7. (More) PERSONAL REFLECTIONS and an EXTRA-EMOTIONAL PROPOSAL
Until now, I have almost not spoken about my perspective as a musician, which includes both roles, performer and listener. First, if I finally give my opinion about the philosophical approaches, I should confess that the three seem compatible for me. Compatible in terms of having different mindsets depending on the piece, the performance, the context, or the personal situation; and compatible in terms of having a combined attitude towards the same music.
THE ROLE. Secondly, I have to admit that I find differences between being the performer, the listener of a piece I do not know, and the listener of a piece I do know. In the first role, as a performer, I tend to set my mindset beforehand. This is not a generalization, because I believe that many other musicians are much more reactive to the moment of the performance. In my case, due to the difficulties of the 'on-stage situation' I still struggle, I prefer to follow a much more thoughtful path, in the style of the Cognitive Appraisal Theory (see Chapter 2.D).
KNOWING THE PIECE (OR NOT). As a listener who hears a piece for the first time, I sense that I have the purest 'emotional listening' in those cases because I let myself go with the music, sometimes imagining a world and often admiring the music itself. But if I have already experienced the music before, playing or listening to it, the memories of that moment are too contagious to get rid of them, being these memories not only the specific time of that performance but also the personal mindset generated in that previous experience.
OTHER ELEMENTS. Regarding the other items (extramusical, settings, and manipulations) as a listener, I truly think they are quite helpful. Maybe once you do not like the proposal, but your level of concentration increased thanks to these items. I find it important to distinguish between the engagement of the performance and your satisfaction with these ideas, because even if you are not convinced about such ideas, perhaps you enjoyed more the music itself than if they had not occurred. However, as a performer, it is impossible to make sure that your audience will be able to make this mental distinction, so you will have to accept that some listeners will 'hate' the whole experience. More personally, when I have done (as a musician) a performance blended with some of these features, I tend to feel much more inspired and calm with my playing. The reasons I found were, of course, the inspiration they provoked themselves, and also that my attention turned to other elements that were not the typical technical and musical 'fears'. Actually, I was probably not calmer globally, but in terms of my playing, I was.
The Proposal:
As an example of an application of new learning, I offer a performance proposal consisting of three pieces in which I make use of the most successful mechanisms. This kind of proposal (with different pieces for sure) will be the one that my PIA will consist of.
Preamble of the performance:
I will give brochures with information about the performance, pieces, composers, etc.; as well as content about the mental approaches that could inspire the listeners, but more in a persuasive manner rather than in a mere informative one. Sentences to encourage them to imagine, to remember, to enjoy music, or to create their own path while listening to music. I will include a QR code, in case they are interested in learning more about the topic. Along with the brochures I will distribute eye masks that the listener can put on whenever they want, to focus even more specifically on the music. As I already mentioned, I find that the fact of not seeing could be slightly more comfortable wearing these masks instead of closing their eyes for a long time.
As a model, I will consider an expected/considered audience of 40 people, being the performance in a place with enough place to test different settings.
Programm:
Bach - Chaconne of the Second Partita for violin solo
Prokofiev - 1st movement of the Violin Concerto No. 1
Bartok - 1st Rhapsody for violin and piano
I have always argued that the best way to start a musical performance is... with music. Because of that, I would often begin with a recognizable piece that needs no preamble, like Bach's Chaconne. Thanks to being known to most of the audience, I could introduce some extramusical elements. Visual elements regarding lighting and vision are the ones that work better, as we already saw (never better said), so for this piece I would try to modify (during the movement) the lighting, in terms of intensity and maybe colors. Something like the sound of the bells of a cathedral I tested in the sessions could be inspiring for the beginning, because it could serve as a signal that the concert is ready to begin at the same time it lets people get into the atmosphere. Since it is quite an intimate piece of music, I would try to exploit as much space as possible in the hall, making the listeners as separated or isolated as possible.
Between Bach and Prokofiev I would do a small break, since Bach's Chaconne is the longest and most demanding piece for the performer (and possibly for the audience too). After the short break, I would change the set-up to the semicircle one, as now I would like to communicate more with the audience. I consider Prokofiev's violin concerto a much more music connoisseur's piece, so I would give some details and examples about its music before playing through, because of the already studied impact of musical recognition. The main theme that opens and closes the movement is a wonderful and lyrical phrase that does not need a lot of clarification, but I could help listeners understand the more complex language of the composer that appears for the second theme and development: its irony, sharpness, vanguards, or contrasts. Since I liked the emotion-perception some listeners had in my sessions (to be floating, flying, on the edge...), I would like to find an extramusical element that could reflect this idea, because I believe it could considerably improve the engagement. An image that simulates a windy atmosphere, even the picture of a hot air balloon, the sound of a gentle wind, or designing a live effect with balloons could be some possibilities.
Bartok's recordings of traditional music that served as inspiration for his Rhapsody could be used as an introduction to the piece, as I checked in the sessions. It is the best example to show it is popular music and how Bartok uses his language to convert it into classical (occidental) music. I would accompany the piece with a really wild performance, trying to forget about the cleanness and technical precision, and looking for the fiercest character as possible. Maybe this idea does not enter into the concept of 'musical manipulation', since it could be seen just as a 'brave interpretation'. However, I would explore the limits with rough articulations, 'dirty' fingerings, extreme dynamics and timings... Things that if I were playing in a standard concert I would probably not do.