From the research to the stage: Performance incorporation
This chapter will discuss my ideas and methods of incorporating the researched elements into my performance on stage and presenting this music to an audience.
Firstly I will address the main musical elements and my approach to have them add value to my interpretation. As we’ve learned from the previous chapters, structure is what makes this music so convincing. My main aim will be to have my incorporation highlight our structural frame within the music, hopefully creating a clear and easy to follow interpretation without losing any expression.
Every main motive will carefully be placed through timing, emphasising our structure through our main building blocks as well as showing the audience the return of familiar material. There are also building blocks which are echoed, going from forte to subito piano, these kind of elements require a small gap between the elements to prepare for the huge dynamic change. On the other hand we have repeated material, these repeated building blocks, can make use of direction, sometimes connecting them quicker, playing them with more direction, showing a certain urgency or disquiet. Sequences are also often present in these pieces, these I approach more as step-like motions, each step directing us to the next. Dynamics are our main element for showing the steps. Another tool could be direction, forwards or backwards, connected to bigger timing, all depending on the harmonic context of tension and resolution inside the sequences.
Rhythm is of utmost importance of keeping the structural frame together, generally executed through strict rhythm, although not as rigid as that might initially sound. Inside our frame we’re given the space for rubato, as long as it’s not done inside our main motives and main structural building blocks, as this would otherwise disturb our clearly established skeleton. In between these main elements is where timing can have its moment. Connected to our rhythm, written out movement acceleration needs to be taken into account. As a performer, we only need to let this written out acceleration take us along, only adding some energy, the inner whirlwind, the inner excitement that comes with it, while never losing sight of our final goal of the movement acceleration phrase.
The general structure of the music, considering the big sections, can be emphasised by making a big comma or by playing towards it and clearly marking the beginning of the new section. Marking it, not necessarily by giving an accent, but rather by adding some extra weight on the string.
Moving into more harmonic elements, there are pedal tones, serving as a motor each time they appear, with rhythms as strict as in our motives, naturally also requiring strict execution. The space here, is given to us, when the main voice appears, asking for a slight timing to cut through when the pedal shortly stops.
Next, the voicing, having different voices come out is a true matter of timing. The conversation between the voices is emphasised through spacing the notes of different voices slightly further apart and notes of the same voice closer together. This spacing is sometimes also technically required because of string crossings to create one of our voices. Other aspects of highlighting voicing is changing tone colour and having subtle differences in length of the notes to distinguish the different voices.
The use of harmony is an undeniable building block of music which in this case strongly supports our structural frame. Alternating tension and resolution, tonic and dominant, primary and secondary pitch centres, all creating our basis. Being aware and musically feeling these harmonic ‘arrival points’, can be expressed through adding some extra time or extra weight on these specific notes or chords. This helps strengthen our structural frame to the listener’s ears. Emphasising harmony should always happen in balance with our rhythmic frame, never disturbing the clear setting we created. While our resolutions support the frame, tenser harmonies is where composers leave us freedom to interpret.
