The problem with perfection...

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Violinist Henning Kraggerud laments the loss of the well-rounded musician

15 September 2016 - 4:27pm
Submitted by: Guest blogger
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(Credit: Robert Romik)

When Mozart was growing up, his father Leopold Mozart taught him and his sister Nannerl dancing, languages,
composing, improvising, singing, violin and piano. They also travelled, and experienced many different styles of
playing and composing around Europe.
Beethoven was more known as an improviser than as a composer, during his first ten years in Vienna. Paganini
is said to have improved his skills as a violinist mostly through composing. Norwegian composer and violinist Ole
Bull was largely an autodidact, and even the King of the Violin Eugene Ysaye was known to make mistakes in
performances, like playing in the wrong octave, or playing the bassoon part for a few bars in the middle of a
concerto.
Then came along Sevcik, the Carl Flesch Scale system, violin competitions, recordings and much more.
Violinists became more and more specialised, and it suddenly became rare for professional classical musicians
also to be composers, and vice versa, and improvising went out of fashion. So is classical music really more
relevant and engaging these days, when mistakes and out of tune notes are more and more seldom, and when
there is arguably less difference in playing styles from one violinist to another than any time in history? Could it
be that an unhealthy degree of clinical perfection, separation of composers and instrumentalists as professions
and many other related issues are slowly killing the spirit of classical music life? Are we in danger of rotting from
the core outwards? In the musical world, apart from in our classical musical genre, musicians are much more
likely to compose their own music or part of it. Why is that so? And what does this lack of integration between

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disciplines do to classical music?

Imagine a theatre where the author dictates the speed at which the actors should read each sentence, and how
loudly each word should be read, the length of each word and the tonal character of the voice of the actor. Then
you can see how little freedom classical musicians are given sometimes in modern scores as compared to those
from the time of say Bach to Brahms. Is the modern symphonic orchestra really comparable with a 100-playerstrong cover band?
Debussy wrote that his metronome marks were like roses in the morning: they lost their smells quickly and were
generally not to be trusted after the first bar or so. So before you try to force his music to do something that you
maybe feel is against its nature, this can be very useful to know. When Brahms was conducting, he often made
big accelerandos and ritardandos not written in his scores. When a student asked why he wrote in any tempo
markings at all, he said that it was because he wanted that tempi every time, while he only wanted the others
when he felt like it. He also (allegedly) said that he didnt want to write too much into his scores since it would
limit the great musicians possibilities and the bad ones would find ways to misunderstand it anyway, and so not
be helped by the markings either.
So the moral could be: investigate every part of the score to find ways to love it, to have fun, to see what
possibilities within yourself it can trigger. Read as much as you can about music history and the time when the
piece was written so you can to find new inspiration and discover different ways to interpret the notation. Use any
method with or without your instrument which can bring you closer to something of value to you. Distrust anyone
who proclaims universal truths, including me. "Nobody spreads as much darkness as those who have seen the
light" Nils F. Nilsen wrote. Then when you feel that the piece is part of yourself, play from your heart and trust
your feelings even if it means to depart from the written score at times. You cannot be wiser than yourself, so if
you perform the piece as you most like it after you consider that you have really got to know it, this is where you
honestly are with the piece at that particular moment in time. And I believe the chances of someone listening to it
and liking it will dramatically increase.
Practise intonation to feel the pleasure of a chord in tune, practise different rhythmical patterns in passages to
feel the pleasure of synchronising your fingers and arms. Practise etudes also as a piece of music, choose
etudes which are nice music.
Try to improvise a bit every day to reduce the distance between thought and output and make the instrument act
as part of your body. Try to compose a bit if you feel the slightest urge. My experience is that most are much
better at improvising and composing that they think, if they give it a fair try.
Do you really like what you are playing? If not, search for things to love in it using your hopefully ever-expanding
toolbox of angles and methods to approach it or play another piece, if you still think it is junk!
The most difficult thing is to break unhealthy patterns; the first time you try new ways of practising (or teaching) is
the most difficult. Whatever has brought you where you are today can be the same thing which prevents you
from further improvements. To improve is to change. Take on the discomfort of trying something new, and then
afterwards you can evaluate it. You will not take harm from that, but the benefits can be life changing.

Henning Kraggarud is a Norwegian violinist and composer, and the International Chair in Violin at the Royal
Northern College of Music, Manchester. His recording of Mozarts Violin Concertos Nos 3-5 is now available on
Naxos. Click here to find out more.

Article Type: | Blog |

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