"I always leave the concert hall when I start tapping my foot." This is how Morton Feldman once put it, only half-ironically. Concentrated listening and rhythmic dancing seem diametrically opposed. But to me music is an art of motion, and thus akin to dancing and martial arts. Far-Eastern martial artists try to unite the brain with the heart, bodily suppleness with tension; an agile mind and body will intuitively produce the right response in a fight. Musicians move in much the same way as martial artists: they create the requisite musical flow in the immediate present, as if of its own accord. (The fingers of even the most unathletic players dance on the instrument.) Their motions move listeners in a dual sense. An ecstatic groove and an ascetic awareness of form and sound in composed music are not mutually exclusive: they can form combinations that take our senses by surprise. Being an agile organism, our band makes decisions on phrasing, tension and musical direction in a fraction of a second. It reminds me of a school of fish moving across a coral reef with lightening speed. Are the fish faster than thought? An instant later they are peacefully afloat in the translucent sea as if nothing had happened. Each player in our band illuminates the whole through his improvisation. As a soloist, he loiters in the sound of the composition like a squid waiting for prey in the reef.
3 comments
Nik Bartsch, liner notes to Holon, ECM 2049
"I always leave the concert hall when I start tapping my foot." This is how Morton Feldman once put it, only half-ironically. Concentrated listening and rhythmic dancing seem diametrically opposed. But to me music is an art of motion, and thus akin to dancing and martial arts. Far-Eastern martial artists try to unite the brain with the heart, bodily suppleness with tension; an agile mind and body will intuitively produce the right response in a fight.
Musicians move in much the same way as martial artists: they create the requisite musical flow in the immediate present, as if of its own accord. (The fingers of even the most unathletic players dance on the instrument.) Their motions move listeners in a dual sense. An ecstatic groove and an ascetic awareness of form and sound in composed music are not mutually exclusive: they can form combinations that take our senses by surprise.
Being an agile organism, our band makes decisions on phrasing, tension and musical direction in a fraction of a second. It reminds me of a school of fish moving across a coral reef with lightening speed. Are the fish faster than thought? An instant later they are peacefully afloat in the translucent sea as if nothing had happened. Each player in our band illuminates the whole through his improvisation. As a soloist, he loiters in the sound of the composition like a squid waiting for prey in the reef.
"Playing music is a wonderful love communication .... so many opportunities .... passion .... I hate limits ..."
Claudio Arbbado, interviewed this morning, playing at the Royal Festival Hall tonight.
Cont'd ..
" ... a warm human connection ..."
Post a Comment