Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Rehearsal Update: Character + Rhythm

On Sunday, we got together for a long day of rehearsals. After our coaching on Friday, we knew we needed to spend some serious time with the Onishi piece. To this point, we had been focused on two things - matching sounds and rhythm. The rhythms in the piece are somewhat complex and must be incredibly exact in order for the canon to come out correctly. We had been so intent on learning the rhythms that we had completely forgotten the character of the piece.

It is titled "Pres de l'Abime," a reference to Messaien's "Abime des Oiseaux." It helps that Sean just learned the Messaien piece for his junior recital during the spring semester, so he can really understand how Messaien has influenced Onishi. Unlike most pieces, which are about the sound created by the musicians, both Messaien and Onishi play with the idea of silence. In rehearsal on Sunday, Sean told us to play as though we were contributing to the silence (or the abyss). It made an incredible difference. We finally felt like we were almost getting it. The challenge now is to retain that sense of silence contribution during the more active sections of the piece, or to figure out how they fit in with the less active sections. We are looking forward to exploring this more as we continue.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Motivational Monday: Ernest Hemingway


Although this quote is aimed at writers, I think it totally fits for musicians as well. In order to translate a feeling to the audience, you have to have life experience to draw from, and vivid experiences make all the better emotions.