Musicality

How can we explain musicality ? Musicality is a complex human action as a result of many factors. The first pre-requisite is the feeling for rhythm and the ability to reproduce the preset rhythm. An exact ear or the understandings of acoustical sensations is absolutely necessary as the next pre-requisite as well again the ability to reproduce acoustical sensations in precise pitch. But this are pre-requisites only.

The other important requirements: an instantaneous understanding of written rhythm and written music including all different expression and dynamical marks. But not enough: instantaneous understanding of the given mood is also necessary, plus the ability to integrate one's own playing into the organism of the music and/or of the ensemble.

Again, this is not enough: one has to understand where to place the beat or more emphasis, one has to understand one's own importance or unimportance as part of the musical action. One has to know also which notes are more important than others, where to reduce the dynamics even for up to two steps or where to rise the dynamic level even for up to two or sometimes three steps.

And again, this is not enough, as one has to understand the musical forms & miniforms ("gruppetti") instantaneously.

Some of this abilities can be acquired by hard work or simple experience: rhythmical training, ear training, recognizing forms knowing the works very well. Exact memory for music is a good tool also, but requires some analytic memory. Feeling for forms & the interaction between forms can be developed by great experience in the arts, in all arts, which can be acquired by visiting museums, reading encyclopaedias, specially about the classical arts from Egyptian arts to Greece & Rome. So one gets a feeling about esthetic.

But most of it, musicality is depending on intelligence as it is part of the intelligence. Provocative ? Me ? Yes ! You should know, that shaking the body more or less within the rhythm or starting grinning while listening music or starting humming less out of tune than others, that's not musicality. Musicality is more. Playing a piece in tune, playing the right notes at the right place, is not enough. Musicality is more. Like intelligence it is a gift of nature, plus much work.

If you listen to certain chords, and it starts running down your back icecold, and your flesh begins to creep, that's where musicality starts. If you listen to music, and you feel like flying in outer space, that's where musicality starts. If you listen to music, and you become angry or sad, that's where musicality starts. And if you are able, to bring others into the moods said above by your playing, well, then you are a musical musician.

Think about.
Prof.Hans Pizka