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Sight over sound in the judgment of musical performance

Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2013-10-20 00:07

The discussion about the auditions in Houston reminded me of something I saw recently on Dave Thomas' blog: http://blog.davidhthomas.net/2013/08/sight-wins-over-sound-in-the-judgment-of-music-performance/

Here's the entire study: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/08/16/1221454110.full.pdf

Being able to play at a very high level is vital, but perhaps that isn't enough.

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Re: Sight over sound in the judgment of musical performance

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-10-20 02:35

Most though not all symphony wind players sit motionless, or nearly so. Stanley Drucker was a minor exception, but he limited himself to slow movements up and down.

There's more room for movement by solo performers, and good looks count for a lot with female players.

Several years back, PBS showed a conversation between Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Perlman said he preferred to play a Strad, but Zukerman said a Guarneri let him push the instrument more. On a Strad, he had to toss his head to get the same effect. (As I recall, the example was the opening of the Bruch Concerto #1.)

Sabine Meyer moves a lot as a solo player, but it doesn't bother me. Everything she does is connected to the music. If it gets excessive, I wathch the pianist or close my eyes.

I once performed the Dvorak Serenade, Op. 44, which has a number of sudden tempo changes let by the 1st clarinet. I moved a fair amount, particularly on the tempo changes to set the new speed.

Ken Shaw

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Re: Sight over sound in the judgment of musical performance

Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2013-10-20 03:18

I'd say that most assistants sit motionless, but not the Principal players. It's almost never over the top though.
The Assistant never wants to out do the Principal.

http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com

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Re: Sight over sound in the judgment of musical performance

Author: kdk
Date: 2013-10-20 14:56

DavidBlumberg wrote:

> I'd say that most assistants sit motionless, but not the
> Principal players.

That may be true, although I've seen very orchestras recently that even use "assistants" during performances, unless you also include the 2nd player. But I don't think all of these tendencies to move are deliberate or conscious.

I've never felt as though I move very much when I play. But years ago I saw myself in a video someone made of an orchestra I played in and I saw, to my considerable surprise, how much side-to-side rocking I was doing, mostly with the pulse unless it got too fast. I've since made an effort (over many years) to be conscious of it because I assume it could distract the horn players behind me (or at least compromise their line of sight to the conductor), but I'm sure I sometimes get distracted by the music and start rocking.

Sometimes the danger in monitoring your level of motion is that it can distract you from monitoring your execution of the music itself.

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