New Ideas

One of my favorite parts of living in Philadelphia is having frequent opportunities to hear world-class music. I took full advantage of the city's musical resources this weekend. I spent Thursday evening at a piano recital by the Harvard musicologist Robert Levin, and on Saturday, I heard Stephen Hough join the Philadelphia Orchestra for a night of Russian music. On Sunday afternoon, I heard the Astral Artists present a program called "New Ideas," featuring modern chamber music and a world premiere of da l'Arte Della Danssar, a piece by their composer-in-residence and the 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner, Aaron Jay Kernis.

I'm not content with a high quantity of listening -- I care about quality. If I've learned anything from being a performing musician, it's that doing something well takes intense practice. That leads to a challenging question: How do you practice listening besides doing a lot of it?

Kernis's new piece actually helped me answer that question. Kernis set the following antiquated Italian line to music: "lo intellecto atento a quel che sona (roughly, 'the mind attentive to what sounds.')." As the soprano sang these words, the flute, harp, percussion, and viola gradually moved from frenzied, dissonant polyphony to calmer and simpler harmonies. Eventually, the singer and the flute joined in unison for the word sona (sounds).

That brief passage mirrors my listening patterns. I face a constant mental struggle at concerts. No matter how hard I try to lose myself in the music, trivial thoughts and concerns from my busy life eventually break through my mental guard. When they do, I practice better listening by forcing myself to be attentive to particular sounds. Sometimes I focus on rhythms; other times I concentrate on the shape of a specific instrumental line. Occasionally, I just hone in on the tonal colors of a particular instrument, such as the delicate chiff of the flute or the gleaming plinks of the harp. Whenever I lock into a particular sound, my distracting thoughts fade, and I settle back into unity with the music.

By bringing this listening technique to my attention, Sunday's concert didn't really give me a "New Idea," but it did help me better describe an old one. I hope that description can help some readers listen more deeply and remember that sometimes, the best way to get lost in the forest of music is to become absorbed in specific trees.