Physical expression during musical performance

Playing music, as with any other performing arts, requires the element of control. An artist must have full control of his entire body. Facial and body gestures are mistakenly thought to mean showing emotions. While physical expression has its place, it is not what emotional expression conveys. You see, a musician who does this is either unaware and therefore not in control, or is aware and is dramatizing and having that carrier wave. Let’s get into this more.

Some musicians habitually do things like move their head or move their head, move their mouth or lips, contract their body, obsessively raise their eyebrows, open their eyes, etc. Well, imagine if someone did things like that while trying to have a serious conversation with you. The content would be lost. A person communicates his intention and dedication to you. If they are using various gestures and movements on a regular basis, they are unconsciously using them to try to convey the message, rather than intention and delivery, which is what it really does. It is a kind of nervousness or effort. The same principle applies to music, because music is a form of communication.

Some musicians, however, make a conscious effort to physically dramatize to convey their emotions. Again, this is an attempt to use that as a carrier wave to get the message across. The music itself IS the carrier wave. For example, in pantomime, physical movements convey the message. When narrating, the spoken word does. Imagine if a pianist were to verbally announce what emotion he was trying to show, like saying “And now this is where I show myself to be melancholic” or something like that. It would be additive. Well, when you are deliberately gesturing, you are adding an unnecessary element to performance.

Now this does not mean that one should be expressionless. Rather, one must be very expressive, but there is a correct way to do it. It is done by improving the music itself. You do this with the proper movement, which is a specialized technique. Without being too technical, you can practice music with movement in the areas of harmonic progression, characterization of a piece, contour of the melodic line, climax, phrasing, etc. These are covered more extensively in previous articles.

When practiced correctly and mastered, the result is consistent with the music. In actual tests, 90% of listeners, when asked to close their eyes and simply listen to two variations of the same piece of a piece, one performed with the correct movement and the other with the wrong movement, were able to discern the difference. .

Any musician of any level, including virtuosos, can have bad habits while performing. These are easily fixable for any musician.

by Evelyn Simonian
© 2011. Evelyn Simonian

Website design By BotEap.com

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *