Putting The Emotion Into Music., How do you do it? Options

[SaxFan]

I wondered whether there is also another way of seeing this... perhaps someone has already said it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

might it be that you should be Getting The Emotion OUT of the Music? What emotions and feelings are in there....
How can you get that out of the music and convey it to your listeners?

Guess you need to get to the point of knowing 'the notes' really really well, then playing the music - squeezing the emotion out of it.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[fsharpminor]

Well, not a lot I can add to the others, but most of it good advice.
Might it help tofind out more about the piece, and the circumstances it was written. The composer might be going through a really happy time of his life, or might be in the throes of despair. But probably the best thing is to listen to more than one recording, and spot the odd slight tenuto, or emphasis of a note or whatever. But thee are just ideas - in the end your interprtation has to be your own, not someone elses.

[jebonick]

I think there has to be a line between drawing out the emotion which is in the music itself and imposing your own emotion onto the music. The composer's emotion should be the be all and end all, I think.

As somebody who used to try to persuade students to consider a piece of music as far more than just the notes, I think any or all of the following would help:

A knowledge of the composer's personal situation at the time of composition (e.g. Suk's 'Asrael' Symphony)
Any special circumstances surrounding the piece (e.g. Finzi's Cello Concerto, Mozart's 'Abendempfindung')
A working knowledge of theory and which chords/dissonances/suspensions/formal tricks/silences might have an emotional significance which could be pointed out (e.g. the unexpected diminished 7ths in Mozart's A minor piano sonata, 1st mvt, K.310; so many moments in Beethoven where you think he's heading in one direction, but...)
Trial and error

Crucially, though, I think emotion in performance should be understated and subtly implied rather than broadly painted, but that's only my personal view. It can be communicated through dynamics, vibrato (not for pianists, though), and - very effectively, I think - by ever so slight gives and takes in the tempo. Ask a good organist how they perform accents, and you'll see what I mean. As Violinia implies, you need to be like a good actor, inhabiting an emotion without letting it override your performance. You don't have to be mad to play Lear etc...

In addition, you should listen to loads of performances of anything, and find out what fires your imagination, but be prepared to return to the same piece and think that everything you did previously was wrong! A book such as Deryck Cooke's The Language Of Music is a brilliantly argued, though sometimes disputed guide to how common musical phrases are designed to move us, and how composers exploit them. But remember that interpretation tends to be a journey rather than a destination.

Finally, Toscanini (I think) said it wasn't the notes, but the space between the notes which mattered.
...and having your heart broken will help.

Sorry if this repeats any previous posts.

[diapason]

I'll not repeat the excellent advice and opinions given in previous posts.

However, one of my piano pupils (15 years old) has been coming to me for 4 years now. We are well into the Grade 8 and beyond repetoire, and she has a wonderful feeling for jazz arrangements.........at least she does NOW.
When she first came to me she played very accurately and learnt new pieces VERY quickly. However, at now only 15 years old she has grasped the concept of "emotion/expression" well.

I began this by giving her a series of overtly descriptive pieces to which she attaches a scenario in her mind, and plays out this scenario through her music.
"Grandma Tells a Ghost Story" by Kullack (?) was an obvious choice, and she soon gave a most atmospheric performance, which gained her full marks in the exam.

At the moment, Leibestraume is the current piece, and we have discussed the "scene" unveiling throughout....often with much laughter (with respect to the piece, of course)

Young lady dreams of her lover etc., little bit of a heated discussion ensues as to who forgot to pay a bill, and then they make up again, and as for the last page.........!!!
All this is done with Mother (hers, not mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) in the room, I might add, who enjoys the whole proceedings.

Well, whatever, she has won local "Young Musician of the Year" comps more times than I can remember, so .......it works.

I do tend to be an "OTT" teacher when it comes to these matters, but it gets results.

[Dulciana]

I think there has to be a line between drawing out the emotion which is in the music itself and imposing your own emotion onto the music. The composer's emotion should be the be all and end all, I think.

