‽istis reclaims extemporising (weekending August 29th 2020)
‽istis, listens in to the debate about the UK ‘Proms’ (the BBC’s
‘annual festival consisting of 8 weeks of world-class performances by the
world's greatest classical musicians of the past, present and future.’[i]), or more specifically,
the debate about the ’last night’:
tradition – a conservative, static idea or a progressive, evolving approach?;
slavery – ours, never (never, never); theirs – maintained and perpetuated or
ended and abolished?; patriotism or jingoism?…
…and perhaps more of the apparent fault lines of
these seemingly extra-ordinary times are laid bare?
But ‽istis also wonders about the word ‘classical’
and the Proms’ programming of recent years. Genre-bending or stretching: permissible
and perhaps necessary?
This year, perhaps more than any other, the
festival is a ‘season’ that seems to be making the most of digitally-focussed, multi-platform,
multi-channel possibilities including archived concerts, television and radio
broadcasts (from the vaults, catch-up and real-time) as well as welcome live
performances from the Albert Hall - and that ‘last night’, waiting to enrage or
gladden hearts at each end of the spectrum!
‘Classic’ classical; ‘world’ music; traditional folk,
new folk; musicals, ‘Broadway’, movie and showtunes; ‘urban scene’; opera and
operetta (less long to wait between the tunes?); soul; boogie-woogie; old
choral, new choral, choral spiritual, choral secular; electronica and
radiophonic; symphonies and many, many variations… Whilst expensive consultants were not
necessarily involved in devising the current mission and purpose of this festival
run by the BBC since 1927, the key phrase now seems to be ‘something for (nearly)
everyone’.
Oh, and there’s also jazz…
…and this week, in these unprecedented times[ii] (a time when the British
Prime Minister seemed to bamboozle school children with a riff on/of confusion[iii] - and some Republican
Convention speakers may not always have stuck to the autocue), ‽istis reclaims
‘extemporisation’ and wonders about the balance in the Proms’ programme between:
·
the pieces with every passage and part played or
sung ‘off the page’ (following strictly the composition and the scoring,
faithfully reproduced)
·
the pieces and passages less annotated, less- or un-scored;
based and building on sound and shared principles, experience and expertise; presented
by people in harmony, united and sharing an understanding of ‘what works’;
acknowledging, referencing, citing, adopting and adapting the best of past and
contemporary exponents and of acclaimed and proven forebears and peers…
·
the pieces and passages played genuinely and
uniquely there and then, ‘off piste’ melodies and accompaniments, tunes and
tones never heard quite like that before the very moment of their playing.
So, when the times are unprecedented and perhaps
even unique; when there is not necessarily a ‘playbook’ or a prescribed score
to follow - in times, for example, of a global pandemic – well, perhaps we need
the extemporised dexterity of jazz musicians to guide us through?
Confidence though surely needs
to be matched with competence and, lest we find ourselves completely ‘off-piste’
(or as bamboozled as a schoolchild in a photo-opportunistic press conference),
let’s hope the required extemporisation is indeed based and built on sound and
shared principles, experience and expertise; presented by people in harmony,
united and sharing an understanding of ‘what works’; acknowledging, referencing,
citing, adopting and adapting the best of past and contemporary exponents and
of acclaimed and proven forebears and peers…
And if we cannot have
that, then perhaps, possibly, maybe the best that those on the national stage
can do is to stop and listen, really listen and reflect – oh, for at least 4
minutes and 33 seconds[iv].
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this
week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders
[ii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53756242
[iii] https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Boris+Johnson+school+speech+Harry+Potter+sexist%3f&docid=13898878829457&mid=670C567F8DD599948211670C567F8DD599948211&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
[iv]
With thanks to John Cage, see for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoAbXwr3qkg
