Klarinet Archive - Posting 000153.txt from 2002/08

From: "emily worthington" <emily.worthington@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Are you a mover & a shaker?
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 12:58:41 -0400

A couple of years ago I saw Emma Johnson playing the Weber Concertino and
Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie. Though I admit to not being a fan of hers in the
first place, what intensely irritated me in this performance was her
incessant movement. It wasn't specifically the fact THAT she was moving -
after all, i myself wander about all over the place when i play - but more
that her movements seemed self-conscious, almost choreographed, as though
she thought it necessary to spell out to the audience her exact musical
intent through body language, either because she couldn't do this with her
playing, or because she thought we were too stupid to pick up on it with our
ears alone. sadly i was too busy trying to ignore her jiggling to discover
which was the case. I have seen other players - a member of the resident
ensemble at our university springs to mind in particular - that make me feel
patronised by their exaggerated physical expression of the music that almost
invariably overwhelms the sound they produce. It reminds me almost of the
way children's tv presenters talk to their audiences, 'HER EVERYONE, THIS
PASSAGE IS LOUD AND PASSIONATE WITH LOTS OF DRAMATIC CHORD CHANGES' (cue
rhapsodic waving around of instrument and agonised expression) 'but now
hear - it's gone all quiet and frolicsome' (player attempts to curl into
small ball around instrument whilst doing things with eyebrows making them
look as though they've just sat on a sharpened stick).

Don't get me wrong, i have no objection to players moving in general. On the
contrary, a syptom of a terrified or underprepared performance is often
statue-like stillness in the player who is so busy worrying about the notes
that they forget about the music. But I think denise's comment,
<I could indeed *play* more expressively when I focused my
expression that way. This was not to say that moving while playing is bad,
just that I needed to *redirect* my energy into the music instead of into
moving.>
explains to me why some kinds of excessive movement irritate me. It is
possibly when the movement exists to try and force expression into the
music, rather than resulting from emotion felt from the music, that it seems
unnatural and stagey. Maybe this is also the difference between neil's
'tension masking' movement and the movement of a relaxed player; i don't
know.

anyway, thanks to barb for bringing up this thread, it's really made me
think about what i do when i play and whether it's really necessary and
natural!

em

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