As I thought through some of the changes I would like to see in our classical music culture, I decided to put those thoughts in the form of principles - my "Theses" (alla Martin Luther) if you like of the classical music world. Only 30 right now, not 95...
THE NATURE OF MUSIC
1. A piece of music is not an unchangeable,
fixed object but a lively, expressive activity which changes with every
performance. “There is no such thing as music” – Christopher Small from Musicking
2. Since music is not an object, we don’t
need to fear damaging it by how we perform or the artistic decisions we make. “It’s
just music. You can’t break it.” Nicole Brockman – Professor DePauw University
3. Since music is not a fixed object, there
is no one right way to play a piece of music.
4. Although a performance is important, the
process of music making is more important.
5. Music is an expression of human
experience and cannot be thought of merely in technical terms (short-long,
loud-soft, fast-slow)
6. Musical notation is vague, leaving the
most essential elements of performance un-notatable. Therefore, performance can
never be reduced to the explicit markings in the score.
7. Music becomes oppressive as soon as it
becomes a religion. It can never fill the need for a supreme being.
8. All music is a product of the cultural,
personal, political, and philosophical ideals of a society. Music cannot exist
in an autonomous state isolated from its non-musical connections.
THE COMPOSER
9. Composers are gifted humans, not divine
gods.
10. It is impossible to serve dead composers
or to have any effect on them. While composers have/had profound musical ideas,
since they are only human and we are not morally bound to them in any way.
11. Composing and performing are not
separate roles but one, fluid role involving a two-way exchange of musical
ideas.
12. Music is meant to move, challenge, and
speak to living audiences not to “serve” dead composers.
PERFORMING
CULTURE
13. Performers are creative artists, not merely
transparent vessels for another artist. Therefore, expression of personality is
not necessarily a display of egoism or showmanship but a necessary and
inevitable element of performance.
14. Performing should always have risk and
spontaneity. Thorough rehearsing is necessary to facilitate freedom and
flexibility, it should never result in safe, careful performances.
15. Improvisation is a vital part of a
vibrant musical culture.
16. Music isn’t always supposed to sound
effortless and beautiful. It reflects all of human experience and therefore is
sometimes ugly and grotesque.
17. Rhythm shouldn’t always be metronomic
but be nuanced and flexible.
18. Music is fun. It’s not always serious.
19. Fear is never a proper motivation for performing
well.
20. A poor musical decision or technical
mistake is not, in itself, a kind of moral failing.
21. While technical mastery is essential to
expressive music-making, technique is a means to an end not the end itself.
22. Performers are not bound by the score or
historical correctness when making musical decisions.
23. Music is primarily a means of
communication from musician to musician and musician to audience, not an abstract
representation of a work of art.
THE
AUDIENCE
24. The audience members should be
participants in the concert in some way, not always spectators.
25. Performer/audience interaction is the
essential element in live performance that distinguishes it from recordings.
26. The measure of a performance is its
affect on an audience, not its objective qualities.
THE
ORCHESTRA
27. Each member of the orchestra is an
active part of the musical process, not cogs in a machine.
28. The conductor is a facilitator and
leader, not a dictator.
29. Healthy relationships amongst orchestra
members are vital to a vibrant artistic atmosphere within the orchestra.
30. An orchestra is only one part of the
artistic community and should integrate and collaborate not only with other
musicians of difference genres, but other art forms as well.
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