Studio Notes for Keeney Studio
Weeks 11 & 12
Ideas of weeks:
There are many ideas I have been sharing with you and that I would like to share with you this week.
Here I will discuss ideas that were focused on in lessons.
Conversation Comments and Feedback :
What kind of comments, feedback, instruction, coaching, do you like to receive and that you find useful, helpful, meaningful, inspiring and motivating to your growth as a flutist, musician, artist and whole person?
Some ideas to use in your Conversation Comments:
Give some positive, meaningful, authentic comments that help to encourage and motivate the person you just heard playing.
How convincing was the interpretation and performance of the piece they just played?
( Consider the Expression ,Accuracy and Consistency of: music, tone, technique, dynamics, style, tempo, rhythm, rubato, mood, tonal colors, intonation, clarity, variety of articulations, comfort, ease of playing, confidence, personality, charisma, projection, balance with piano or other instruments...)
If you know the piece well, give details about where this was or was not working for you.
If you have heard them before, give inspiring words about how they have changed and improved.
More Ideas from the week:
How clear and convincing are you about your interpretation of the music? How emotionally connected are you to the music you are playing? This will come through in your playing and will be what the audience hears, sees and feels too.
Then is is about ...not playing in a planned way but present... Alive, Living... being present to the note, notes, music as you are playing. They are alive, where do they and are they going? A listening that is in the moment of creating the sound, bringing it to life off the page and into the world. Musician as the bridge between composer and audience.
Resonance and Projection - We discussed this and found many great things... Here are a few...
It is about what you let go of, free to resound.
It is about good, easy, free use of the body.
It is being open. All channels open...
It is projecting something that is bigger than yourself.
It is your strength of character, your courage, your willingness, your open heart , to be powerful on stage...
It is taking up a lot of space, feeling big...
It is in your mind and body and the sending out of your spirit through your instrument into the world.
It is being totally involved, immersed, passionate in what you are doing.
How Playful are you in your Practice? What is play to you? Do you remember how to free yourself and be playful? Find some ways to bring this into your practice. This is freeing, rejuvenating and will bring new life to your practice.
The notes may end, you may stop playing, but the music still continues... Stay connected to whole time.
Consider you and the pianist as a duo. They do not stop every time they “miss a note” something. Please think about and notice if you ask them to stop every time you “make a mistake”. That is different than stopping to choose to rehearse a part of the music.
Allow your self to practice with honest mistakes and not have a detrimental reaction to it. Learn to listen and calm your nervous system so that you can hear it, observe it, notice it and still be in the moment. After you can trust yourself to have heard it and make a choice of how to practice it.
Body -
Easy Elbows, allow for movement at elbows and for them to feel light and free. Remember Meade’s Arms? pg.41
Balance of Hands and Head...
Be both handed... notice if they are out of balance how this can effect your technique, tone, the music.
Connect this to the balance of your head on top of the A.O. joint. When your head is off balance it effects these same things... Give your self direction to free your neck, balance your head, slightly forward and lightly on top of your spine...
C’s - Care, Consistent, Conviction, Clarity, Challenge, Choice, Connection, Comfort, Confidence, Concept, Creative, Charisma, Courage, Color, Commitment, Character, Concept, Connection, Compassion, Calm, Change, Challenge, Contribute, Codify, Communicate, Cultivate, Capture, Circle, Clues, Center, Codify, Calm, Compose, Commune, Contrast, Core, Creation, Conversation, Contemplation...
Book - The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander
Please be prepared to discuss a chapter a week in Studio Class. We are on Chapter’s 6-9 this week.
Studio Class - PERFORMING QUESTIONS
How is performing different from playing?
What makes a great performance?
What is great stage presence?
What is projection and how do you project, bigger than yourself, the music on stage?
How can you practice and learn to be comfortable on stage?
How alive, present moment are you and is your listening when you are on stage performing, auditioning...?
How do you practice being connected to the audience?
Do you respect and feel gratitude for the music and the audience?
If the musician is the bridge between the composer and the audience... Are you the Bridge that connects the music?
Do you consider that we are all in this together, that we all matter and are effecting each other in powerful ways?
How do you create an open channel of giving and receiving energy?
How willing are you to be vulnerable, courageous, powerful, authentic... on stage?
How engaging, attractive, magnetic, authentic, dynamic, free, involved, charismatic... are you as a performer?
Are you moved by the music you are expressing, performing, sharing, bringing to life?
How do you look and sound on stage? Is it really what you think, who you want to be, who you are?
Who is your authentic self? Are you being true to that?
Are you a creation always in the process of, continually being created, ever changing being alive?
How is this process of “being alive” like vibration, sound, music?
Why does someone go to a live concert instead of listening to music in the comfort of their own home?
How do you get an audience to attend and become excited about your concerts, recitals, performances?
Listening: Listen to as many recordings (at least 3) of great people playing your piece. Select a couple of phrases to compare. Notice as many things as you can in great detail about their interpretations.
Reminder’s:
Tuesday Recital - Nov. 8th at 1pm
Grade Evaluations Due Nov. 10th
Studio Recital Nov. 14th 7:30 Dudley Hall
Scale Jury - Nov. 15th
Marianne Gedigian Class - Nov. 21 - 5-7pm #118
Flute Jury - Dec. 6th - room 175
I am so proud of each one of you!
Keep believing in your self and your dreams!
Take good care of your self and make good choices every moment and every day!
Be kind to yourself and to others.
~ Heartfully, Ms. Keeney
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