performance
-
Performance Lessons
“The performer necessarily comes at the music from within […] Most often the performance situation catapults a musician into a rare and unusual condition, one that reveals the basic features of experience with eloquent directness, free, at least to some extent, from the usual overlay of cultural and philosophical presuppositions that nearly always obstruct our Continue reading
-
Notes On Practice As Repetition Without Repetition
In the 1920s, Nikolai Bernstein, a mostly self-taught neurophysiologist and pioneer in the field of motor control, studied the movements of blacksmiths at Moscow’s Central Institute of Labor. Bernstein used cyclographic photography techniques to track the motions used to cut metal with a chisel and hammer. (See photo above.) His research showed how repeating movements Continue reading
-
Production Workflows: From Experimentation To Performance
Working at the computer, I was trying my best to keep my experimenting and performing separate. I was going through sounds, exploring the endlessly morphing dimensions of the music software, listening and evaluating, reacting and thinking it through. But my impulse is always to get on with something—to build a prototype rather than mull things Continue reading
-
Timing Techniques: Listening Over People, Rhythmically Resisting, And Super Rhythm
There’s a spot in the show where I have a solo—a moment to set the time for everyone else. The conductor thinks he’s in charge, but no, he’s actually following me in my moment of laying it down, which is simultaneously my moment to test a hypotheses. The hypothesis is this: at some point in Continue reading
-
Details At The End
Starting a piece of music is easy enough: you count it off (one, two, three, four!), or the conductor gives the cue, or you simply dive head first into the sound waters. It’s exciting because here you are—again (!)—and also, you’re not entirely sure how it’s going to go, which is what makes performing always Continue reading
-
Aim
aim—[verb] point or direct at a target; from the Latin aestimare ‘assess, estimate’ When I’m playing music I’m continually aiming and re-aiming my attention as the music goes along, and my aiming happens on different levels of perception. Since I play mallet percussion, there’s a spatial aiming of my mallet-holding hands along the marimba keys, Continue reading
-
Reset
In my current work of performing music, perhaps the most useful “secret” for maintaining a high standard of playing is my ability to reset. In my life outside of music, there are very few occasions in need of resetting—at home, there’s pressing the small button on the kitchen thermometer, or unplugging the cable modem now Continue reading
-
Interface: On The Ergonomics Of Musical Instruments
“Most of the works are not about something–they are not trying to tell something–but they are more made like interfaces for the viewer.” – Cevdet Erek Recently I came across the music of the Turkish artist and musician Cevdet Erek, who creates sound art installation works that deal with sounds, space, and rhythm. Here is some Continue reading
brettworks 
You must be logged in to post a comment.