True! It's also worth considering: Does the performer have to have an idefineable extra quality to deliver an emotional preformance, or does the emotion/expression naturally emrge from the music if all the technicalities are in place, thus illiciting an emotional response from the player and audience as they listen? I would argue that it is really quite impossible to capture the atmosphere of the music without the technicalities being in place, and that this is about 90% of the battle. But I don't just mean notes and timing; I mean things like the physical ability to play cantabile in one hand (if it's piano), the ability to manage a sudden diminuendo, or to produce depth from the bass without going OTT, an ornament that doesn't sound forced (i.e. is an ormament rather than a dominant feature) being able to accentuate the important notes without overdoing it, knowing how to use rubato - and, in fact, knowing what the important notes actually are, which will involve a "feel" for approaching modulations, and knowing which notes are affecting/producing the key change. To simply attempt to get into an appropriate emotional state before playing is not enough. Once all the technicalities appropriate to the piece are mastered, that is when the performer can relax into the performance and "feel" the emotion as he/she goes along.

[sarah-flute]

I agree about not being OTT, but I also think that a lot of people need to feel they are being OTT before the emotion and expression really starts to come out. Depends on the instrument too I guess, but it's easy to think you're doing wonderful dynamics and playing expressively only for others to hear very little variation - to extend the poetry analogy, one of the skills of reading something out is not going too fast and letting the words and phrases have space - it's very difficult to judge and for inexperienced readers, what feels like quite a natural pace will often be quite fast, and what sounds quite natural and comfortable to a listener may feel painfully slow to the reader.

I personally think there should be a balance between bringing out the emotions from the music, and having a personal response which may manifest itself. After all we're all different, and will react differently to the same piece of music, so I think our interpretations should have both what the composer put there but also our own personal stamp, if that makes sense - and in an ideal world!

[janexxx]

A recent quote from VFV

"If you're playing only for yourself and are expressing only yourself, you're going to get it 95 percent wrong," he said. "What I really love about this [Beethoven concerto] recording is that I don't recognize myself. It's another level of musicianship when you try to obstruct your own personality in music and emotions of daily life.

"I spend lots of time on recording and I listen and think `It's me, it's me, it's me' -- until I give in and I feel that there's something else."

[anacrusis]

thinking a little more about this one...I remember going to hear Antonini playing - one of the pieces he performed was Telemann's Suite in a minor for treble recorder, and I was so put off by his exaggerated movements that I had to shut my eyes to listen! Afterwards I went to meet him - my husband had tuned the harpsichord for the performance, and we know the harpsichordist who was playing, too. I was very surprised when Antonini started to talk about the emotions present in the overture of the suite, which starts with a slow majestic passage, then has a central fast bit and a recap. His take on the emotions to be found in that was totally different from what I'd found in it - he'd found tragedy in sections I'd seen as being slightly humerous and tongue-in-cheek. I think that is one of the wonderful things about music - they may not always be only one emotion to draw on in interpretation, so you have many possibilities, and a chance to shape things many different ways. That can suit your style of playing and allow you to bring out the best of it, and make it your own interpretation. I listen to recordings to see what others have found - not necessarily to copy, but to help me to decide what I think is there.

[Glass Mountain]

Great advice you've got up to now. Here's mine: Does the piece have a title you could put words to? Even if it doesn't, think about the kind of music you are playing. Eg. if it's romantic music, think of it as a love song and try and put words to it so it really means something personally to you. I do this all the time with my pupils, although at first it's usually me who writes the words until they grow in confidence. It definitely works, as even some of the younger players are putting lovely expression into their music. Quite a number of them tell me that they can hear my words whilst they are playing, which has helped them a lot. I might add that I'm a piano teacher, but I did used to play the violin up to Grade 7 and it worked on that as well. Good luck and let go!

