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When concert meets app

It is great to come together at a concert or other event with other people and spark. Oh I know ‘spark’ is not the most academic word, but it’s the right one – talk, think, laugh, experience new people, experience something that transcends people, and connect it in a way that is electrifying. SPARK! (4 min read)

I had the privilege of being invited to a concert by the Castalian String Quartet that was part of the European String Teachers Association summer school. One of my former students (a graduate who is now a teacher herself) was in attendance at the summer school and I know some of the people involved in ESTA and was fortunate enough to be invited to the concert. It was fantastic. The atmosphere reminded me of being back at Meadowmount and just breathing in that atmosphere was invigorating. More on that soon, but first a word about concert-going and how listening is not always easy.

When I first started teaching, I often had many school concerts to attend, and these were of variable quality – sometimes fantastic, sometimes nerve-wrecking, sometimes a real task. One thing I remember about my experience as an audience member, is that I was not a great audience member. I was always thinking. My mind was busy. Fingering. Bowing. Sound. Vibrato. Posture. other audience members and their concentration or seeming enjoyment or lack thereof – I was listening as the teacher and not as an audience member. Worse still, when someone who was not my student, perhaps a beginner flute player, took the stage I was bored. Not bored to tears, but bored to sleep. Oh that sounds bad! – not the music, but my reaction, BUT it is a real one.

Maconie discusses in his book The Concept of Music where he describes the way we naturally manipulate our environment to limit distressing stimuli – giving the example of both a baby and a black belt kicking when an unwarranted advance is made, be it a kiss from great-auntie or a sparring partner. He goes on to say that we can control visual input with where we look, but

“We are born listeners, and remain ‘switched-on’ listeners for the whole of our lives unless released prematurely from the clamour of a noisy world by the onset of deafness or by voluntarily retreating to a quieter and more contemplative environment. As long-suffering listeners, we learn willy-nilly to control what we hear, not so much by excluding the possibility of unwanted sounds (the only tactic available in the formative years of infancy being to fall asleep, which makes people who fall asleep at concerts seem rather sympathetic all of a sudden) – as by manipulating the auditory environment. …” (Maconie, 1990, p. 24)

[!!!] I know there are people who just fall asleep at concerts because they are sleepy or old or even bored, but in those early concerts as a teacher, the overwhelming feeling of drowsiness was, I believe, a defence mechanism. yikes! I did learn to listen and promise that does not happen now!

Why did I tell that story??? This concert was amazing – no sleeping anywhere. I told it to contrast. To show growth. To preface. To show that not all performers make good audience members. We really want to be on the stage doing the playing and listening is a skill, and there are many ways to do it. It is a great pleasure to enjoy listening and to savour a concert.

Last night I found myself becoming aware of how I listened. I breathed slowly and deeply. I was not so interested in the cellist, although he was excellent. It was the viola player: her bow arm was so free and she had eyes on everyone at all times. Violist are often the brunt of so many unfortunate jokes, but this viola player could disband all of them with her performance last night. She supported, enhanced, and in the interval a few of the audience members were chatting about whether it was polite to tell a performer they were beautiful while they played? I said delicious. The quartet as a whole was delicious. Someone else said they weren’t overpowered by any individual trying to put forward their technique, but by the music.

Screen Shot 2016-08-02 at 08.18.28They were playing Ravel, and there was a moment in the third movement when the colouristic change was tangible. Yes it is Ravel and there are lots of colours, but this one actually physically impacted me. There is a moment in the third movement when, after an extended passage where all the players are muted, the second violin takes off his mute and plays a held C (just before rehearsal mark F in the score), and it made me feel a wave of hot-cold. -like when you are driving and you see an animal in the road and realise what it is. Physically, aurally, it was a sensation like being in an airplane and coming out of the clouds, you know when you hear everything a bit funny and you aren’t sure if you should equalise the pressure in your ears. WOW! Even though I knew what was coming I wasn’t ready for that and when the effect of musical colour physically surprises you, that is magic.

The best bit is I could go home and hear it again and even play it with these very players. 

(ok I may be having a little educationally over excited moment here)

Let me explain. There is this app called PartPlay that was designed by Philip Aird and Steve Bingham. They ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to forward the app and wow!

Screen Shot 2016-08-02 at 08.02.05Basically they have lots of artists and repertoire that you can play along with, but there is interactive functionality – you can play one part and chose how many other parts to include, and the Castalian Quartet happen to have recorded the Ravel as the free demo piece – so actually you can listen to the bits that moved me in the concert. Find the score, follow along, and explore. Here’s the link to the app:

PartPlay

Educationally this has lots of uses and conceptually I think it is at the forefront of bringing on a new chapter to the way both young and amateur classical musicians learn. I’ll be interviewing Phil and Steve later this week in preparation for this September’s iteration of (new pages coming soon!) and I really look forward to opening out the discussion – musically and intellectually. You are definitely invited.

In the meantime, I am reminded how very valuable live music and the meeting of minds are to that magic spark. To quote a classic – if you haven’t seen it, do have a look at the 5 min youtube video by Steve Johnson Where good Ideas Come From that shows just how linked up we are.

I’m off to play my cello. I have a concert this Sunday. I wonder what my audience will think… 🙂

Featured image CC BY-NC by C Steele

 

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