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

[violinist1005]

This may seem to be question of individuality of a performer, but how does one really put emotion into a piece?

My music teacher tells me i need to put emotion into my playing, that i play like a scientist, never makes a mistake, always technical but no real emotion.

My question is, how do i put emotion into music? My teacher describes it as the extra "Haa" of the piece, but i can't seem to figure out how to really "feel" the music. Technically, i excel in my pieces, but she says i need to work on the interpretation and emotion.

By the way, I play the violin (if this helps to answer.) To any violinists or any other performers:
1) Any recommendations?
2) Would using expressive intonation help in performances?

Many Thanks!

[Frankie82]

I'd say, sit back and let someone else play it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[jm-hamilton]

This may seem to be question of individuality of a performer, but how does one really put emotion into a piece?

My music teacher tells me i need to put emotion into my playing, that i play like a scientist, never makes a mistake, always technical but no real emotion.

My question is, how do i put emotion into music? My teacher describes it as the extra "Haa" of the piece, but i can't seem to figure out how to really "feel" the music. Technically, i excel in my pieces, but she says i need to work on the interpretation and emotion.

By the way, I play the violin (if this helps to answer.) To any violinists or any other performers:
1) Any recommendations?
2) Would using expressive intonation help in performances?

Many Thanks!

When I was 14 I was doing grade 8, and my teacher told me that I wouldn't be able to put emotion into my playing until I'd had my heart broken!!!!!!

[La_Chopiniste_]

violinist1005,
Just play , just 'listen' the music you are playing ...
When you drive a car , do you drive it or does it drive you ? Similarly , you should drive your music..

[violinist1005]

violinist1005,
Just play , just 'listen' the music you are playing ...
When you drive a car , do you drive it or does it drive you ? Similarly , you should drive your music..

Wow, i never really thought about it that way. I'll try it. Thanks a lot

[La_Chopiniste_]

violinist1005,
Just play , just 'listen' the music you are playing ...
When you drive a car , do you drive it or does it drive you ? Similarly , you should drive your music..

Wow, i never really thought about it that way. I'll try it. Thanks a lot

Anytime! Enjoy playing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Deborah]

When I was 14 I was doing grade 8, and my teacher told me that I wouldn't be able to put emotion into my playing until I'd had my heart broken!!!!!!

I'll remember that one!

Seriously, it's a good point. If you've had your heart broken, you can draw on the experience to make those tragic, minor-key works really plunge the depths of despair. Stop and think what the composer's trying to portray - can you relate this to anything you've experienced? Or at least read in a book or seen on a film?

Try reading around the composer and the work as well, and don't overlook the obvious things like the title - if it's a lullaby, imagine you're trying to rock a baby to sleep.

violinist1005, I don't know how old you are, but as you grow older, the range of experiences and your emotional reaction to them will probably enhance your playing. It took me years to "get" the second movement of the Finzi Clarinet Concerto, but something just clicked one winter's day when I was out in the garden sweeping leaves and it started to snow - the bleakness of it all matched the music perfectly, and I often think back to it when the Finzi concerto is on my music stand (to add to this, I later discovered that Finzi was a great Hardy fan, and the bleakness of that winter morning in the garden also matches some of the winter chapters of Tess of the d'Urbevilles - but without the marital complications!). At a warmer extreme, there's something about the first movement of the Saint-Saens clarinet sonata that just brings to mind warm summer evenings in the south of France drinking Chateauneuf-du-Papes. OK, I've waffled on about clarinet repertoire rather than violin repertoire, but I hope you understand what I mean.

[anacrusis]

It might be worth listening to see if you can hear what others feel in a piece, too, by listening to recordings. Despair is certainly one emotion, but there are many others - a piece I played recently was described as "noble" by my examiner, some are graceful (not quite an emotion, I know...), some passionately crossed in love, some fulfilled in love, some tender, some angry, some cheery or even flippant, some silly-funny, some clever-funny. If you detect those sorts of feelings in the music you play, try thinking of these as you do the technical stuff. My last exam piece in summer had a final movement which could be seen to be rather tongue-in-cheek, like a bit of a joke on the end of something more serious - my teacher showed me where to put just the tiniest pauses to demonstrate the idea, and that helped to pull the movement (and thereby the whole piece) together. Beware though of overdoing things - it is possible to put in sooooo much feeling that you can actually lose sight of the music, and spoil it. It is very true that the simple passage of time and the ups and downs of life will give you more emotional range to draw on, but that shouldn't mean that younger folks can't do the extra "Haaa" factor - time and again we hear kids who can. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[janexxx]

Imagery...think of what the music means to you, and create stories and vistas around it.

