When I was watching the summer Olympics this past August, I got it into
my head that a funny segment during the TV coverage would be to show an
average person swimming alongside the Olympic swimmers (running against
the runners, etc.). Me, for example, in all my former New Canaan High
School swim team not-glory, diving into the pool next to these women
who were breaking world records. My thought was that after watching the
Olympics for days on end we lose track of how incredible these people
are; there are no points of comparison, so when the Olympic athletes
swim fifty meters of a pool in 22 seconds (it took me longer than that
to write this sentence), we don’t comprehend what it really means.
Last
Saturday night, I made my concert debut in a world premiere performance
piece by a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer in New York City. Go big or
go home, I always say. In the interest in full disclosure, composer
David Lang, who I work for, and visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra
created a piece for 50 “violinists” who had never played the violin
before. I was one of them, and I was terrible. I must have asked our teacher Todd Reynolds to
show me how to hold the bow four times, in addition to glancing conspicuously at the girl
to my left who seemed to know what she was doing. I was the only person
in the whole group who Todd Reynolds had to physically correct, and when
I asked David how I did later on he said, “You had the best posture of
anyone when you weren’t playing.”
I’m certainly guilty of
leaving concerts and complaining about the quality of musicianship. It’s obvious to state, but this is hard work – physical work – that
takes decades of commitment to perfect. We know this in our heads when
we sit at concerts, just as we know it in our heads while watching
the Olympic swimmers on TV, but can we really grasp it without experiencing the physicality ourselves?
How can
orchestras give donors, audience members, and perhaps even critics a
taste of what it’s like to play an instrument? Would that help ticket
sales? Change reviews? Increase donations?
Many industry people
and classical music lovers have or still do played/play an instrument, but we
don’t usually play just before the concerts we now go and see. If
every person in the audience was required to take a half-hour music lesson
from member of the orchestra before that evening’s performance, how
would that connectedness alter the concert experience? Would the
audience appreciate the music more because they understood the
instruments better? Some might even appreciate the music more simply because
they met an orchestra member personally before the concert. Similarly,
when was the last time your orchestra’s administration played
instruments? Perhaps the orchestra members could give them lessons as well. Make it a team-building day, and see if your local paper
would cover it.
I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon, even though Hilary Hahn
saw the photos and swore I looked like a natural (that’s because she didn’t see my post-concert Erlkönig impression). That said, after a
one-hour group lesson, I feel like I understand what I’m pitching a bit
more intimately, and will smile fondly and knowingly at my (big air quotes) fellow violinists during the
next concert I go to.
Updated 3/23: Click here for a slideshow of the event.
The best way to appreciate talent is to go to a concert given by young students. I recently attended a concert programmed in four parts, starting with beginners (some adults, some youth) and ending with kids that had been studying for years. What an insight into how good the really good ones are! In any musical endeavor it’s both humbling and inspirational to realize how much more there is to develop! (and it’s a great way to support young musicians)
At an organization I’ve worked with, they did some focus group interviews with members of their “core” audience — attendees, volunteers, donors. They found that a large percentage (I don’t remember the exact stat) of those interviewed had played a musical instrument as a child. A strong correlation does exist between having that life experience and being interested in classical music/supporting the arts as an adult. I also “played” the violin as a kid…what I just couldn’t get into was the hours of practicing required! Perhaps, in addition to some talent, what makes the difference is people who are able to commit to the hours of training. I’m a slacker.
Funny, I always thought it’d be a good idea to stick dance critics in a company ballet class once, just to be able to appreciate how difficult it is.(Media coverage would be even better, I can just imagine the photos.) On the flip side though, my dance professor in college thought that if you related too much to the performers, you could never write anything bad about them because you know how difficult it is just to be up onstage, doing the things that they do. In terms of appreciation though, I can see how that would help.
This is a very intriguing piece that David and Suzanne came up with. I am a classically trained violinist who strays musically and artistically from the classical fold. I also teach. I daresay that today, the music listening/viewing experience would be heightened after an average person attempted to play an instrument — with or without instruction. I don’t think it would have mattered so much 200+ years ago. Technology has allowed us to get away with a great amount of making music without really learning to play anything. Likewise, our ears have adapted to these diverse sounds. I think our American society is generally really out of touch with what it takes to excel at any instrument but particularly symphonic ones.
When Bach and Mozart were writing/playing, the only music around was either in the church or in a concert hall. And it was all based on classical structures. I don’t think putting a violin to an audience member’s body then would have had the same impact as it would today. Let’s do more of these “experiments” and boost attendance to our favorite symphonic halls and support music!
Jolene, your cruel wish was granted, at least for this klutz of a dance critic. Writing about the Belgian contemporary dance critic Rosas last year, I took part in one of their outreach projects. And, my, it was even more humiliating than I expected (and you’re right, a photographer only adds to the shame). I have never been in any doubt about the awesome prowess and dedication of professional dancers, but the experience certainly reinforced the sense that they’re superior life forms.
(You can read the piece, by the way, here:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/dance/article4852773.ece)