Hello,

In connection with a pianist being correctly concentrated during performance, Artur Schnabel emphasised that the pianist's inner ear hears everything twice:"each little bit is mentally anticipated as well as checked out by later control" and if all goes well "these two mental perceptions are blended into one". He said "the conception materialises and the materialization redissolves into conception."

It seems to me that appropriate concentration during the act of performance is absolutely crucial and yet this state that Schnabel discusses seems to be, for many people at least, very elusive if not impossible to attain.

Has anyone any views on all this?

Cheers

Yep, unless we can hear in our heads the sound we want to make, then we are merely hitting the keys at random in terms of tone control. If we then do not listen to the sound that results from these efforts and compare them with our internal record of the sound we wanted to create, then we cannot know whether we succeeded and what adjustments need to be made in the future.

Elusive this skill certainly is. Exhausting also. Much practise needed. The concentration required is awesome. Most people do not even know that this level of concentration exists.

You are right about it being awesome. I know from teaching that most folk, even people who have been playing for years, have no idea about the level of concentration required.

Hehe. Merely getting most people to listen to the din they are creating is a major achievement.

Its almost a state of Nirvana and is extremely difficult to attain; if it was easy then practising would be much more rewarding.
I don't know what the answer is unless it is to begin with a brief meditation - but even this can take a while to achieve. Those who find it in themselves to manage many hours of work on their instrument (whatever it is) probably are better at shutting themselves off from distractions and focusing completely on the task in hand. I've always blamed my inferior intellectual equipment for poor concentration but it is more likely the other way round.

There is a book in there somewhere - no doubt this is what the Inner Game of whatever-it-was was trying to address.

I love these descriptions of concentration. I'd never thought of it like that but it makes perfect sense.

I think I've only ever experienced this truly concentrated state whilst playing my own music. I think when I play other compositions maybe I'm too concerned about getting the notes right. But when I play my own stuff, for some reason I don't care. It's very peculiar. Maybe it's because I know I can just improvise my way out of it. Or maybe it's just because I created the music that I know it better. I definitely find having an audience makes me focus: it might be because I'd hate it to go wrong, or because I like to wow people. There are a lot of factors involved. But I do know that some of the good habits I've formed form playing my own music have started to follow me when I play other music...which is promising.

Anyone else had experiences like mine?

No, I often play my own compositions wrong!

I have a strong suspicion that when the performer is completely concentrated as Schnabel describes, the conditions are right for the "tingle factor" to occur. Isn't this what performers (and sportsmen) call being in "the zone"? When the performer is not fully correctly concentrated, even if all the notes, dynamics, expression etc are there, the audience may feel satisfied but not touched in a deep way. So they will leave the concert hall in the same state they entered it. In other words there will be no transcendence. Well, this is just my view. What do others think?

I agree entirely.

It's worth pointing out that (I think) this 'tingle factor' can be felt be both performer and audience. Perhaps the performer doesn't consciously feel it, but afterwards, the feeling is there? This is what I've experienced myself, at least. And, in my experience it's an amazing feeling. Very addictive... Maybe that's why I concentrate more on stage?

Anyone?

Yes, absolutely. I am totally addicted to the tingle factor feeling both as a performer and as a listener. To be honest, I live for these experiences and find them totally life-enhancing.

The "X" factor!!

Does anyone know of a term other than "tingle factor", "x factor", "pin-drop moment" etc that would be understood by everyone including non-musicians? I want to write about this experience but can't come up with a suitable term to describe the phenomenon. It is almost impossible to discuss the matter in any serious academic way given that I don't know what to call it and yet it is a matter of such importance and relevance I think.

I agree that these moments of engagement are very special. Sorry to respond to this rather than your more recent post, but I don't know how to describe it either! But it is definitely tangible, because we are also able to tell immediately - within a few bars - when it has been a mistake to play a particular piece for a particular audience.

Some things in life demand immediacy - a ringing phone, a crying baby (when it's our own...) a picture on the wall that needs straightened - and a commanding live performance is something that commands that total and absolute response from the listeners. When you feel this engagement, as the performer, there is nothing to compare. It is a form of communication in that the musician feels the response, and therefore responds from within the performance, which then propels the audience further.

Tell me to wise up if you feel this is totally unconnected, but I think the scenario is akin to the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet (if well performed, and that's the crux!): Imagine that Romeo sees Juliet, and is aroused by the sight of her. She does not know he can see her, but she can see him. (Mirror?) She is aroused by his arousal. This then further perpetuates Romeo's emotional response, and so it goes on. The 'triangle'. The 'higher' emotional response is something that depends entirely on the human element, and is the reason why a mechanical performance will never do the same thing. A form of communication without words is so much more poignant than words because it doesn't suffer from the limitations of words. We can allow ourselves to fly out of our pigeon holes. But we have to engage in a totally subjective fashion, and not simply objectively observe ourselves playing. The confidence needs to be such that we have gone beyond the self-critical so that the notes are understood (literally and otherwise) and we can move entirely in the musical dimension.

I have heard this described as "flow"