#45: ‘Showing’ direction

Section 6: Antonin Dvořák – String Quartet Op.96, ii: Lento

It has come up in previous posts that developing the ability to resist the impulse towards synchronisation was a key component of the ‘re-learning’ process. This was more complicated than simply embracing individuality and independence.

Ensemble players frequently telegraph shape, grammar, intention, and so on to colleagues, and they do so in a number of different ways. We found that embracing asynchrony in principle did nothing to dampen this requirement: in fact, we needed to continue projecting intentions more than ever. What changed was our behaviour upon receiving such cues from others. In experienced ensemble musicians, the way in which one takes in information from co-performers must generally remain below the level of conscious control. Responses and adjustments take place extremely rapidly, largely without listeners noticing – and indeed sometimes without the players themselves noticing. Working within a ‘native’, habituated style means that the selection of possible ‘types’ of response is usefully delimited. This leaves plenty of room for detail and specificity, but their range is helpfully streamlined by ‘automated responsiveness’.