A Richer Experience

This morning my wife had some research results up on the computer. Research having to do with how we process music. Pretty interesting stuff.

What I found particularly fascinating is how the cerebellum becomes activated in the process of listening to music. The cerebellum is most frequently associated with coordinating physical movement.

After your brain grasps the underlying rhythm and cadence in a piece of music, your cerebellum senses departures from that equilibrium – places of ‘tension’ in the music – and this triggers a corresponding emotional response. Hence the expression, ‘I was so moved by that music.’

It gets more interesting. Dr. Daniel Levitin, author of the recent book, ‘This Is Your Brain on Music’, describes differences in the way we respond to recorded music versus what we see and hear live.

If you are present at a performance and the player plays a fast, difficult passage while making it appear easy, the visual clues mitigate much of the aural tension. Listeners to a recorded performance, not having the visual ‘relaxing clues’, experience a heightened sense of tension from the same passage.

It all just goes to show that appearances DO matter, at least where it comes to live concerts. If you give the impression that the music is challenging to play, you may fatigue the audience quickly. No one likes watching another person struggle, at least not for very long.

So lets talk recital programming.

It seems to me that you want to first put the audience at ease. Start with music that isn’t too complex, music that flows out of your fiddle quite effortlessly.

Then, once you have gotten your listener’s trust, you play something dramatic – a romantic sonata, for instance. After intermission it’s time for some music with inherent risks – the flashy stuff. Most of the time you want it to look easy. Once in a while you can make it appear difficult.

One thing you want to be clear about, however. For you, the player, it must all feel easy. In this regard you are an actor on stage. Internally you are cool as a cucumber. Externally you can play the audience ‘like a violin.’

One last thing, if this sounds like ‘conventional’ programming, you’re paying attention. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. Just began recording Volumes 3 and 4 of the Kreutzer etudes. If you haven’t started working through volumes 1 and 2 yet, its time to get moving. The secrets to ’cool as a cucumber’ playing are waiting.