I find I have many passionate interests in life I try to follow a bit.
One of them is to try and understand classical music better. I enjoy
an extremely wide range of music but my musical education has always
been extremely limited.
Over the years I discovered BBC Music, a British magazine dedicated to
classical music that also includes CD's with complete works (unlike
other classical music magazines that have CD's with pieces to try and
get you to buy those CD's). I find it very interesting to gain some
more knowledge about things I enjoy.
The May 2004 issue has an article "the Final Score – can a score ever
tell us exactly what the composer intended us to hear" by John Rink
that I feel incredibly parallels many issues in the transmission of
Karate, especially on the question about a kata's original
composer.
Consider how exacting music has been transcribed for hundreds of
years. Exact notation in infinite detail, much more than the shape of
kata. Yet the article suggests other issues worth considering. From
page 30.
"Performers often say their goal is to realize `the composer's
intentions'. On the face it seems noble enough, but can such an
ambition ever be achieved, and if so to what avail? And which
composer's intentions' do they mean: those at the time of the music's
conception, or when the first manuscript was finished, or when
proof sheets of the first edition were corrected, or at the first
performance, or after years of performances and if so corrected by
whom? What if those intentions conflict – and what if the composer's
view of the music was less fixed than our own might be, whether as
listeners or performers."
"These questions are difficult to answer, and they challenge any
simple truths we might choose to hold about how music "should" sound.
The fact of the matter is that when it comes to composer's
intentions, we believe what we want to believe – and our beliefs are
inevitably based on knowledge that is less than complete. Taking hold
of someone else's music, whether in words or in performance, requires
educated guesswork on the one hand and our own creativity on the
other. That partly explains why no account of the music could ever
conform to what the composer intended: we as interpreters and
co-creators get in the way. And for all the convictions we might have
about how composers X and Y wanted their music performed, no one has
the requisite insight or authority that some have proclaimed over the
years….."
"Chopin offers a particularly interesting case study of how
`composer's intentions' can change over time. His artistic
convictions were more or less immutable and passionately, if quietly,
held, and with few exceptions, he dismissed those performances of his
works violated the aesthetic principles that he professed. But he was
far from rigid when performing his own music. ……we know from Alfred
Hopkins… that Chopin never played his own compositions twice alike,
but varied each according to the mood of the moment.'….."
"…his creative genius was irrepressible and forever engaged. To that
extent he continually modified his compositions on paper as well as in
performance….. Chopin reveled in the music's creative potential by
indulging in all manner of variants, whether in a given piece or at
successive stages of the compositional process."
"… So which reflects of the two extant manuscripts best reflects
Chopin's intentions: the earlier of the two, prepared when he was most
alert and his ideas freshest, or the later one, copied out more of
less mechanically but with the opportunity to refine initial thoughts
and introduce new ones?"
Think how this parallels so many questions we hold about the origins
of the Okinawan arts? What was the right version of Seisan kata? The
original created one? Or later versions on the theme?
I think that a link such as karate to Chopin's music may suggest the
study of the kata may never have been a fixed shape as much as a theme
to work with.
If the originator of a kata could return today? Would they be
distressed that kata drift occurs, or would they be thrilled their
original theme continues with new life generation after generation?
Composed listening to Beethovan's 2nd and 4th Symphony
One of them is to try and understand classical music better. I enjoy
an extremely wide range of music but my musical education has always
been extremely limited.
Over the years I discovered BBC Music, a British magazine dedicated to
classical music that also includes CD's with complete works (unlike
other classical music magazines that have CD's with pieces to try and
get you to buy those CD's). I find it very interesting to gain some
more knowledge about things I enjoy.
The May 2004 issue has an article "the Final Score – can a score ever
tell us exactly what the composer intended us to hear" by John Rink
that I feel incredibly parallels many issues in the transmission of
Karate, especially on the question about a kata's original
composer.
Consider how exacting music has been transcribed for hundreds of
years. Exact notation in infinite detail, much more than the shape of
kata. Yet the article suggests other issues worth considering. From
page 30.
"Performers often say their goal is to realize `the composer's
intentions'. On the face it seems noble enough, but can such an
ambition ever be achieved, and if so to what avail? And which
composer's intentions' do they mean: those at the time of the music's
conception, or when the first manuscript was finished, or when
proof sheets of the first edition were corrected, or at the first
performance, or after years of performances and if so corrected by
whom? What if those intentions conflict – and what if the composer's
view of the music was less fixed than our own might be, whether as
listeners or performers."
"These questions are difficult to answer, and they challenge any
simple truths we might choose to hold about how music "should" sound.
The fact of the matter is that when it comes to composer's
intentions, we believe what we want to believe – and our beliefs are
inevitably based on knowledge that is less than complete. Taking hold
of someone else's music, whether in words or in performance, requires
educated guesswork on the one hand and our own creativity on the
other. That partly explains why no account of the music could ever
conform to what the composer intended: we as interpreters and
co-creators get in the way. And for all the convictions we might have
about how composers X and Y wanted their music performed, no one has
the requisite insight or authority that some have proclaimed over the
years….."
"Chopin offers a particularly interesting case study of how
`composer's intentions' can change over time. His artistic
convictions were more or less immutable and passionately, if quietly,
held, and with few exceptions, he dismissed those performances of his
works violated the aesthetic principles that he professed. But he was
far from rigid when performing his own music. ……we know from Alfred
Hopkins… that Chopin never played his own compositions twice alike,
but varied each according to the mood of the moment.'….."
"…his creative genius was irrepressible and forever engaged. To that
extent he continually modified his compositions on paper as well as in
performance….. Chopin reveled in the music's creative potential by
indulging in all manner of variants, whether in a given piece or at
successive stages of the compositional process."
"… So which reflects of the two extant manuscripts best reflects
Chopin's intentions: the earlier of the two, prepared when he was most
alert and his ideas freshest, or the later one, copied out more of
less mechanically but with the opportunity to refine initial thoughts
and introduce new ones?"
Think how this parallels so many questions we hold about the origins
of the Okinawan arts? What was the right version of Seisan kata? The
original created one? Or later versions on the theme?
I think that a link such as karate to Chopin's music may suggest the
study of the kata may never have been a fixed shape as much as a theme
to work with.
If the originator of a kata could return today? Would they be
distressed that kata drift occurs, or would they be thrilled their
original theme continues with new life generation after generation?
Composed listening to Beethovan's 2nd and 4th Symphony
1 comment:
Well said sir. The parallels are there. As you continue your practice change will occur. Muscle memory , understanding , insight and aging will influence that "change" . Good article .
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