gesture Archives

The Shape of Brahms: Looking at His Music – by Anssi Karttunen

Brahms the Architect One of the keys to understanding the music of Johannes Brahms is through his use of shapes and sizes and the manipulation of them in building his architectural forms. He was always stretching motives and phrases, making them overlap, go in and out of sync, hiding the bar-line and bringing it in sight again. Irregular phrase lengths, hemiolas, working with conflicting slurs in order to make us unsure where the strong beat is - he had many tools to confuse us. What this playing with blocks of material means for us performers is that one should not fall in love with only one line and its details, everything is always part of a larger picture and while detail is important it always relates to larger structures. [...]

By Anssi Karttunen|2022-11-28T16:43:56-05:00March 9th, 2019|Categories: In the Practice Room|Tags: gesture, architecture, precision, form, Brahms, color, flexibility, phrasing, freedom|

Épaulement: Cello Playing Through a Dancer’s Lens

Not counting a negligible number of tap classes when I was 5 years old or so, my first real dance classes were at Indiana University, as a sophomore majoring in cello performance. I had long since forgotten my first fumbling steps as a cellist when I was not quite 3, but the struggle of learning a new skill was all too real as I would wiggle into my leotard and tights at 7:30 in the morning to make 8 A.M. beginner ballet class where I would, with my fellow well-intentioned classmates, attempt to contort myself into an elegant swan, but mainly try not to fall down. My teacher was beautiful; everything about her, her hairstyle, her smile, her hands, her long legs, even her voice, was the epitome of grace. [...]

By Jean Hatmaker|2023-10-10T21:09:00-04:00December 5th, 2018|Categories: Beyond the Traditional, In the Practice Room, Playing Healthy, Self Discovery|Tags: épaulement, poise, Awareness, center, choreography, body awareness, posture, gesture, dance|

Sing. Paint. Dance. (Part 2)

Sing. Paint. Dance. (Part 2) Yes, we can place the bow one inch above the bridge and play various phrases for the purposes of mapping and sensory awareness. We can also take one step back and go about it from a different angle. As we listen to repertoire we can place a brush to canvas or a pencil to paper and emulate phrase length with our hands. We can isolate passages in the score and literally paint them. Feel the duration of notes, their inner lives, through your brush. See the color sustain or fade. Watch the brush as it moves up and down according to contour. For me, although away from the cello, this type of association is the most direct connection to gesture. Let’s be clear, this [...]

By Rebecca Merblum|2023-05-15T13:35:38-04:00October 18th, 2018|Categories: Artistic Vision, In the Practice Room, Self Discovery, Teaching|Tags: color, vibration, dance, imagination, motion, energy, freedom, painting, gesture, contour|