| Last year i went to a theatre masterclass, during which the student was asked to imagine delivering their lines to various stereotypes. The difference in the manner that a person talks to a child, a friend, or a priest, can be quite pronounced, and this comes accross in the delivery.
I have since been using this as a way to experiment with different ways of delivering a musical line. I have found it is a quick, and easy, way to quickly find new avenues into a musical phrase.
Here is an experiment I have used with great success with some of my students: play a passage that you know well, but deliver it firstly as though you were chatting to a close friend. Then as though you are giving advice to a student. Then as though confessing to a priest. Record your playing and see what you find. It is important that you perform to the persona, not the situation in this excercise.
Hope this works for you as well as it has for me.
Cheers!
-Adrian |