An interesting definition of musical gestures given by Francois Delalande's is described in the book 'MUSICAL GESTURES-sound movement and meaning': "Francois Delalande (1988) defines musical gestures as the intersection of observable actions and mental images. He further argues that musical gestures may be studied at various levels, ranging from the purely functional to the purely symbolic, using the terms effective accompanying and figurative gestures. The term effective gestures denotes what we would call a sound- producing gestures, while the term accompanying gestures is used for the movement that supports the effective gesture in various ways. Delalande suggest the term figurative gesture to refer to a mental image that is not directly related to any physical movement, but which could be conveyed through sound."
Watching three hours of different pianists play Beethoven I must suggest that whichever of the musical gestures described by Delalande, they all play a major role in the musical piece. Whether it is the way the musician presses the keys on the piano, the way he moves on the chair, his facial expression or the actual musical composition- they all take part in differing a good musical piece from an extraordinary one.
An interesting question that arises is: Are these musical gestures being taught? and if so, is there any guidance to the musician while he plays (like a musical score for gestures..)?
I chose to finish off with an incredible comedy bit by Rowan Atkinson.
this is my friend Tom (he's visiting LDN this week if you wanna meet him):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCODKZHQ_gI&feature=player_embedded
and this I stole from Gil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFuUrUWfo5Q&feature=player_embedded
Thats What I'm talking about!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for that!
I think that teaching that is a bit like "overacting" - which is obviously acting as if you are acting...
ReplyDeleteBasically that what's separate differentiate the experience of a "show" from the experience of the "music".
People definitely teach how to act better when playing a show, basically how to preform better.
A band signed to a major label might be told to be more active on stage while playing. The label is very likely to hire a director for the show that will work with the band just on that. Though no one thought Bono how to be charismatic on stage - he was like that from day 1.
Here is Jack Black "acting" his rockstar image:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTkVxwVn6-E
And it's even more dominant here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zillRgEzy0Y
Check it from Minute 2 and Minute 5...
But I'm not just talking about acting- I'm talking about the actual movement.
ReplyDeleteIf i'll compare that to art- wanting to paint like van-gogh, would looking at the way he moves his hand or the way he uses the brush make me paint like him? And in a musical notion- I'm wondering weather certain gestures could elevate the way people play music.