When talking about performance, sound colour and sound quality is of undeniable value when reaching the audience’s ears. Whereas Hindemith abandoned almost every single other value of the Romanticism, his idea about sound production stayed close to that of the Romanticism, which can be seen in his writing style as well as in recordings of him performing his own music. His composition style, often including long loud passages and bigger more dissonant chords, asks for the warm, high quality, full resonance sound which was prevalent in the Romanticism. This sound ideal was however, not the only one Hindemith cared about as he often wrote such big dynamic contrasts, like triple forte directly followed by a pianissimo. To make this contrast, I believe our healthy resonant sound isn’t the right tool anymore. This dramatic contrast requires a more mysterious, maybe even an ‘unhealthy’ approach to sound, not working to make every note achieve its full resonance. These big contrasts and especially these extremely soft passages often require a different kind of sound quality, creating more of an effect or impression and less generally considered beautiful sound. An example of this idea that beauty of sound didn’t always matter for Hindemith is the 4th movement of his Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1 titled ‘Rasendes Zeitmaß. Wild. Tonschönheit ist Nebensache.‘, which translates to ‘Raging tempo. Wild. Beauty of tone is of secondary importance.’ This mention, shows that in this specific movement of the Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1, Hindemith cared more about the overall effect and general picture to create his expression and believed that beautiful sound was not an essential element to achieve this. However, the fact that he makes this mention specifically only in the title of one movement, shows that it’s a value that he generally kept close to his heart as he does clearly mention when it’s not required. All these ideas are also supported when we listen to Hindemith’s own recording of his Solo Sonata. His interpretation makes less use of the big dynamic contrasts which he, himself, wrote in the score. However his different use of sound quality can be heard most clearly in the full resonance and warmth of sound in the louder moments of the slow third (see Fragment 1) and fifth movements. The more calculated, colder sound ideal is quite prevalent in the first (see Frg. 2), second and fourth movements with their minimal use of vibrato and almost straightforward manner of sound production. The 'unhealthy' sound doesn't appear as much in Hindemith's own recording as he doesn't often go quite soft enough to reach it but when following the score and making the contrasts bigger this would come out more. I, however, found some very short examples indicating that he did touch on this kind of sound. (see Frg. 3)
When speaking about sound, this directly connects to the use of vibrato and the use of colours. The use of vibrato seems to follow our Romantic ideas, with plentiful use of vibrato, getting less as the music moves into the other side of Hindemith’s sound, in the softer passages. The smallest, most minimal use of ‘vibrato’ is also used to colour individual notes, adding a little bit of warmth. When talking about the more general soundscape of colouring the music, it’s closely tied to what’s written in the scores as well as to the vibrato and the general sound production. The element of colour of sound however is more subject to the character of the music which connects us back to the world of harmonic landscape. Each character we imagine is heavily influenced by the harmonic tension and our imagination is what causes our technique to make small colour changes to sketch the world of the piece. Our colour palette has opened up in Hindemith since the Romanticism though, as beauty of sound is not a constant requirement and we’re allowed to explore the borders of it. This freedom, which sometimes includes letting go of beauty of sound, makes a connection to the objective world view that Hindemith and Bach shared, sometimes things don’t need to be put in a softer more beautiful light, sometimes there is beauty in the simple rawness of human nature.
In times of Bach, sound was also about beauty, although accompanied by a different idea then during the Romanticism. This meant that small semblances of vibrato were only used to add the tiniest bit of extra colour to certain notes. Bach’s sound stands in service of the harmony, the traditional harmony and its hierarchy. Certain chords as well as certain note combinations created a natural resonance. The Baroque composers were masters in using this natural resonance of the instruments to create their soundscapes. In this music, we never aim for big sostenuto sound with wide vibrato, as our sound is built purely on our harmony. Sound colour and sound quality shine through a simple approach of this repertoire, again the objective view appears, not involving your own personality too much into the interpretation of Bach’s music, but rather letting the music speak for itself.
Body language is another aspect adding huge value to live performance. It’s what makes live performance unique and often makes for the audience being completely indulged in the music. Sudden stops can easily expressed by an abrupt stop when throwing my bow into the air and moments of time coming to a standstill can be a calm movement turning myself almost into a kind of statue. Characters can be enhanced through facial expressions and having an open or closed stance of your body. All these elements help to enhance our expression and transfer this onto our audience, as adding up all the elements we can add into our performance and interpretation musically can be enhanced through body language.
From the stage to the audience
How do we take the audience into account when bringing the research to the stage? How can our knowledge be passed on to even the most untrained ears? In this world, where the audience craves a personal connection with the performer, I believe this should be done through conversation, through storytelling, as this adds personality to your performance outside of your playing. What needs to be addressed in this story? What would help the audience keep a clear overview of the music without getting overwhelmed by the more modern elements?
Parts of everyday life that every person regularly comes across are repetition, a sense of everything going forward and a sense of everything coming to a stop. These are the basic elements that I tried to incorporate to sketch the structural world of both Bach and Hindemith’s works. I presented these elements in metaphors, that are somewhat fitting inside the character of the piece. Yet, as my only aim with this story is for the audience to have a certain support in following along, the stories remain vague, never really naming specific places or details, only mere suggestions or impressions. I did this deliberately as I didn’t want my concept to take away from the audiences freedom of imagination, emotion and experience by telling them a story as detailed as a book. The familiar metaphorical stories only serve as an easy to follow guide to never lose touch with their attention for the music.
