From Page To Stage

Artistry. What is it?

It's what we all strive for (or should do anyway) but nobody knows what it is. We can talk about some of the things that seem to be a part of what artistry is but none of them seem to define it completely and not all of them apply all the time. We seem to know it when we see it but most of us have trouble producing it. It's a secret recipe and if anyone knows it, they're certainly not letting on and I, for one, don't blame them.

Click HERE for a more detailed discussion of what artistry is.

There is one thing that everybody agrees is a necessary component of artistry and which we do have control over. We know what it is and how to produce it. That is SKILL or CRAFTSMANSHIP or TECHNICAL ABILITY. Actually, in apparent contradiction, it is pretty much agreed that true artistry does NOT exhibit these things. True artistry transcends mere skill so that, although we know that the skill must be there, we can't see it. A true artist makes it look so easy that it doesn't seem like a skill at all.

So, this presentation is about those skills that you need to aquire before you stand any hope of being artistic. Remember, though, when you've got them, you mustn't let on.

Problem

There is this song that somebody had in their head and they wrote a guide on how to perform it. That’s the sheet music. It's like a User's Guide, a Driver's Manual. It assumes that the person who reads it understands the language it’s written in and it leaves an awful lot unsaid on the assumption that the reader can fill in the gaps.

Barbershop charts actually give you less explicit information than most. You get the key signature (which we often ignore), the meter (whatever that means), the notes and words (which we try to get right but are not above being changed if we feel like it). We sometimes get some structural help when it tells us where the verse, chorus and tag are (but we probably wonder why they bother).

They don’t generally give us any indication of tempo or dynamics. Unless you’re good at chord analysis on the fly, they don’t tell you what the chords are or how they’re voiced. There is no indication of the relative volumes in the parts either. They don’t have enough rests to give you chance to breathe, so you have to invent them. They often use shorthand notation (which doesn’t look like shorthand!) without explaining it. And so on.

Notes and words; that’s pretty much all you get. And that’s pretty much how many groups perform.

Solution

Performers have to fill in between the lines of the User’s Manual. We have to put back all the information that it left out. We have to learn the stuff that the song writer (and later the arranger) assumed we would already know when he wrote his abridged User’s Manual. When we’ve done that, then we have a chance to get beyond the words and notes and actually produce a piece of beautiful music.

• Ignorance is no defence!
• Arrogance is just well disguised ignorance.
• Indifference is unforgivable.

Result

A musical performance that is sensitive to the aspirations of the composer, the lyricist and the arranger as well as to ourselves as performers. Exceeding the expectations of the audience would be good too.

Now go to the Music Room.