Saúl

Saúl, winter 2010-'11

Beautiful video

A must see.... take your time

New Amstel Quartet 'Amstel Raga' out now. Featuring Niti Ranjan Biswas, tabla. Available in the Amstel Records webshop in this site.

To feel or not to feel

A workshop I did with jazz pianist and Effortless Mastery author Kenny Werner changed my musical life. For me, his technique is described by this quote of his: ""The success of a performance is not determined by what I hear, but by the measure in which I could let go."". Sounds vague? Maybe a bit. But Mr. Werner gives very concrete exercises to practice this. Every run, phrase, etc. I study I now practice to not care, to let go. If I cannot play a certain run, I cannot let go. The technique itself is not the main goal though, this is very important. When I study like this - to be honest, it takes some will power - a practice session can be like a meditation in itself. If I really do it, I come out of my studio with more inspiration and energy than before.

To let the will to sound well go, is the key in the end.
And this brings me to another aspect during playing. How do you feel when you play? I never really thought about this. Until I started teaching. For me the main goal (until I met Mr. Werner) was to sound good and play well. Of course, it still is, but in my practice sessions I try to forget this. But I have a student who wants to feel well when he/she plays. Again, this is new to me.
This particular student wants to feel well, and if he (or she) does, the performance went well. But, to my ears, this is not always the case.
One thought pops into my mind: I often record my concerts, and I have noticed over the years that I play more interesting when I play with some resistance. This can be a mediocre reed, being slightly ill or tired (or very tired even!), bad acoustics. I think that with this resistance I give up the will to sound well and let go. I wish I didn't need it, but it is true many times. And lots of times when I feel well, when the airflow feels comfortable, my body feels relaxed, the sound is good and the reed is good (yes, I regularly find good reeds!), I notice I play a bit boring. Apparantly, I need to fight a little bit. This is my personality, when I think about it.
Of course, I cannot force this resistance, I wish I could. But music is too abstract. Too uncontrollable. And this is the magic of being a performer. And at the same time the hardest part of being one.
Sometimes we play fantastic and we felt bad on stage... Isn't that wonderful?!

Splendor openingsconcert

Beste donateurs, beste vrienden,

Na een ruim jaar voorbereiden en plannen maken is het zover:
 
Splendor gaat beginnen!

Wij zijn daar zo blij mee dat we op zondagmiddag 16 januari 2011 speciaal voor de 400 mensen die ons als donateur willen ondersteunen een feestconcert geven.

Op deze unieke middag laten de musici van Splendor hun allermooiste, meest dierbare of allernieuwste muzikale juwelen horen. Op dit rijk geschakeerde Splendor-programma staat onder meer muziek van Albinoni door Mike del Ferro, celloduetten door Floris Mijnders en Johan van Iersel, John Cage door Claron McFadden, maar ook Helena Rasker, Michiel Weidner, Gerard Bouwhuis en Maarten Ornstein in een uitzonderlijke De Falla, uitbundige feestmuziek van Martin Fondse, wereldpremières van Wilbert Bulsink en Bart de Vrees, pianomuziek van Satie op hobo en cymbaal, een Argentijnse tango en nog heel veel meer! Én, als klap op de vuurpijl, is er ook een prijs te winnen: een huisconcert door vier Splendor-musici naar keuze.

Wij kijken er naar uit jullie op 16 januari te mogen ontmoeten. We horen graag van tevoren of je komt en met hoeveel personen op ReserveringenSplendor@gmail.com. Introducés zijn ook van harte welkom! Ook als je helaas verhinderd bent of andere plannen hebt horen we dit graag.

Hartelijke groet namens alle musici en het bestuur van Splendor,


Wilmar de Visser, initiator

Feestconcert Splendor
zondag 16 januari 2010 16.00 uur
het Zonnehuis 
Zonneplein 30 Amsterdam