Underneath an example of a metaphoric guideline I wrote, connecting Bach’s Prelude out of his 6th Cello Suite and Hindemith’s first and second movement out of his Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1:
When hearing Bach’s Prelude, it feels like a long train journey. Every stop, called by the same voice over the speaker, just with a slight intonation difference with each changing station. Musically reflected in the opening of the piece, returning throughout the whole work, guiding us through our journey. In between every announcement, we notice the voices of the passengers around, men and women, different accents, different languages, higher and lower voices, mimicked by the high and low register of the instrument, one conversation slowly fading to the background as your focus shifts to the next one. We hear this in the music through the many echoes, new ideas present themselves, repeat softly and transform into the next idea. As we approach our destination, the landscape surrounding us slowly changes. When the speaker voice finally calls our final destination, our heart starts racing with excitement, the general feeling of the music accelerates, until finally disembarking, a sense of peace dawns on us, a sense of arrival, a sense of belonging.
We experience a similar journey, on a darker rainier day during Hindemith’s ‘Breit. Viertel.’ and ‘Sehr Frisch und straff’, the first and second movement of his Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1. Our train driver braking more abrupt with each stop. The opening, again repeats throughout, accompanying us during our journey. This time represented by an unchanging, seemingly recorded speaker voice. This journey also includes some train changes causing haste to make our connections, reflected in the music repeating and insisting more and more with every step, showing the haste and urgency. We catch our next train, with another abrupt braking train driver, the same unchanging speaker voice, with our opening returning. This familiar feel is suddenly disturbed by extreme mechanical noises arising inside the train, as if its going to explode. The noise growing as we approach the border, with the music getting more hastily towards it. We cross the border, train goes quiet, reaching a new landscape, weather unchanged, no mention of what happened before. A new musical idea, a new opening (of our second movement) consistently repeats, representing a new yet still unchanging voice over our speakers. We drive seemingly straight, without stopping, to our final destination. As if programmed, our unchanging speaker voice repeats our final destination every few minutes, as if confirming the destination through our repeated opening idea. During the umpteenth repetition, it’s abruptly broken off, exactly coinciding with the sudden, very abrupt stop of the train. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, a misty field surrounds us. Whispering arises as everyone wonders the same ‘What’s going on?’, conversations and discussions surround us, as in Bach, focus moving from one conversation to the next, reflected through repeated material. The music changing but staying the same in its essence. Frustration grows, while we’re stuck in this depressing environment for what seems like forever, whispers become screams, the musical volume grows... Suddenly the buzzing of the motor slowly starts up again, like an old lawn mower, short musical fragments repeat, getting louder and more urgent through repetition. Without any mention of what happened before, the unchanging speaker voicer, our opening of the second movement, starts calling our destination again, the train seemingly speeding up, the music has a quicker feel to it and gets louder the closer we get to our destination. When the voice announces our final destination for the last time, excitement rises, volume rises, and our opening sounds for the last time, followed by a short repeated fragment of the opening, the train comes to an abrupt stop upon arrival. Relief overtakes us after a bumpy journey, as heard in the more dissonant, modern harmonies.
In conclusion, there is an enormous amount of possibilities on how to approach the audience with our research findings. Body language, expression, rhythm, sound and harmony all play an important role in creating a clear yet involved interpretation. Incorporating all elements also helps us in guiding the audience through the music as interpreters and storytellers. The main thing to keep in mind is that to keep the audience connected, we need to create a clear and easy to follow structural frame, softly nudging the audience in the right direction so they don’t get lost or overwhelmed by the complete idea.
The audience response
During the pilot project of my Professional Integration Activity, I got the chance to ‘test’ my concept, created based on my research, on a real audience, to literally bring my research to life and see if it could meet my goals when presented in a metaphorical way.
