Klarinet Archive - Posting 000296.txt from 2011/03
From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] War Horse
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:28:43 -0400
Last year I went to see a National Theatre production in London called 'War Horse'. That show seemed to me then, and still seems to me now, to suggest a very powerful metaphor for what we do as musicians when we play together.
On this list, the overwhelmingly dominant metaphor is of the individual clarinettist as a charismatic hero-figure. People say things like, WHY doesn't orchestra X appreciate the awe-inspiring playing of clarinettist Y? How can they not want such expressive and technically perfect playing in their ranks? Who do they think they are, coming off so choosy?
This way of looking at things misses the fundamental truth that what needs to be expressive is not the player, but the MUSIC. Very often in a performance, a player is merely contributing to a musical idea -- and then, considering that contribution in isolation is inappropriate to a true appreciation of what their job consists of.
Sometimes, a solo player has the opportunity to shoulder the musical argument. But even then, one can often hear the music being spoiled by a narcissistic approach to the text.
Anyhow, 'War Horse' is the story of a boy who befriends a horse, Joey. Joey is then commandeered, and sent to the World War I battlefields; the boy enlists to follow him, and finally, after great difficulty and drama, finds him.
The story is for children, and could be thought to be a little sentimental. However, the show is deeply moving for quite another reason, which begins with the horse being presented at full size on stage by a team of puppeteers. We then find ourselves involved because we are put in the position of being led to CREATE the living horse by the great skill of the operators, who become invisible to us after quite a short time. Further, we become unavoidably complicit in the often very moving interactions of the horse with the human actors, and are drawn into the great and horrible events of that terrible War.
You can still see 'War Horse' in London, and buy a DVD telling the story of its creation. However, there is now on the internet a TED talk by the puppeteers that gives some sense of what it is for performers to participate in something that is greater than themselves -- which is what musicians at their best do, according to me:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/handpring_puppet_co_the_genius_puppetry_behind_war_horse.html
It falls far short of the experience of the show itself, of course. (The music, for example, is exceptionally well done, I would say.)
So, the metaphor is that the creation of the music as a 'living thing' corresponds to the creation of 'the horse' as a living thing. The audience collaborates in it -- if the performers both lead them to, and allow them to.
As is clear from much of what I post, I deplore the false adulation of individual performers. It occurs here for what seem to me to be quite trivial reasons. I also deplore the worshipping of the often highly trivial things that are reported to have been said by 'legendary teachers' -- usually American, as it happens.
I hope that this 20 minute video will go some way towards suggesting a more inclusive vision of the possible roles of both performer and audience.
Tony
--
Tony Pay
79 Southmoor Rd
Oxford OX2 6RE
tel/fax +44 1865 553339
mobile +44 7790 532980
tony.p@-----.org
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