ilikethetrumpet

I got this book of music interviews by (Chicagoan icon!) Studs Terkel, "And they all sang," and ran across this provocative, interesting quote from Aaron Copland from a 1961 interview. Seeing as EC is the resident Chicagoan, and seems to be a stretcher of boundaries, I thought I'd post it here to spark discussion. It's an interesting point about how professionals tend to approach music:

“When composers write music, they’re not thinking about smooth, beautiful, round lovely sounds in and for themselves. They have another idea in mind, and that is the expressive quality of the music. It’s like looking at a face that has no lines in it and not too much character. We work in terms of faces that are full of character. Any composer will any day give up a certain smoothness to the performing of this music if he can get in exchange the essence of what he thinks he was putting into that piece in terms of feelings and character and expression. In conducting, I’ve often had to say to the orchestral musicians, ‘You’re playing too beautifully. You’re playing the way all your life long you’ve been trying to play. You study to make the most beautiful sound possible, the most round, the most lovely. That’s not what I want. I want a rather harsh sound, but one that has character and which seems to be connected with this particular passage, in this particular piece, and wouldn’t belong anyplace else.’ You need musicians of imagination to give you that.”

I'm not saying this is a license to "Play Ugly," but how many teachers encourage students (even at higher levels) to experiment with "harsh" sounds?

Dave

Well, I don't think I have encouraged harsh sounds, but I can say that I am first and foremost concerned with expression. Often my groups are a little less polished, and intonation can be sketchy, but they do play with feeling. Of course if we can get both the expression, and the polish and intonation, that is a special performance.

ecarroll

Hello from Los Angeles and thank you for a good topic.

What one person considers crass or ugly another may consider beautiful. I firmly believe that each artist must strive to have the greatest number of sounds on his/her musical palette, and apply whatever sounds (s)he feels are appropriate to a given moment. Imagine how boring music would be if everyone played with the same "pear-shaped" tones.

. . . and lastly, I believe Studs Terkel to be one of the greatest men that I've had the privilege to meet. A true social historian--and social memory, as he encourages through his interviews and stories, is a thing to cherish.

Best,
EC

rowuk

I have often taught color, but never geometry. Pear, round even triangled or bullet/arrow sound shapes come immediately into mind. Great post!!!!!!!

ecarroll

Robin,

The shortest way to the audience's heart is a straight line.

Break out your coloring books, everyone,
EC

rowuk

In the army we learned that sometimes an arc was the easiest way to hit your target........................