Re: [Harp-L] OB's/Intonation

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

If I listen to a piece of any music there are many aspects of it that will 
contribute to whether the experience has been satisfying for me or not.  I 
am both an active listener and a performer (it's quite hard to be a passive 
listener once you get so involved in music as we are on this list).  I can't 
define exactly what adds up to a fulfilling listening experience.  I got 
interested in classical music about 35 years ago, but for many years only 
listened to recordings.  Then I started going to concerts at London's South 
Bank (woefully, that's way out of reach of where I live now). I saw the 
world's greatest orchestras, conductors, string quartets and 
instrumentalists.  You name 'em (from that era) and I saw 'em - no 
name-dropping!  But because I'd only listened to recordings I went through 
years of purgatory during which great performances were completely ruined 
for me by minor glitches in performance that all of us here know happen in 
every live performance.  I'd go to hear Beethoven's "Eroica" and would 
anxiously anticipate the French horns screwing up their difficult passage in 
the Trio. In other words, and you know what I'm going to say, my need for 
technical perfection was fatally getting in the way of the fulfilment I 
should have been getting from being present at a great occasion.  Whatever 
the overall merits of the performance, a "virus" in my brain was detaching 
me from the experience - I was musically-stunted.   It took me a long time 
to get over this.  For this reason I get worried when someone like Robert 
seems to be setting the bar so high.  Yes, set yourself high standards for 
practice and performance (who was it who said that to play in public at 100% 
standard you have to reach 150% in practice?) - but engagement in a musical 
performance as a listener rather than a performer has a hundred different 
facets.  The notes are just one facet.  The hall you're in, the weather, 
your level of empathy with the performers, whether you had a row with your 
wife that morning, the person you're with, whether you feel fresh or 
tired.... you know!  I once nodded off during a magnificent performance of 
Dvorak's Eighth, conducted by Barenboim in the RFH, because I'd had a 
strenuous day at work!  What I've learned NOT to do is to expect every 
performer I ever hear to be a virtuoso.  One of the most moving performances 
I ever heard was of an amateur choir singing (live) Mozart's "Ave Verum 
Corpus" that, in spite of many a flaw, knocked many a professional 
performance I've heard into a cocked hat in terms of commitment and obvious 
affection from the singers.   You can go on all you like about 
exactly-correct intonation (and who's ever going to agree about what that 
means anyway?  I can go into a music shop tomorrow and buy three blues harps 
in three different fine-tunings!), perfect internal rhythms and dynamics and 
so on, but you can get your computer to come up with all that.  I want to 
hear one of the greatest fruits of humanity with all its strengths, 
weaknesses, expressiveness, emotion, soul, frailty and even failings - in 
other words, music.

Steve

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica
HEAR my CD clips: http://www.gjk2.com/steveshaw/cd.htm
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