Here Comes Treble: Caged
...The musicians, pianist, ‘cellist and clarinettist, were ushered onstage and into the vast cage, which clanged shut behind them...
Isabel Bradley tells of an extraordinary concert when the music was "filtered'' through gaps between cage bars.
I often perform musical concerts in theatres that are in regular use as a venue for plays, it is impractical for theatre management to break down the set for a lunch time recital.
Among others, I’ve played on a stage set for a hilarious version of The Pirates of Penzance: the set contained a model of a shipwreck, a portrait of Queen Victoria and a couple of old landscapes, screens used for the necessary quick changes and the piano which my accompanist used. It was a rather intriguing setting and created a wonderful, warm ambience for a flute and piano recital.
At the same venue, concerts have been performed against sets of bedrooms, forests, bare floor-boards lit by green lights, which made the performers look incredibly ill, and a host of other bizarre backgrounds. Normally, they add interest for performers and audience alike.
A while ago, Leon and I attended a concert at the University of Johannesburg Arts Centre Auditorium. The stage was set for the later evening’s entertainment, a play with a large circular iron cage as the minimalist décor.
The musicians, pianist, ‘cellist and clarinettist, were ushered onstage and into the vast cage, which clanged shut behind them. The music, eight pieces by Max Bruch, was glorious.
Unfortunately, as I watched and listened, I had the impression that we, the audience, were physically distanced from the performers, more so than the usual gap between stage and seats. Having to watch them through an aperture formed by steel bars created the illusion that the musicians had shrunk. Moreover, their sound wasn’t as full as it should have been, I needed to lean closer to hear what the music was imparting to us. Obviously, the cage itself provided no physical barrier to the sound, it was merely perception.
I wondered if being confined within the cage gave the musicians the feeling of being shut away from their audience. If so, that illusion would have affected their playing.
A few weeks later, we heard the same musicians playing the same Bruch pieces at a different theatre, on a stage set as an elegant drawing-room, where the piano formed part of the set. Contact between performers and audience was immediate, the sound full and rich, the entire experience hugely rewarding for both.
When a performer steps onstage from the wings, he is no longer in his own personal space, he is open to the audience that waits for his offering. Performer and audience are fully receptive to each other’s actions and reactions, each dependent upon the other. Nothing but open, free-flowing space should separate a musician from his audience:
Musicians restricted,
Confined,
Communication limited:
Separated from those they’re trying to reach.
Desperate,
Sounds imprisoned,
Unable to escape…
Music should not be caged.
Until next time…. ‘here comes Treble!’
© Copyright Reserved
by Isabel Bradley
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To readf more of Isabel's well-tuned columns please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/here_comes_treble/
