30 January 2008
Moving Beyond the Music Stand – Part Two
Image: Clarity Clarinet Quartet Members of Canberra-based Clarity Clarinet Quartet – Nicole Canham, Sam Kelson, Lisa Manning and Matthew O’Keeffe – have recently finished a week-long intensive workshop for their project Six Memos. resonate invited Clarity to blog about their experiences during the series of workshops. What follows is the second installment of their daily reflections. Read their first blog entry here.
Day Five
Yesterday we reached the point of finishing the opening scenes of the show, so today we set out to finish blocking the whole show. What an amazing day! Marrying movement, action and characterisation to the performance of this kind of repertoire is an incredible exercise in multiple layers of concentration. While the performance needs to appear to be natural, what it takes to recall everything required at the appropriate times (or even part of what is required) is a complex process. We weren’t sure we could still speak English by the end of the day…
Day Six
It became obvious when we ran the show for the first time from start to finish that we were perhaps not all speaking English in the same way, as we go through the process of remembering our show in its infancy. Clear instructions felt like vague memories. We try to help each other, but this only creates more confusion. We tell ourselves that there is still one month left until opening night, while we frantically plan our next rehearsals.
We are very excited about what we have achieved over these last few days and we are looking forward to show week. Six Memos: The unbearable lightness of being a clarinet quartet aims to take the audience on a raucous, vital, surprising, and eloquent journey that is one quartet’s investigation of the world of musical artistry.
Inspired and informed by current philosophies on lightness, the show explores the issue of what constitutes serious music in the 21st century. What is the difference between lightness and superficiality? Do different aesthetics carry different weights? What then shall we choose – weight or lightness?
Our work as a quartet asks you to leave pre-conceived notions of the clarinet at the door. Collaborating with stage director Caroline Stacey, visual artist David Sequeira and lighting designer David Longmuir has certainly challenged our conceptions about being a clarinet quartet in the world of music.
Further Links
Clarity Clarinet Quartet (www.clarity4.com)
Performance Details
Colliding Worlds Series – 1: Six Memos
Clarity Clarinet Quartet; Caroline Stacey (director), David Sequeira (visual set design), David Longmuir (lighting).
Canberra, 21 – 23 February, 8pm; 24 February 4pm
Info and Booking: www.thestreet.org.au
© Australian Music Centre (2008) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
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