As usual, my observations are really basic, but it's because i believe that more often than not, we take little things and big things as well, for granted. Thinking that we know everything, or that we know the outcome of things or that we have seen that specific thing or something like it, before. I think as human beings, we don't know s**t. And, as i said, i think more often than not we are WRONG. Or just simply absent minded, absorbed in our own heads, in our faulty thought process or some other mundane aspect of our life. Ok, maybe i am being a little pessimistic, or i just simply had a bad night... nonetheless i think it's pretty close to being true, at least for me.
So, as obvious as it might sound, i decided to have 3 people play the same piece of classical music on a classical guitar and observe. Sorry i have no images up here, but i lost my crack copy of Final Cut and i couldn't digitize the DV tape on time.
The piece is a very sweet love piece of classical guitar music that some call Romanza and some call differently because it's an anonymous author. It's one of my favorite pieces of simple classical guitar music.
I played it, my friend Gadi (jazz musician/musical synthesis engeneer) played it and so did my old woodwork teacher from Boston, Walter. Again, it was a fairly simple excercise, but i was surprised about the fact that a short, fairly straightforward piece of written music could be played in such different manners by the 3 of us. Not one version was similar to the next. Everything differed, from the way we held the guitar (i held it close to how you hold a classical guitar, but not quite; Gadi held it like a regular guitar; Walter played it in the most proper way) to the way the strings were struck, from our posture, although we were all sitting, to the way the music sounded after all. And again it might have been something very predictable, but by looking at the sheet of music i would have never guessed.
Classical guitar is, in my opinion, a very sentimental and emotional instrument. I consider string instruments to have that quality, maybe because of their resonance they sound to me melancolic and very nostalgic. Also because of the echo it produces, i feel like the notes are like memories that stay impressed in your hears and mind for a long time after. And as a very personal instrument, we all play it in a very personal way. The strenght with which we strike the nylon strings or the metal strings varies. Our take on the music varies. I interpret this piece as a sad love song, Gadi interpreted it as a much more dynamic relationship, while Walter had a very polished and romantic sound. I also thought that there was a correlation between the way we phisically played the guitar, the way we looked while playing it, the way we sat and the way the music sounded. Also, probably fairly obvious, but i would have never known what i looked like or sounded like until i taped myselfand re-watched.
The point of this observation excercise was to look at people interact with traditional musical instruments, such as the classical guitar which is what i know best. And i always have the tendency to start from what i know best. This was helpful in trying to figure out how to make something 'musical' or some kind of instrument that made noise and how to consider the end user and his/her need.
There is an obvious need for emotion, or rather for the space to express emotion. There is a need for materials that suit the purpose of the instrument and there is a need for design. Whether we are going to take a traditional instrument and modify or we are going to create one from scratch. Either way, there is a need for playfulness, emotion and personal interpretation. So it shouldn't be too structured and stiff because things that are too structured or come with a difficult set of instructions are harder to follow and a lot less fun! (one lesson i learnt from my Red's class presentation!!!!!!)
