Look Who’s Talkin’ – The Collaborative Pianist’s Guide to Enhancing the Musical Conversation
Something magical happens when two or more musicians get together to perform music.
The symbols on a music manuscript hitherto left silent come to life through the very instruments for which those symbols were written. To the bystander, it may just be beautiful music. Something entirely different happens between the musicians, though – a musical conversation is taking place; a special kind of language spoken between like mind and like spirit.
As a collaborative pianist, one of the joys of making music with other musicians is creating and maintaining a musical conversation.
A Musical Conversation: My Definition
Speaking as an accompanist, here is my definition of what a musical conversation is:
It is an audible exchange of musical phrases and ideas between my fellow musician and me, stemming from a solid and unified understanding of not only my piano part but that of my musical partener/s.
Musical Conversations
You see, when I perform in ensemble with other musicians, we not only nourish and enrich the souls of those who listen to our music – we nourish and enrich our own souls by the musical conversations that we create in the process.We come away from the experience fulfilled, even exhilarated – and almost always, happy! It’s a special bonding I wouldn’t exchange for anything in the world.
Why create a Musical Conversation?
The question is, why not? You’ve invested hours, days and maybe weeks in learning, refining and mastering a piece in preparation for an ensemble experience with another musician who has probably done the same. After the initial ‘working-out-the-kinks’ in the first few rehearsals (notes, rhythms, dynamics, phrasings etc), it is easy for any musician to halt the process of creativity by merely being satisfied with status quo.
Want to be a music conversationalist? Then, go the step further. Invest time in understanding not only your piano part, but that of your musical partner or partners. How many of us collaborative pianists can honestly say that we know the instrumental soloist’s score like the back of our hand? Better still, how many instrumentalists know our piano score on the back of theirs?
When both performing individuals are deeply familiar with each others’ musical part, then only can a truly fulfilling musical conversation take place.
Conversation Pieces
What ‘pieces’ are involved in a musical conversation? Here are some examples I can think of:
- Echoing: especially in Baroque pieces where terrace dynamics abound. Your instrumentalist states a musical phrase in forte; you respond in like (with a similar if not identical phrase) with piano. It’s like agreeing to what somebody says, with a gentle nod of affirmation, or an Amen to that!
- Setting Up: Crafting the introduction of a piece/movement musically and convincingly so that it sets up the soloist’s entry. Haven’t we all heard loving couples in conversation – where one sets up the story with a good introduction, and then passes it on to his wife by saying: “Go on, honey – tell them what happened next!”
- Interrupting (but in a good way): Musical opportunities to “cut into the conversation” abruptly (but musically). Crfeating a seamless transition of a musical statement between the piano and the soloist. Effective exchange of musical roles by deciding who’s in the background and who’s in the foreground. This is especially effective when both parties know each others’ music well!
- Speaking at the same time: Unison phrases between piano and soloist, flawlessly aligned. Presently, I’m working with Dr Stacy Baker (Professor of Tuba, Morehead State University) on her faculty recital and one of the pieces we are collaborating to perform is Barbara York’s Sonata for Tuba and Piano (Shamanic Journey). The 2nd movement is vivacious and whimsical in nature with several passages where tuba and piano parts are in absolute unison. It is always impressive when passages like these are worked to perfection, especially in faster tempi.
How to Enhance the Musical Conversation
- Start by studying the scores – yours, and your musical partner’s.
- Come to a unified understanding of the musical details and the general interpretation of the pieces as a whole, as well as it applies to the movement, passage and phrase
- Find passages where both of you can apply some of the conversation ‘pieces’ listed above
- Use that pencil of yours (you DO have one at rehearsals, don’t you?) to mark in your scores the passages/phrases where these conversations will occur
- Be sensitive to each others’ phrases while performing by LISTENING
- Rehearse till the musical conversation is audibly consistent and conveys what both of you have decided as effective.
- Record yourselves or have someone sit in at the rehearsal to listen to the ‘conversation’. Critique yourselves.
- Listen to other recordings of the same piece by other artists – and determine how effective the musical conversation is carried out in it. Determine to do better.
Conclusion
When you find yourself dreading the next rehearsal because you feel you are just going through the routine of rehearsing, why not start up a musical conversation with your fellow musician? It might breathe new life to the piece, and your collaborative efforts will amount to much when you finally perform the piece together in front of an audience.
And perhaps when someone asks you what you do for a living, you might add ‘music conversationalist’ to your job title.