Making Music is Work of Man..
I remember quite a few recitals where I was thinking: "how on earth this possible?"
On stage you observe an ensemble which consists of multiple players, but what you actually hear is a single source of music, one idea and one feeling, in short an ultimate unity. Is that really possible in this conflict-ridden world?
Hearing the Assad Brothers in concert was such an experience for me, those guys played together like they were one musician. Everything matched, both parts fit together perfectly in even the smallest details. They were breathing as one. Incredible!
Thinking about these experiences I frankly admit that I have been witnessing something spectacular. Just imagine, on stage there are two or more people with different characters, all dealing with the music in their own way. These people are often playing with a consensus -literally this means "feeling together"- which surprises and delights the listener, sometimes even carrying him or her away.
Musicianship is Work of Man. You make music with all your joys, fears, annoyances, traumas from childhood, love, hate and many more from the range of human emotions. How on earth is a musician able to rise above this meltingpot of contradictions while playing solo or in an ensemble?
Particularly fascinating to me is the way musicians are cooperating to obtain this result of unity, how they communicate, how they agree or disagree, and how they are dealing with annoyances and conflicts which affect the musical consensus.
As I said, Making Music is Work of Man. This implies conflicts. If your ensemble is larger than one, there is a fair chance that you will be at each other's throats some day.
You think that you will not be bothered by conflicts as a soloist (an 'ensemble' of one person)? Dream on, of course you will, although most conflicts are inside your head. Think about Segovia's historical statement about his inner teacher and pupil. He claimed that both got along quite well despite some conflicts, which of course does not imply that they lived in harmony each day. Segovia was quite aware of his internal dualism as a solo musician.
The book The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green and Timothy Gallwey discusses the role of internal conflicts between aspects of your personality which make or break musicianship. Apparently it is no real solution to become a soloist in order to avoid conflicts which hamper the music.
In multi-member ensembles conflicts are interpersonal, not only with words but sometimes even with physical violence. It doesn't surprise me, because a large part of a musical cooperation is on emotional rather than rational level. This may cause a bit more passion on the battlefield.
We know ensembles from two members up to far more than a hundred. Larger ensembles like a symphony orchestra or a choir usually have a conductor for the musical leadership and coordination. Smaller ensembles without real leader, however, have to create mutual agreement on subjects like dynamics, mood, speed and remaining performance aspects.
These discussions might not end in perfect harmony. Just like in other fields, the world of music suffers from harsh leadership models, hierarchy in a pecking order, personal ambitions and such.
So many men, so many opinions. This certainly applies to musical ensembles like a guitar duo. Consequently you will notice outstanding examples of musical cooperation as well as conflicts around the weirdest things. Conflicts which often lead to dissolution.
After the initial euphoria of the start of a musical relationship -just like other relationships- the decline may start with small annoyances. If you fail to solve them, they pile up gradually until their weight causes eventual collapse, sometimes because of reasons which seem to be completely irrelevant to the (musical) subject.
Communication is a major crux in coping with conflicts and enervation of annoyances. Nevertheless it requires some courage to discuss emotional and even personal aspects concerning your musical cooperation with your (musical) partner.
For instance, how do you explain to your partner that you don't like the way he /she is outplaying you on stage, while he/she is intensely enjoying playing the music at that particular moment?
How do you react on a testy remark from your partner about your sense of rhythm, while you are glad that you are just capable to play the passage after lots of tedious practicing. Wouldn't you feel annoyed and disappointed about his/her seemingly almost arrogant criticism?
How do you explain to your partner which emotion you want to play and which support you expect from him/her to achieve this, while your partner offers resistance, for instance because of a stubborn application of the traditional division in solo and accompanyment role which prescribes serfdom to the soloist?
How do you solve a conflict about unity of tone, fingering noises or the sound of a passage? There are many things to discuss or even quarrel about.
I do not have extensive experience with musical ensembles, but I think it is still sufficient to say a bit of something about a special aspect of making music together, which is The Annoyance. Unattended annoyances will destroy the musical result. That's why this subject deserves a place amongst these Guitarities just as rightly as subjects like public performance, stage fright and motivation.
My very first ensemble was an occasional ensemble for a performance at the Shool of Music. We had no say in the line-up, my guitar teacher had chosen the members, possibly based on the number of years of musical education. Things were ad-hoc with minimal preparation, we had about three rehearsals of an hour or so, which is quite minimal for a good result on stage. The rehearsals made one thing clear: we did not match at all! Even though, the concert deadline loomed.
My absolute minimal experience with ensemble playing at that time was not helpful either, the best I could was playing the part in one go without bailing out ten times before I reached the end. Doing this in a musical way was almost out of the question.
Our 'cooperation' turned out to be a perfect occasion for perceptible annoyances and conflict, even on stage. I was so glad when it was all over, and I guess my partner shared my immense sense of relief.
This trauma did not prevent me from another go at ensemble playing. My second ensemble was a guitar-flute duo. We had exactly one public performance. I remember a nice anecdote from the preparations for this recital. The flute teacher of my partner showed a remarkable sense of optimism, expecting me to intonate to cancel the problems with the tune of the flautist. Well, maybe that's fine with an electric guitar (a bit of pitch-bending), but with a classical guitar with widespread chords...? I don't think so!
Anyway, we had a few year's playing fun in the living room and the cooperation encouraged me to make three books with flute/guitar arrangements which were published by Van Teeseling in Nijmegen. Finally our duo died of exhaustion, without clearly vented annoyances. This does not imply there were none, of course: after some years it turned out to be no enjoyable conclusion that our progress had become zero or even negative.
My third ensemble was the Granados Duo. It provided me with some hard work, because my partner played very well and had a tone which I could only dream of. We started off well, but after a year the cooperation ended quite abruptly after a recital which did not go entirely as we hoped for. Unfortunately the reviewer in the local paper seized this opportunity with both hands: his comments were not the best way to be in the headlines.
Alas, hard work and extra high tension strings turned out to be insufficient to solve the slumbering issues: apparently there were sufficient annoyances for an unilateral termination of the cooperation. It was no pleasant experience, but fortunately this did not stop me from guitar playing. 'These things happen all day' my guitar teacher commented dryly when I complained bitterly.
My most recent ensemble was the Guitar Duo DOS Amigos, the nomenclator of this website. It lasted quite long, a little over fifteen years. The cooperation started off well, with lots of repertoire, nice arrangements and a number of successful recitals.
Currently the duo is out of order as a consequence of personal conflicts and I don't think the issues will be solved in the near future. This case appeared to be a typical example of the destructive effect of some years of unspoken annoyances which piled up and caused a collapse.
Looking back, I recognize a pattern. I guess I will have to be more assertive and communicative in the future. Building up and nourishing annoyances is one thing, solving them is quite a different thing. Before enervation of annoyances is possible, you inevitably have to discuss them, which implies conflict. So it turned out to be wrong to attempt to keep the peace, running away for conflicts. Si vis Pacem, para Bellum -if you want peace, prepare for war- the old Romans used to say ages ago.
Anyway, I have some issues to write about in this remarkable Guitarity about annoyances. In the following I will discuss some. Don't be mislead by the titles (you could think that I am only blaming partners), every annoyance has at least two sides.