Musicianship

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Let’s not forgot talent. It helps to have talent.

[patricia-jaeger]

I read that Bach walked a long way to hear other organists play. If you know a soloist is going to play a harp piece you are currently working on, or aspire to play, do make the effort to go hear that person, and sit as far up front as you can afford. You will learn so much about the judgments that person made in rhythm, fingering, stage presence, that your own playing will be improved. It isn’t as though you wish to copy that person’s style exactly, but all those little hints you perceive will become part of your thinking.Then your own judgment and interpretation would have come from a mixture of influences, not just from your teacher or yourself.. We all need that maturing quality, just as Bach did.

[Angela Biggs]

Natalie, I guarantee you that the greatest musicians are stress-heads about proper technique. The purpose of technique is to get the best sound from the instrument with the least fatigue and injury to the player. The greatest musicians treat “practicing” their instruments like a full-time job: if they tried to do that without great technique, they would end up unable to play at all. The trick is that they know their technique so well that they can “let go” in performance and forget about the technique without losing it.

If you mean that the greatest musicians make it *look* easy, then that I can agree with. This is one of the beauties of witnessing live performance, but it is dangerous for those who don’t understand. My primary instrument is voice, and I know LOTS of people who think that because their idols make performance look easy, that means it is easy. These people refuse to practice, they refuse to learn technique, they refuse to learn to count or read music, and They. Sound. Terrible. They also lose their voices a lot. And do a lot of complaining and fishing for compliments.

Please don’t mistake the illusion of ease for lack of study – you will do yourself and your list of “greats” a major disservice!

[harp-lady]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses! This has turned out to be a very interesting topic and I’m finding each person’s response very thought-provoking. Some delicious food-for-thought for me to savor. 🙂

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