Say something often enough and the connection between signifier (the sound that points to an idea) and signified (the idea a sound evokes) breaks down. This isn’t usually a problem in conversation….
In order to perform a song (or a sonata or a play), you need to go through the motions of the performance enough times that you can do it at will without significant error. By then, though, you can be so used to the content that you are just, um, going through the motions.
She gives an example of overcoming this in a lecture, using audience feedback as a reminder of the semantic content, and then speculates how to apply this to music performance. As a conductor I’m always aware of audience response to a choral performance (even though I’m facing away from them) but I wish Liz had explored that in more detail. How can we encourage the singers to be aware of the audience involvement in the meaning of the text without being distracted from musical detail? Instead she got sidetracked on the topic of musical analysis, which in my view only tangentially addresses this area.
An interesting topic nonetheless, and one with exceptional salience when we’re rehearsing some arrangement of “Oh, come, all ye faithful” for the four millionth time.
Tom Carter says
Allen H Simon says
Tom Carter says