“When”, an American colleague whispered to me during a
student recital, “did soloists stop standing in the crook of the piano?” He went on to ask me whether it was the way
things were done in Europe because, “It sure isn’t the way we do things in the
States”!
I had no answer.
The practice of standing with your back to your accompanist is one that
has seeped into collaborative music-making without my ever really noticing it
before, but my colleague is quite right.
Sometime in the past few years the standard practice of an instrumental
or vocal soloist standing in such a way as not only to have almost physical
contact with the piano, but also obvious visual contact with the pianist, has
gone out of the window. And I can’t
remember when it happened. It might be a
geographical thing – I really can’t recall where the soloists were placed in
the few recitals I’ve attended recently outside south east Asia - I must make a
point of seeing if it is widespread or merely a regional aberration.
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What's that woman in black doing behind me? |
I look back to some of the great recitals I’ve
attended which are still fresh in my memory.
I recall a few stunning vocal recitals in which the singer not only
stood in the crook of the piano, but sung with a hand - sometimes even a whole
arm – embracing the edge of the piano and often focusing their visual attention
as much with the pianist as with the audience.
I recall cellists sitting at 45 degrees to the audience so that the
pianist was well within their range of vision, and I recall violinists, oboists,
flautists and clarinettists often quite mobile on their feet, but keeping
within that invisible area defined by imaginary lines drawn from the top of the
keyboard to cross at 90 degrees one drawn along from the longest part of the piano
case. That interaction not only with the
pianist but with the piano itself was often a major feature in making these
historic recitals so enticing and enriching.
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Physical and Visual collaboration |
So why has the habit grown whereby the soloist not
only physically distances themselves from the piano, but positions themselves so
that they are, in effect, standing with their back to their musical
partner. How come back to back has taken
the place of eye contact in what should be a collaborative relationship?
I can think of three possible reasons. Firstly, they rehearse at home not with a
live pianist but with a machine; and they do not think to adjust when the
machine is replaced by a living, breathing human being (which is what
collaborative pianists generally are). Secondly, they are so focussed on their own
instrument that they do not even notice the presence of a second one. And thirdly (and here I feel I may be getting
closer to the truth), they are so indoctrinated in their lessons towards competitions,
that they believe an audience is only interested in watching and listening to
them. In a competition, the accompanist merely
serves as a regulating backdrop to throw the spotlight on the competitor; the
solo performer (who thinks of themselves as exactly that) sees no reason to involve
the pianist when the focus of the adjudicator is 100% on them.
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I can see you - you're all around me |
Diploma examiners were always instructed to take the accompanist
into consideration when assessing recital diplomas. We were told to comment on attire and
stagecraft, and if there was no visual contact between the two, then criticism
should be made and marks deducted. Do we
no longer worry about such matters? Have
we become so focussed on individual achievement that we have lost sight of the
collaborative effort which is, in most cases, what the music was originally
intended to provoke?
Whatever the reason, and why ever it’s done, I don’t
think it is a good thing for the future of music, and I hope that we might soon
revert to the logical and visually attractive habit of seeing musicians work in
collaboration rather than in divorced isolation.
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