly. Remember, it's all invented.
Like ripples in a pond
Make it a habit to recollect how you made a contribution each day.
There is an aspect of psychological practising in these exercises parallel to the technical practising on the piano. It is a discipline of the spirit.
In order to be a great performer, you have to be unfettered by stage nerves. These exercises in contribution are a way of oiling the machinery to make one a more effective vehicle to convey the message of Brahms or Beethoven.
Imagine you are a pianist and you meet someone who has never heard the E minor Prelude by Chopin. You might want to sit down next to him at the piano and say, "Listen to this". As you get caught up in the excitement of explaining and sharing the music, you would have little time left to be nervous.


5. Leading From Any Chair
Leaders can be anywhere, not necessarily at the podium.


6. Rule Number 6
Don't take yourself so seriously!
Lighten up! Laughter and humour are perhaps the best way we can "get over ourselves".
Remembering Rule No. 6 can help us distinguish and remove the part of ourselves that developed in the competitive environment of the "measurement world", our "calculating self", which lobbies to be taken very seriously indeed. Rule No. 6 coaxes the "calculating self" to lighten up and break its hold on us.
"What would have to change for me to be completely fulfilled?" You recognise your own "calculating self" in action. You stop taking yourself and "your story" so seriously and suddenly able to distinguish people/situations from the diagnosis that you label them.
When somebody gives up their pride/ego to reveal a truth to others, we find it incredibly moving. When one person peels away layers of opinion, entitlement, pride and inflated self-description, others instantly feel the connection. Now with the 'calculating self' revealed and humoured, the 'central self' shines through.
Central Self
Inscribed on five of the six pillars outside the Holocaust Museum at Quincy Market in Boston are stories of survivors. The sixth pillar is about a little girl named Ilse, a childhood friend of Guerda Weissman Kline. Guerda remembers that Ilse, who was about six years-old at the time, found a single raspberry one morning somewhere in the camp. She carried it with her all day long in a protected place in her pocket. That evening, with her eyes shining with happiness, she placed the raspberry on a leaf and gave it to Guerda as a gift. It was the defining moment of Guerda's life. She said, "Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry, and you give it to your friend."
Calculating self will never be able to appreciate the beauty of nature and the simple things in life. Its attention is on comparison and schemes. But the central self is open, and aware, remarkably generative, prolific and creative nature. An attitude of wholeness and sufficiency.
Rich, free and compassionate.
When we follow Rule No. 6 and lighten up over our childish demands, we are instantly transported to a remarkable universe. For the most part it lies a bit over our heads. Angels can fly there because they take themselves lightly =P
7. The Way Things Are
Being the way things are by clearing "shoulds" and judgements.
Mistakes can be like ice. If we resist them, we may keep on slipping into a posture of defeat. If we include mistakes in our definition of performance, we are likely to glide through them and appreciate the beauty of the longer run.
8. Giving Way to Passion
Giving way to passion has 2 steps:
i) Notice where you are holding back and let go. Release those barriers of self that keep you separate and in control, and let the vital energy of passion surge through you, connecting you to all beyond.
ii) Participate wholly. Allow yourself to be a channel to shape the stream of passion into a new expression for the world.
Long Lines
..... the performer lose his connection to the long line of the music when his attention solely lies on perfecting individual notes and harmonies. Like the person who, mindless that she has all of nature in her fingertips, blocks the expression of life force, so does the musician interrupt the long line of passion when she limits her focus to the expression of personal emotion, local colour or harmonic events.
Leon Fleischer said that playing a piece of music is an exercise in antigravity. The musician's role is to draw the listener's attention over the barlines - which are but artificial divisions, having no relevance for the flow of the music - toward a realisation of the piece as a whole. In order to make the connections between the larger sections of a piece, the player may find herself moving the tempo at a faster pace than if she were putting her attention on highlighting individual notes or vertical harmonies.
One-Buttock Playing
Allow your body to flow sideways, to catch the wave of the music with the shape of your own body.
Even at six, Jacqueline du Pre was a conduit for music to pour through. She had the kind of radical confidence about her own highly personal expression that people acquire when they understand that performance is not about getting your act together, but about opening up to the energy of the audience and of the music, and letting it sing in your unique voice.
BTFI
Beyond the F--- It
I was so pissed of and I said f--- it, I'm going to Madrid to play the audition for the principal cellist, and I won it, at twice the salary!
9. Lighting a Spark
The practice of enrollment is about generating possibility and lighting its spark in others.
i) Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment
ii) Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired
iii) Offer that which lights you up
iv) Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark
A "no" can often dampen our fire in the world of downward spiral. It can seem like a permanent barrier that presents us with limited choices. In other words "no" can seem like a door slamming instead of merely an instance of the way things are. Yet, were we to take a
"no" less personally, and ourselves less seriously, we might hear something else.
10. Being the Board
When "The Way Things Are" offers no possibility, when you are angry and blocked, and for all your efforts, others refuse to cooperate, when "enrollment" does not work and you are at your wit's end - you can take out this next practice. In this one, you rename yourself as "the board on which the whole game is being played". You move the problematic aspect of any circumstances from the outside world inside the boundaries of yourself.
Declare: " I am the framework for everything that happens in my life."
"If i cannot be present without resistance to the way things are and act effectively, if I feel myself to be wronged, a loser or a victim, I will tell myself that some assumption I have made is the source of my difficulty."
Grace comes from owning the risk we take in a world by and large immune to our control.
Gracing yourself with responsibility for everything that happens in your life leaves your spirit whole, and leaves you free to choose again.
.... Besides I know full well that every time I step onto a podium, I take a risk that things won't turn out exactly as I anticipate them in my ear......
The type of responsibility we are most familiar with is the sort that we apportion to ourselves and others. Dividing obligations helps us keeping life organised and manageable. Because the model is based on the assumption that life will be under control if everyone plays his part, when things DO break down, someone or something naturally gets blamed.
The next step: ask yourself, "how did this get on the board that I am?"; "How is it that I have become a context for that to occur?"
You will begin to see the obvious and the not-so-obvious contributions of your "calculating self", or of your history, or earlier decisions. And then you will be standing freely and powerfully once again in a universe of possibility.
You look around and say "It's nothing personal that xxxx. It's a certain statistical probability that...... "
"Being the board" is not about turning the blame on yourself.