Musical Chairs
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Show Me The Music
It's long been known that people hear with their eyes as well as their ears.
Visual cues to an audience (and performers) will aid in their comprehension and
appreciation of the music which can lead to deeper feelings about it. A
seating arrangement that visually illuminates aspects of a piece’s structure can
be essential in establishing aural clarity and a deeper musical affect in a
listener. In an interview for Dr. Frederick Harris’s book, Conducting
with Feeling, Stephen Massey of Foxboro, Massachusetts states this concept
aptly: “Anything that we can do to change the way in which people hear...it also
changes the way in which people feel, because they feel differently when they
hear differently.” The more elements of a composer’s artistic expression
an audience perceives, the more engaged and inspired they will be. As long as
the musical affect is the motivating factor, there is no shame in rearranging
your seating layout if it helps them to that end.
Trading Spaces
In an wind band transcription of J.S. Bach’s
The Art of Fugue, I was able to create a situation which offers the
opportunity for totally unorthodox seating arrangements while maintaining
optimal conditions for conductor, performers and the audience. As Bach’s
last great collective work,
The Art of Fugue represents a monumental achievement in the exploration
of the principles of counterpoint. The collection consists of fourteen
fugues (called Contrapunctus) and four canons. Since all of the fugues,
with the exception of
Contrapunctus VIII &
XIII, are four-voice fugues, I
decided to divide the band into four groups (plus 3 percussionists) to
represent the four voices’soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In order to give
myself the greatest timbral palette while maintaining consistency
through all the fugues, the assignments were made as follows:
These groupings represent the basis for most of the the doublings
used in the transcription. They are also reflected in the visual layout of the
score(s)
and has the benefit of instantly showing the conductor the
predominant structure of the orchestration—which instruments share the
same voice. If, as I suggest in the performance notes, the seating
arrangement of the players also reflects this structure, cues and other visual communication with all the players of one
particular contrapuntal line become much easier (There are some key moments
where the instruments of the same contrapuntal voice split into counterpoint).
In a conventional concert band seating arrangement there would certainly
be some joy from a player, say a clarinetist, who is seated within the clarinet
section and listening to the interplay of counterpoint occurring within that
instrumental family. Unfortunately, it would be easy for the individual
player to lose sight of the stronger relationship they have with those doubling
their line. Furthermore, being placed in the middle of a contrapuntal whirlwind
could
make it even more difficult for them to consummate that relationship. With the
musicians seated next to players of the same line, they will be better able to
hear and see each other and, therefore, be in a better position to match timbre, articulation, intonation and all the little nuances that give a
particular line character. The sense of interplay between the various
lines, however, is not lost. The strong visual image of “choirs” of musicians
coupled with an enhanced quadraphonic clarity will reinforce the existence of the various
contexts in which they must function.
The anticipation created while the musicians position
themselves in a peculiar setup will focus and intensify the audience's
attention. This gives way for more attentive and concentrated listening.
Even
though
The Art of Fugue is not antiphonal music, arranging some physical
separation between the groups will allow the audience to more easily see, hear,
appreciate and enjoy the contrapuntal genius of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Boomboxed in
Breaking with the tradition of having all like instruments seated together is
more difficult psychologically for a conductor than it is physically. We
must never assume that our regular ensemble setup is the best way to present
every piece of music, nor should we let convenience and personal comfort
influence our imagination and govern our decisions. When the opportunity
to more completely and uniquely realize something as abstract as music arises we
should make every effort to do so. Once a score is studied, our
imagination should not be limited to the production of sound from one
predetermined perspective. As long as the compositional elements of the
music are the guiding authority in any decisions, there will always be growth and
value to our exploration. An ensemble of musicians is not a prefabricated boombox or music box with fixed dimensions and acoustic properties.
We can make them more by thinking outside of the
box.
Copyright © 2005 by Kenneth Amis ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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