Clarity

I’ve recently been thinking about how to communicate more effectively with an audience. More specifically, how to convey musical ideas successfully at a distance. It’s true that every venue possesses it’s own unique advantages and disadvantages, so knowing how to adapt and play to each room is extremely useful, but learning how to be clearer in your expression will help no matter the space.

It seems to be impossible to overestimate the importance of thinking and playing clearly, even if what one is trying to express is esoteric or abstract. An good example is the way Tony Williams played; his ideas were often highly developed and could lean towards the avant-garde and yet each statement is beautifully clear, full of meaning and so translates very effectively to an audience. Or Keith Jarrett, who’s harmonic and melodic clarity reminds us that improvising can be a form of composition at the highest level. But how does one achieve such a standard? There doesn’t seem to be a substitute for hard work in the practice room and experience on stage, but an awareness of certain issues can help one formulate better goals.

Being able to focus in the moment, thereby forming clearer ideas in conception is essential; training one’s mind to be as present as possible in each moment is key for any style of music, whether one is an improvising musician or not. Honing certain technical elements is also essential; I’ve found that refining my own technique helps reduce the amount I stumble and means I’m not as limited in my musical reach due to a lack of ability to execute. It also helps to reduce the amount of an idea that gets lost in translation from mind to instrument; it closes the gap between musician and instrument and therefore musician and audience. In addition to this, it helps projection and musical accuracy during a long performance. As my technique is refined off stage, I find myself thinking less technically in any given moment on stage.

Just as important is the ability to commit more and more musical options to memory, whether they are textural, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, dynamic or more abstract concepts. This leads to a broader internalised musical pallet. I have heard many musicians talk about eradicating the ‘I hope this works’ moments by moving as much information as possible into the unconscious mind so that more conscious brain power can be deployed to pursue creative and emotional choices or better listening. This of course takes a lot of work in the practice room; manually inputing information using the slower brain system until that information can be dealt with by the faster, more automatic system. This all may sound a little cold, but the ultimate goal is to express oneself better; the more these areas are developed, the less one has to consider them in the moment of performance. It allows attention to be directed to more important areas such as listening, emotional expression and awareness of an overall creative statement.

Being clear is intrinsically beneficial when it comes to both recording and live performances. Live there is often a significant distance between performer and audience which can mean that the audience hears and sees the performance in less detail. Some stages can be hard to hear other musicians across and for them to hear in return. Clarity can help combat these difficulties. When recording, a musician is under the microscope, in the sense that an audience can hear the majority of nuance in each moment and they can replay the piece as many times as they wish to. Every self-aware musician who has recorded knows that it’s painfully obvious whether their ideas have come across clearly or not when they listen back to what they just played. Even though this process can be harsh, recording is a highly useful tool which can be used to gain a different perspective and critique yourself in a helpful way.

A commitment to forming and realising ideas clearly is something that heightens an audience’s experience; It helps transcend their technical or theoretical knowledge by allowing the performer to produce an engaging narrative. It also heightens the performer’s experience. After all, who wants to stand on stage and be misunderstood.