“What does it mean for me to interpret a piece of music?” It means that you must dig deep to find the emotion in your playing. How? Two words: mental imagery.
Recently, I read a social post where a teacher talked about her student refusing to use her imagination to interpret music. The student thought the exercises sounded too juvenile.
However, if she doesn’t use her imagination, it’ll be hard for her to take her music to the next level. I tell my students:
You have all this music locked in your head – everything you’ve played or listened to. The trick will be to release it. When we imagine ourselves as our favorite performers, or imagine the story of a song, we access this great store of musical knowledge.
When you use your imagination, you tap into some of the most powerful interpretation strategies. It can literally make the difference between the audience crying tears of joy vs falling asleep.
For example, the pianist William H. Sherman has this to say about interpreting a barcarolle:
- “The thumb needs a special training to enable it to creep and slide from one key to another with snakelike movements…
- “The idea of the first page of this barcarolle is one of utter quietness, colorlessness; one is alone on the water…
- “The delicate tracery of thirds should be very soft, thin – like an airy cloud…” (Brower 74 – 76).
Each of these descriptions elicits a visual image. Using your imagination is a critical skill to develop.
In future interpretation posts we’ll look at:
- Becoming the character
- Characterizing the piece
- Articulations
- Dynamics
However, for today I’ll give you one more tip.