Greetings once again. Now I have to play catch-up after a period of blog-oblivion!
I am going to start asking other great musicians to comment on both composition and improvisation in future blogs, by way of mini-interviews.
Below is something I scribbled out whilst at an airport in Bangalore, it was about 5am and although I was dog tired I was thrilled to have been invited to play to a totally new audience. I had to learn a fair amount of pretty complex music, which prompted this below (written as much to myself as to other readers I confess!...):
KNOW YOUR MUSIC
It is not a detail, within small ensemble performance, as to your relationship with your music stand. At best you don’t need it, but part of good preparation means that you know the structure of your composition, with its rhythmic, harmonic and melodic components.
The more obviously you need a music stand, the less authority you will wield as a soloist. Moreover, its doubtful you will attain convincing freedom during improvisation if you are not playing “by heart”. You will find that you can maintain confidence on stage much easier when written music plays but a minor role. Prepare for this by rehearsing without reading, see how internalized the music has become.
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