Keys to Music - and Art
 On
Saturday October 22, that is, in the middle of our Annual Exhibition, I
was driving by myself on a trip that was to take over an hour, so I
switched on the radio and came across Graham Abbott’s “Keys to Music” on
ABC FM. As it happened the program was just starting. Graham started with
some very basic information on scales, and I thought (with my rudimentary
knowledge of music) “Oh yes, I know all that”. As he progressed I found I
didn’t know all that at all, as he started to talk about – and
demonstrated on the piano - major scales, minor scales, chromatic scales,
pentatonic scales, whole tone scales, and how the whole thing works – I
became very interested.
Then he spoke about how so much western music is based on scales, gave
examples and played musical works which use them as expressive devices. He
also reminisced about his days as a music student, and practising scales,
particularly having to learn scales on the foot pedals when learning the
organ.
 As
he played the various pieces, there was one very familiar one – the “Pas
de deux” from the suite of dances from Tchaikovsky’s ballet the
Nutcracker. I first knew this as a teenager, when my parents invested in a
“radiogram” and a set of classical LP records (probably the World Record
Club or similar). I have of course heard it and played it myself many,
many times since then. It is a highly expressive, passionate and emotional
piece, and I still love it. What I never realised (and I don’t know how I
could have missed it, it is very obvious) was that the often repeated
phrase which is the lynchpin of the whole piece is a complete descending
major scale. Dah - dah dah - da da - da da dah on the clarinet followed by
an ascending trill from the violins. This is repeated again and again with
ever mounting tension and passion until finally the whole piece resolves
with a most satisfactory denouement and ends with one ascending major
scale.
What is the point of all this you ask, that is if you have read so far,
because I know you are all artists and not necessarily musicians or music
listeners. The point is that after all this time of loving this piece, did
knowing the details of the musical devices used in it spoil it for me?
Having heard it again just the other day, I am quite sure that it hasn’t
spoilt it and I still love it. Taken to an extreme however, I feel that
too much knowledge could start to spoil musical appreciation.
Relating this to art viewing and appreciation, and being artists
ourselves, do we spend too much time dissecting artists’ devices -
composition, color balance, perspective and so on, and therefore are
responding intellectually rather than emotionally to the piece?
Many thanks to Graham Abbott of ABC FM and his interesting program “Keys
to Music” – it certainly started me thinking.
Back to the top |
