Wolff

To clarify my research topic, I've decided to focus specifically on the performer/audience dynamic within different realms of music (classical - 'old' and 'new', Jazz - 'old and new', and popular styles) and how this affects both/either party. Some particular aspects that I hope to learn include performance anxiety, boredom, expectations, and purpose (why they perform/attend concerts).

I started off this project from with myself as a performer and continued this week with myself as an audience member. This week I attended the Christian Wolff concert where UCSD faculty, graduate students, and Christian Wolff himself came together and presented a concert on his music. I knew going into this that it wouldn't be my cup of tea, but was honestly curious as to what kind of people this music does attract.

For those who don't know, Christian Wolff is a composer of the 'new' Western art music tradition. The music is experimental. While there were certainly interesting moments and concepts: prepared piano, use of speakers, unconventional performance practices (each half consisted of everyone on stage and taking turns to play each piece), and the composer himself, as a whole it didn't interest me. I attribute this mainly to the fact that I simply don't understand it and without program notes to give hints to any compositional processes, I'd be surprised if the music appealed to those un-scholarly about new music as I am.

I paid careful attention to the audience. In fact, I recognized most of them. It mainly consisted of UCSD music faculty, graduate students and undergrads. I noticed that most of those I didn't recognize left either in the middle of performances (to the dismay of many!), in between (a bit more considerate), or at intermission (the second half definitely had a smaller audience). I speculate that they left out of confusion and/or boredom. I wish I had rushed out to talk to them, but I would have also received dirty looks.

And we certainly didn't need more dirty looks. CPMC Concert Hall has such great acoustics that we were able to hear every whisper, page turn, phone drop, foot step, camera flashes, and ringtone! Even Eunah (who also wrote about this concert in her blog) and I who were clearly not interested in the music could not resist shooting glares at every person who made a sound or walked in and out during performances. Not to mention, Professor Charles Curtis who was on stage also glared at several audience members. We've been trained. So, even with regards to experimental music, these stuffy traditions most often associated with classical music persist. I know this was not always the case and would like to research more on how this came to be in another post.

The only people I had a chance to talk to so far about this performance were undergraduate music students. Most of them came for school-related purposes like concert reports. They all admitted either to falling asleep or being bored to tears (if not both). My music theory professor Lei Liang highly suggested that we attend this (we deal exclusively with post-1945 experimental music in this class) and a few that I saw attend for this reason did say they enjoyed it. But then again, they are composers themselves.  I hope to talk to some graduate students and professors as well.

I also am trying to talk to some of the performers, especially Charles Curtis who is proponent of both 'old' and 'new' classical music. I want to know how performing new music affects their nerves. I wonder if it would make them less nervous knowing that 99% won't realize they made a mistake and that many aren't paying attention anyway or if would make them more nervous because they feel more pressure to engage the audience (or anything else that may come up). I also want to know how he perceived the audience situation - as I mentioned, he did much glaring.

Field study thoughts

edit: OOPS. I messed up and accidentally posted this on the class blog, so I'm moving it here now. Thanks to Ben for catching it.

I've been thinking about who I could interview and what concerts I could attend. I guess I could talk to anyone really, but I think I will start with UCSD professors and performance students. Some concerts I've been thinking about attending are: Christian Wolff, La Jolla Symphony, Camera Lucida, Baroque Ensemble, Indian Music, and jazz concerts. I'm also going to look into concerts outside of the music department (acapella, taiko, sungod maybe?). Please share if you guys know of any!

I also hope to be able to talk to the concert-goers as well as it is really the performer-audience dynamic that I would like to explore (of course, is anyone performing if there is no audience?). I want to know why they attend these concerts, how they perceive certain aspects, and how they react among other things. 

How many hours do you practice a day?

While Professor Ben's suggestions of delving into competition culture had me very interested, I was concerned that it may be too specific and that it would be easier if I included more of a snapshot of it within the larger realm of performance culture.

So, I'm pretty sure that I would like to focus my topic on several aspects of music performance looked across different cultures and music. Some of these aspects may or may not include: performer/audience interaction (ex. classical, jazz, and rock), its purpose/role, cultural expectations, and historical changes. I'd also like to look at some more psychological approaches: anxiety (with relations to different degrees of pressures - for example: competitions/evaluations vs 'jams') and the pressure to be different/creative/stand-out. Clearly, an issue I am having is that this topic can be quite broad. I'm not sure how focused such a topic should be...

