I have always observed that during the performance of a piece, we pay close attention to understanding each phrase for its complete sense of execution. Then another thing happens to this phrase and... so on ....we finally achieve an understanding of the piece.
To ensure that everything flows and is accessible to the listener, however, it is necessary to keep time along with the breath, while also creating dynamics of plastic interest (as they say in painting... "shadows are no less important than lights"). Therefore, if shadows are equivalent to silence in music and light to the singing of a soprano, a sort of rhythmic and expressive blend is created, as taut as a thread.
Everything therefore revolves around a "pulse" not far from a heartbeat, and upon this, that interest is generated which takes us by the hand, leading us into the piece.
Just one misplaced comma or a minimum extra delay and... everything collapses, just like in an arrhythmia.
Time falls away, and with it, the listener's interest in what they are hearing.
How difficult is it to remain in that pulsation and keep that thread always taut?
K
Kappa
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Reply 2 by Kappa
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I don't think the discussion can be made in general at an execution level; you are practically only referring to a slice of repertoire (e.g., classicism, romanticism... but not even all of it). Surely the elements you mention are important, but how do you adapt the post to that repertoire where there is no melody?
Perhaps speaking of melos things would change and even sonic events could be included (without going far, think of some works by Beethoven)
Yes, right, consider it a starting point for investigation and discussion. Undoubtedly linked to the repertoire of the 1700s/1800s and early 1900s. After all, I base myself on what I perform, and generally, I have always found a melody.
Anyway, it is absolutely right to broaden the field. Lately, I have listened to some pieces by Messiaen where indeed there isn't a well-defined melodic line and anyway... the rhythm together with the alternation of harmonic groups creates a continuum that is not far from being understood as a pulsation projected into a tempo.
It is also an excellent point to see how time is marked and passes through phrase or melody.
Silence... in a psychological sense as far as I am concerned, cannot be defined as devoid of rhythmic pulsation.
