By: Jameson Falconer
When one talks about the interplay of the body and mind in classical music, it can go in many directions. I happen to think of this mind/body dualism from mainly two perspectives, from the music itself (what the performers or performers present) and the audience’s perspective of the music based on their own personal experiences. The first perspective suggests the idea that the body language of the performer as well as the music the performer presents can affect the audience. Usually in classical music, the performer embodies a poised appearance with the semblance of effortlessness. This in return will please the audience. The audience aspect is a little bit more complex. The reaction of the audience is solely based on their own prior knowledge and experiences. Overall, audiences are typically more quiet during a concert with classical music being performed in respect to the art-form. However, this also depends on the audience, who’s performing, and what the audience knows about the performance/ who’s performing.
For example, Luciano Pavarotti (his picture above) is very well known for his interpretation of “La Donna é Mobile” and as you watch this video of him performing this piece, you’ll notice that there’s no visible or audible audience participation until the clapping at the end. This is because the audience expects to hear Luciano Pavarotti (a classical vocalist) performing “La Donna é Mobile” (a classical piece). However, what happens when it’s not him performing “La Donna é Mobile”? In this second video, Pavarotti still performs “La Donna é Mobile” but this time he’s accompanied by contemporary vocalists: Whitney Houston, Sting, and Elton John. When watching this video you’ll notice that whenever Whitney Houston, Sting, or Elton John perform a section of “La Donna é Mobile”, they are acknowledged by a round of applause. Whenever Pavarotti sings a section of the same piece, there’s no applause. This proves that the expectations as well as their prior knowledge of the performer and the performance greatly affects their reaction physically and mentally to a performance. This audience already knew that Pavarotti could sing this piece and sing it incredibly; however, they didn’t know that Whiney Houston, Sting, and Elton John could. Even when they messed up some of the Italian or the notes of melody, the audience still cheered them on and clapped for them. Their expectations were lower and given that the other performers were more outside of the classical realm, the audience may have felt less obligated to restrain themselves such as a traditional classical audience would have.
Q Classical Explosion 