Ben made a book suggestion to me: Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi. I found this suggestion to be impressively fitting as I am also concurrently taking a class on Creativity (PSYC 176). In fact, Csikzenmihalyi's concept of "flow" was just mentioned in my reading in Steven Johnson's Where Good Ideas Come From in the context of "liquid networks". It is all certainly intriguing material as I'd hope that to be considered a successful performer, one should also be 'creative' (though I'm sure one can argue with an example where this is not a necessary condition...).

Last week my Creativity professor (Prof. Craig McKenzie) had asked the class if anyone was a music performance major. After no one responded, I meekly raised my hand.
Prof: What instrument?
Me: Piano.
Prof: At what age did you start?
Me: 13.
Prof: How many hours do you practice a day?
Me: Uh..two...on a good day.
Prof: And do you hope to perform for a living?
Me: No.
Prof: Good...because it won't happen.

Um...thanks.
I have no intentions of going into performance, so this wasn't at all a depressing wake up call or anything, but I have much fascination with those who do plan this route or already do so. I'm simply in it for the free lessons.


Last night, I performed in Professor Janos Negyesy's "Soirée for Music Lovers". I performed with my friend Schubert's Fantasie in F minor for piano/four hands. It wasn't a 'high-risk' performance by any means. In fact, everyone told me to "just have fun". Unfortunately, that's quite hard for me to do. Performance anxiety is both stressful and draining. How can I have fun when I'm putting myself out there in such a vulnerable position? This is my music, my interpretation, my technique, my dress...anything that goes wrong is clearly on me. But everyone last night was so extremely supportive that I ultimately did have fun. This 'fun' state, however, was so reliant on others. Performance is not a one-person thing.
What I did notice were the other performers. These people were real performers. It didn't drain them like it did me. It fueled them. I wonder if this holds across music and cultures.

limitations.

Hm...hi everyone. First I wanted to apologize for the double invitations. I was confused and accidentally invited you to be authors instead of readers. I see this mishap as the beginning of a great relationship with Blogger...sigh.

The topic choice for my research blog has been a difficult one and is, unfortunately, still ongoing. There were several ideas that I was initially drawn to until I considered the San Diego field work limitation. These were mostly outside of my own musical world, but the one that I kept coming back to was a topic inspired by one of my old piano teachers.
This teacher, despite having already attained a DMA in piano performance, returned to school to work on a PhD in ethnomusicology. He was inspired from spending some years teaching at a a secondary school at a Navajo reservation. My knowledge is severely limited, but I was always fascinated by the few stories he shared. One of my favorites was when he was left to teach a class of "problem adolescents". He had introduced them to J.S. Bach's fugues and encouraged them to create their own, despite having no knowledge of written music in the Western tradition. And they did.
Anyway, there are many topics within this idea as there are many tribes. I looked up the reservations in the area and grew overwhelmed. As interesting at it is to explore such a new musical sphere, is this really feasible?

So then I considered just playing it safe and staying more with what I know and delving into more specific topics. This would be limited to music of the Western classical tradition. Some ideas I've been considering include: the perceived elitism of Western art music, the compositional culture in creating "NEW" music particularly at UCSD, and the performance tradition and the societal pressure that comes along with it.

I've also been trying to think of topics pertaining to a more psychological viewpoint. Oh yea...psychology... my other major. Perhaps involving movie/tv/game soundtracks and its effects or how culture plays a role in music perception (Ex. it's been argued that dissonance, as we mostly understand it, is a construct of Western tradition. Schoenberg attempted to eradicate dissonance using serial methods).

I don't know. I find them all very interesting.

Anyway, related to the performance idea:

OUCH.
The piece here is Chopin's "Thirds" Etude, Op. 25, No. 6 attempted during the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition.
I hate the title of the video though. This man is not a failure. This piece is extremely difficult and added with the numerous pressures that he must endure, I can only commend him for his efforts. Apologies to the man in the video -  I sincerely hope he has moved on from this. Of course, here I am perpetuating this video that depicts what may possibly have been one of the most horrifying moments of his life.

The wonders of youtube.