| I feel that one must be careful not to take the attitude ( as Copland does) of saying that simple ways of thinking about music have no value just as one should try to expand their thoughts to be bigger in scope than just music must equal an exact meaning.
In the context of what Welk wrote and trying to put an extract scenario to the music thought, there is a danger of limiting the emotional response we feel based on life experiences. When one is young those experience are stark in their differences, while once one is older more shades and variations become evident. And there is no way we can know exactly what that emotion meant to the composer that wrote it.
As we grow older the “images” become more focus and specify over time. I feel that the use of mental images can work but should be done only if one is still hearing the sound in their head. Emotion should not substitute for hearing the exact tonal color or sound that is desired. At best these two ideas can be used in conjunction with each other.
I think this is good discussion and relates directly to us cultivating musical thoughts and thinking processes so they may be applied to the trumpet. This process is a slow one that changes much over time. Even though I see it as over simplistic I do see merits to thinking in terms of events as you suggest Welk, but overall I see much better results from just hearing how it should sound and trying to reproduce that sound. |