Work of Art

Initially, my thought for this project was to feature the orchestra I play with.  There is so much that goes into the work of art that is orchestral playing.  It starts with the composer.  Every composer makes numerous decisions about how they want their piece to sound.  Form, chord progressions, instrumentation, dynamics, accents, the list goes on and on.  Then the conductor gets his or her say.  They, ultimately, decide the tempo (composers often indicate a tempo, but the conductor really gets the final say), ask the musicians to play in certain ways, with certain styles, some get all the way to what part of the bow to use or what string to play on.

Then there are the musicians.  Each musician is constantly making decisions that affect the whole work, and all these decisions come together to help create the final product.

I thought, this would be great.  I could film some of our rehearsals, with Dr. Falskow, the conductor, making decisions and changes, I could film the final performance, could interview Dr. Falskow as well as several of the musicians.  However, as I got down to the end of the assignment, there was a major bug in this plan.  The project is due April 15.  We just had a performance, and are now beginning a month-long break, and we won't get back together again until early April, with our next performance in mid-May.  So, that wouldn't work.

Instead, I'll take a look at a solo work.  Bach wrote six sonatas and six partitas for unaccompanied violin.  These will be much easier from a practical standpoint, and also much simpler to explore.  That's not to say they're simple; not at all.  However, with only one instrument, there's only a couple hundred different little details to look at rather than thousands.  I can also include a clip of a professional playing the piece, which will assist in showing the difference between an "ordinary" performance and a "compelling" one.