[Alias]

True! It's also worth considering: Does the performer have to have an idefineable extra quality to deliver an emotional preformance, or does the emotion/expression naturally emrge from the music if all the technicalities are in place, thus illiciting an emotional response from the player and audience as they listen? I would argue that it is really quite impossible to capture the atmosphere of the music without the technicalities being in place, and that this is about 90% of the battle. But I don't just mean notes and timing; I mean things like the physical ability to play cantabile in one hand (if it's piano), the ability to manage a sudden diminuendo, or to produce depth from the bass without going OTT, an ornament that doesn't sound forced (i.e. is an ormament rather than a dominant feature) being able to accentuate the important notes without overdoing it, knowing how to use rubato - and, in fact, knowing what the important notes actually are, which will involve a "feel" for approaching modulations, and knowing which notes are affecting/producing the key change. To simply attempt to get into an appropriate emotional state before playing is not enough. Once all the technicalities appropriate to the piece are mastered, that is when the performer can relax into the performance and "feel" the emotion as he/she goes along.

I disagree, i think that getting your fingers in the right places at the right time is only half the battle. Music means nothing without emotion. It rarely 'naturally' emerges if you only have the technicalities in check. A professional musician will play a grade 3 piece much better than an 8 year old who can also play it perfectly. Why? Because the 8 year old will not be able to express as much emotion or musical ideas as the professional musician.

I think its true that as you grow older, you have more experiences to draw on, therefore, being able to put more depth into your music. Composers compose to convey their feelings, it helps if you know the background of the piece, e.g, Beethoven wrote his Grande Sonate Pathetique when he just started to go deaf. Immediately from that, you know that in the piece, there is tragedy, pain, passion, longing. I believe its better to actually feel the emotion/ideas instead of learning the technicalities to play the emotion. Really believe and feel what you are playing, sing/cry for the composer and let them be heard while adding your own touch. Be able to see and describe what the piece is.

Painters paint their pictures on canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence.
-Leopold Stokowski

[Dulciana]

Painters paint their pictures on canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence.
-Leopold Stokowski

That's a great quotation, and will be food for thought for my pupils tonight! I do see what you're saying, and I know what you mean. However both painters and musicians need to have the proper tools and skills at their disposal in order to make something of the canvas or the silence. Let's take the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, for instance. The title wasn't given by Beethoven, but that's irrelevant; the music conveys to us the haunting atmosphere of a moonlit night. I would say that we all know what we're trying to achieve in playing this, but it won't neccessarily be the person with the clearer image of moonlight in their mind who will be the one to convey the atmosphere better. It will be the one who can produce a combination of clarity and cantabile at pp, along with subtle use of rubato - ie the one who has the correct tools and expertise for the job.

[Violinia]

. I believe its better to actually feel the emotion/ideas instead of learning the technicalities to play the emotion. Really believe and feel what you are playing, sing/cry for the composer and let them be heard while adding your own touch.

I put that very sentiment on another board and was heartily disagreed with by a number of professional musicians there. Milstein was quoted - according to them he thought playing with any emotion at all was self-indulgent and that you needed an armoury of technical methods for inducing exactly the right effect. Milstein was an awesome player so I was stumped for an answer!

In the end the point we all agreed on was that there's a place you can reach when you're playing; it's sometimes called 'the zone'. You can only reach it when you're completely technically on top of the piece so can free your mind from the technicalities. Then, if all the circumstances are right, something else takes over and the music plays through you - I can't think of any other way to describe it. It's not emotion - you're not feeling emotional yourself because that can only detract from the performance - in fact you're feeling something more subtle than emotion; you're getting close to the essence of the music itself. I get a bit stuck for words here but it's impossible to describe but I'm sure many here will have experienced it.

The trouble with wanting to feel a particular emotion in order to play a piece a certain way is that emotions are notoriously difficult to pin down and feel when you want to. You could be coming up to a certain passage that you think needs a certain emotion - and the emotion just isn't there! You feel completely blank! Probably because you've played the same piece so many times you've become a bit immune to the feelings it originally inspired, or something. Or your emotional responses are just being a bit contrary that day. In other words, if the emotion arises and you can play well at the same time, all well and good, but if it doesn't you've still got to have a few tricks up your sleeve.

To be so well-rehearsed and relaxed that you can easily slip into 'the zone' is the best way to be, but you can't even depend on that - it can be elusive.