Also listen to a lot of music and feel what they do.

[Violinia]

I got into an interesting discussion about this very subject on a violinists' website a few months back. Some people were saying you need to be actually feeling the emotion as you play for the emotion to be conveyed; others said no, no, no! And that if you do that your playing will go all over the place; you need to stay detached but know the exact techniques to express the exact emotions you want to express.

To me that sounded a bit clinical - and would lead to a performance lacking real depth, but on the other hand you can't feel an emotion to order and if you have to play the piece over and over again there's no way you can feel the emotion each time.

And yet - surely the best thing is to know the techniques required to express what you want to express, but be open to actually feeling the emotion at the time you're performing it, for added depth and meaning.

Your teacher should be able to help you with the necessary techniques. Then playing the piece the right way may actually generate the feelings in you, which hopefully will make you play even better as long as you don't lose focus.

Two violinists spring to mind - Milstein and Kreisler. Milstein believed you had to be completely dispassionate and create the emotion with your technique alone. Kreisler got completely swept away with the emotion of a piece as he played it and you can practically hear him sob with the violin - or jump for joy. Both are an acquired taste, but the violinist the audience really went wild for was Kreisler.

Violinia

[sarah-flute]

Just an encouragement - if you're playing piece technically well, it's a good start - you have a firm basis of technique on which to build your music.

Have a listen to the music you're playing - what does it make you feel? What does it remind you of? What kind of images come to your mind.

IMO, and it depends on the person etc, thinking "oh, a little expressive intonation here, a little vibrato there" etc is not the way to go - if you can really get into the music, and you've good technique, you can develop the musical instincts to use "expressive intonation" and other such things where it seems right to get the effect you wish, rather than necessarily scientifically sitting down and deciding which "emotional technique" you will use where.

Have you come across the book "The Inner Game of Music"? I seem to recall it has some good ideas for practising pieces in ways that improve your expression, ie I seem to recall: playing a piece with no vibrato, playing it with loads of vibrato, and then playing it and only adding vibrato when you felt the music was really crying out for it.

I think The Practice Revolution has some ideas for performance, too; quite expensive but you might find someone who can lend you a copy.

[stevensfo]

Your teacher said it:

never makes a mistake, always technical

That's a great start. You can play it in your sleep. Now you can start experimenting.

Simply pretend you're seeing the music for the first time -and IGNORE the dynamics and other signs.

Have fun. Play it how you feel it should be played. Try loud, soft, fast, slower etc. Play minor keys in a happy way or make it jazzy. Mess around with the rythm.

Of course, if you're taking exams or playing in an ensemble you may have to follow the markings on the page - (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) but there's nothing at all to stop you experimenting.

Try exaggerating the p & f markings. Much much louder, then really soft - and take it from there.

When you've had fun with it, try following the composer's markings, but put some of 'yourself' into it.

Steve (Who once discovered Mozart sounds pretty cool when played with a jazzy rythm)

[katyjay]

One idea that worked for me:

Imagine that the music is going to be used as the backing music for a scene in a movie.

What sort of scene is it? What happens in the scene? Who are the actors?

Try and visualise the scene as you play the music, and play it to match what you're visualising.

[zypianist]

I am a TV and movies person.
When I play, I'll imagine I am a certain character in the TV and movies.
However, if the music appeals to me, I'll be myself.

[jo.clarinet]

I feel that the printed music on a score is directly comparable to the printed words of a poem on a page. What is there in black and white gives just the basic outline of what the composer/poet wants to be played/spoken, and the rest is up to the performer.

If one takes the poem as an example, there is a world of difference between an average young child reciting those words in the classroom 'parrot-fashion' and an experienced actor, who would be 'placing' the words carefully with a view to getting the most natural and telling effect out of them, using subtle emphasis, differing dynamic levels, tiny pauses etc, so that the poem really came to life through his voice.

It's the same with music - we are given the bare bones of what to do, and it's up to us to bring it to life. It usually becomes fairly obvious what one should be doing with the piece if one sings the phrases to oneself - I often find that a pupil who has played a phrase in a rather mechanical style can immediately tell the difference when reminded how one would probably sing that same phrase! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)