topdrawer
The Force is Strong With This One
Recently at a formal gathering I was impressed with the performance of a
young pianist who was providing musical atmosphere for the event. I
complemented him and asked if he were improvising. "Hell no, man, I
can't improvise my way out of a paper bag!, I've got to have sheet music
or I'm dead!" Somewhat surprised, I asked him, "Well tell me then, do
you know what a B flat major seventh chord is? "I have no Idea, but I
know where the B flat key is.", he said, pointing to the rightmost black
key in each group of three. Obviously, even though the guy was
performing and playing chords, He had absolutely no concept of chord
structure or harmonic progression. He was responding strictly to the
dictates of printed notation. Looking over his shoulder, I noticed the
words "with feeling" printed under one section of the treble cleft. I
laughed and thought to myself, "I suppose one is not expected to play
other sections of the piece with feeling."
It seems to me such dependence on external input reduces a performer
to a virtual robot or computer, running a set of programmed instructions.
Of course in the case of orchestral music it is essential that each player
execute their contribution strictly according to the printed score. But
a soloist can take certain liberties with phrasing, tonality and timing in
order to stylize and embellish the music with what might be compared
to Gurdjieff’s “lawful inexactitudes”.
Effective musical improvisation, in my opinion, derives, not from inspired whimsy, but from comprehension and mastery of the formal attributes of sound.