I remember once I'd had the most terrible day. Managed to get all the band's equipment stuff locked in somewhere overnight and because the next day was a Saturday the caretaker was nowhere to be found. I also had a terrible hangover and because of a late night followed by anxiety about the equipment, had barely had a wink of sleep. And that evening I had to play at a prestigious jazz festival for the first time and had so wanted to feel right... yes yes I should have stayed sober the night before but it was a party and I'd got carried away. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Consequently spend the day wandering around feeling worse than a dog's dinner and didn't even manage to locate the caretaker until 5.00pm which was just before we had to leave.

And then would you believe it, the moment we walked into the venue at the jazz festival I slipped straight into 'the zone', stayed in it all evening and played really well - the whole thing felt completely effortless and sort of magical and sparkly. The only thing I could put it down to looking back was that I was so exhausted and 'washed up' my 'thinking mind', the bit that gets in the way, had gone on vacation, feeing me up for a 'zone experience'.

However, this is not a recommended route! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) And no doubt it wouldn't work another time.

The best thing is to know your music inside out, be really well-rehearsed and then be able to 'let go'and relax.

Violinia

[Dulciana]

. I believe its better to actually feel the emotion/ideas instead of learning the technicalities to play the emotion. Really believe and feel what you are playing, sing/cry for the composer and let them be heard while adding your own touch.

I put that very sentiment on another board and was heartily disagreed with by a number of professional musicians there. Milstein was quoted - according to them he thought playing with any emotion at all was self-indulgent and that you needed an armoury of technical methods for inducing exactly the right effect. Milstein was an awesome player so I was stumped for an answer!




The best thing is to know your music inside out, be really well-rehearsed and then be able to 'let go'and relax.

Violinia

I'm afraid I can't agree with the top quote at all, and I'm not in agreement with the sentiments implied in the next quote either! I DO agree that there is a requirement for "an armoury of technical methods for inducing exactly the right effect."

Let's go back to the painter/canvass and musician/silence analogy. Let's say the painter is painting a moonlit scene. Some painters will paint a better picture than others - why? It won't be because they have allowed themselves to simply "feel the emotion instead of learning the technicalities" of how to produce light and shade. It's all very well becoming emotional about it, but you need to actually be physically able to do it, or you will end up with a canvass that is nothing but meaningless colour clashes. The painter may think it's moonlight, but will others appreciate it?

The same applies to a pianist playing the Moonlight Sonata. The light and shade cannot be conveyed through emotion alone; the performer may feel it was an emotional performance (and it's possible that others won't dispute the use of the word "emotional" either...), but unless he has a command of the technicalities required, his silence will end up nothing but noise!

P.S. I do heartily agree with the last sentence that I quoted above!

[shaw52]

Greetings,

I believe some interesting and good advice can also be found in Madeline Bruser’s book “The art of practicing”, (She is an American Concert Pianist and teacher) and discusses her ten step approach to practicing and performance. One of the steps is very relevant to this topic and is entitled “Tuning into your heart” for anyone who is interested it is well worth a read and details can be found on her website – www.artofpracticing,com

The chapter (step 3) describes how various people play above themselves when experiencing specific emotions and advises on several methods to enable one to tune in or tap into their emotions, (at the very least it calms you down). One of the methods involves thinking about how fragile life is, how lucky we are to be able to play and enjoy music and how so suddenly it all can be taken away from us – She suggests that we do not dwell excessively on morbid, painful topics. Just to reflect on how precious life is to realise that we may not be here tomorrow.

“When you reflect on the impermanence of life, you feel the heart area of your chest open up – it feels warm. Once your heart is open, it is available for whatever activity you engage in. The warmth quickly floods your system. Your body feels more relaxed and fluid inside and your movements become more gentle and precise…The energy of your heart fuels your actions”.

[SaxFan]

. I believe its better to actually feel the emotion/ideas instead of learning the technicalities to play the emotion.

The best thing is to know your music inside out, be really well-rehearsed and then be able to 'let go'and relax.

Violinia

P.S. I do heartily agree with the last sentence that I quoted above!

Isn't it to do with all these things?
You need the technique to handle your instrument and play the music, you need feeling for what the composer wrote, you need flair to be able to convey what you understand in the music, you need to be confident and all of this should come across as a Performance with emotion, music, beauty....