I organised short 30 minute versions of the final concerts taking place during the end of the school year in the chapel of a psychiatric hospital in my hometown. The concerts were open for patients and staff as well as outside audience. The 30 minute version included the Prelude and Sarabande out of Bach’s 6th Cello Suite and the first 3 movements of Hindemith’s Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1 as I felt these movements of both pieces could be programmed in a way that really shows off the strong analytical connection I found between the composers, which is the heart of my research.
I opened with Bach’s Prelude, bringing something ‘familiar’ to the audience, after telling the metaphorical story I wrote to accompany the Prelude. In the story, using a train ride as a metaphor, I put emphasis on the echoes, repeated elements and motives as well as the movement acceleration, as for an audience these would be the most helpful to follow the music. After, I continued with Hindemith’s first and second movement out of his Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1, again accompanied by a metaphorical train ride, the story altered to fit the atmosphere of the music, but putting emphasis on the similarities with Bach as well as the differences in use of these elements. After these movements with their strong connection, I continued with the slower movements, the Sarabandes. Continuing the concert with Hindemith’s third movement, highlighting the slowness, the stable rhythmic core and mostly the stopping points (fermatas or long notes on resolutions), expressed through the exploration of a new city during early morning while the sun rises. I ended the concert with Bach’s Sarabande, to end with something more ‘familiar’ sounding, again accompanied by the city exploration metaphor connecting to the most audible analytical commonalities, adjusting the story to the setting and atmosphere of the piece.
At the start of each concert, each audience member received a programme, which also included a short summary of the stories I told for each movement, and a survey with questions to discover their personal experience of the concert.
Through these surveys, I gained impressions by a varied audience, most of them not very familiar with classical music, on how my concert was received. I was very pleased to see that the big majority of the audience wrote that the metaphors were extremely helpful, that they really heard the story I told in the music and most of all that it truly guided them through the music and taught them how to listen to this music in a different way. I also learned that for most of the audience less is more so that my text could be even shorter and less detailed. Many also enjoyed the opening and ending with Bach which was a conscious decision but surprisingly and interestingly many people also liked the slowing down of the programme, meaning ending with the slower movements.
For the full recitals, I will be playing 3 pieces to have a one hour recital, Bach’s 6th Suite, Hindemith’s Solo Sonata Op.25 No.1 and Reger’s Suite Op.131d No.1. Reger felt like the perfect addition to this programme as he was strongly influenced by Bach as well as an important inspiration for Hindemith in different ways. Reger’s Romantic approach makes for a perfect stylistic bridge as it doesn’t sound modern to the ears, resulting in Hindemith being the only ‘difficult’ piece in the programme. Placing Hindemith’s modernness in between two ‘pleasant-sounding’ pieces gives the audience time and space to understand and process his music while not making it overwhelming. The movements of all pieces will be intertwined in such a way that those most closely connected will follow each other, with concise interludes of metaphorical stories to guide the audience through their similarities and differences. Overall it was extremely enjoyable to have the audience be so engaged in the music as a result of my writing of metaphorical stories and my interpretation which are both fully supported by this research. Generally, mission accomplished and an extremely fulfilling experience to have learned so much to help not only me but also achieve my goal of bringing more ‘modern’ music closer to the audience.
Looking forward to present the full programme to more audiences during the small tour of concerts I organised as my Professional Integration Activity as well as some other upcoming concerts.
II. Sehr frisch und straff (Middle section) out of Solo Sonata Op. 25 No.1 - P. Hindemith
My interpretation of extremes in sound colour - unhealthy sound ideal
Video recording of Hindmith's 4th movement - attention to pedal tone as a motor with voicing in between & strict rhythm with timing
Frg. 1: 3:24-3:54: Full Romantic sound ideal, warm sound, molto vibrato
Frg. 2: 0:00-0:44: opening first movement - straightforward, non vibrato, mathemathical
Frg. 3: 4:58-5:30: starts with warm Romantic sound but when going to the lonely high notes it switches to the 'unhealthy' sound ideal (this combination happens twice), after it continues with the cold, mathematical sound as heard in Frg. 2
