Does your director ever say: "and now, let's turn it into music"? And did you know instantly how to do that? Then you can skip this article.
This article is written for people who return questions: Yes? How? Where? For how long? Show me?
The how: express some emotion. This article discusses preparation and method.
First of, you need to know how you experience your own emotions. What are the properties you would ascribe to love, anger, friendliness, fear, tenderness, hunger, happiness, thirst, sadness, fulfilled, feeling drunk? And wat accentuation and other manners of playing music can you use to express them?
For instance, one can imagine playing forte, marcato, and bombastico when angry. And for tenderness one can choosen playing piano, legato, and pizzicato, lyrically.
Every emotion can be connotated by accentuation, tempo, and volume. Try it: what playing manners most fit fear? And feeling drunk? (My answers: staccato / agitato, and rubato / portamentato + bombastico, respectively.)
The director will have an idea about that combination. So how do you know what they wish to hear? By putting forth your own idea loudly and clearly. That way, the director can hear your choices, and correct that when necessary.
You must require clarity: "turn it into music" leaves a lot to personal interpretation, which you already did express. Thus, the director will have to indicate what kind of accentuation, tempo, and volume they expect, so you can copy it, and sound the same as the rest of the orchestra.
Next you need to apply the mannerism to the music: how do you determine where, and for how long?
You do this by reading, playing, or listening to the music. How do the melodic lines intertwine? Where do the sentences start and stop, where are the highs and lows? When starting out, use a pencil to mark them on the paper. Then look at the piece in its entirety: where are the climaxes?
Once you found those, you are ready for the next step. Build up both the volume as the clarity of the chosen accentuation towards the climax of the sentence. Do exaggerate: your public needs to hear it. Towards the lows you do the opposite: diminish volume and accentuation.
You will find that some of your colleagues will copy your style. Leave it like that untill the dirextor corrects you. If you use differing manners of playing, the director should intervene quickly enough. That is good too: for your goal is to put forth the same sound shape, in order to evoke the desired emotion in your audience.
Good luck!
For instance, one can imagine playing forte, marcato, and bombastico when angry. And for tenderness one can choosen playing piano, legato, and pizzicato, lyrically.
Every emotion can be connotated by accentuation, tempo, and volume. Try it: what playing manners most fit fear? And feeling drunk? (My answers: staccato / agitato, and rubato / portamentato + bombastico, respectively.)
The director will have an idea about that combination. So how do you know what they wish to hear? By putting forth your own idea loudly and clearly. That way, the director can hear your choices, and correct that when necessary.
You must require clarity: "turn it into music" leaves a lot to personal interpretation, which you already did express. Thus, the director will have to indicate what kind of accentuation, tempo, and volume they expect, so you can copy it, and sound the same as the rest of the orchestra.
Next you need to apply the mannerism to the music: how do you determine where, and for how long?
You do this by reading, playing, or listening to the music. How do the melodic lines intertwine? Where do the sentences start and stop, where are the highs and lows? When starting out, use a pencil to mark them on the paper. Then look at the piece in its entirety: where are the climaxes?
Once you found those, you are ready for the next step. Build up both the volume as the clarity of the chosen accentuation towards the climax of the sentence. Do exaggerate: your public needs to hear it. Towards the lows you do the opposite: diminish volume and accentuation.
You will find that some of your colleagues will copy your style. Leave it like that untill the dirextor corrects you. If you use differing manners of playing, the director should intervene quickly enough. That is good too: for your goal is to put forth the same sound shape, in order to evoke the desired emotion in your audience.
Good luck!
