Mr Mark Sullivan, Director of Instrumental Music
As another generation of senior musicians prepares for their final Gala Concert, I find it fascinating that whenever I meet former students, the first question they ask after the chatter of re-acquaintance is: ‘What is the theme for the Gala Concert?’. The conversation then quickly moves to reminiscences and comparisons of the various occasions on which they performed and the vivid feelings of success and achievement that were experienced at the time.
This led me to questioning what makes the Gala Concert such a memorable experience and why it has such a lasting impact for the participants.
The answer can be found in Professor Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi’s Theory of Optimal Experience. A former Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, Professor Csíkszentmihályi devoted his life’s work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled.
Known also as ‘flow’, his theory asserts that people enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in an activity that involves the whole being, during which they lose their sense of time, and experience feelings of great satisfaction. During a flow experience people use their skills to the utmost, the ego falls away, time flies and the rewards are truly intrinsic.
In order to achieve a state of flow, a number of conditions must be present. These include: achievable tasks in relation to the available skills and abilities; clear goals set to achieve the task; focused concentration on a specific field; opportunities for immediate feedback; a deep effortless involvement without the everyday worries of life; an enjoyable experience with a high degree of personal control; and a loss of self-consciousness.
When flow is achieved, musicians are able to retrieve information, access ideas, apply practiced technical skills, compare sounds and make choices ‘that release the spirit of the composer from the page and connect with the emotions stimulated by the piece of music’ (Corporon, 2000, p. 92). This state of flow is an exhilarating and powerful feeling for the performer.
Edward S. Lisk in his book, The Creative Director: Alternative Rehearsal Techniques, refers to this intense emotional state as a ‘summit or spiritual experience where an altered state of consciousness is achieved through musical expression’. He goes on to say that ‘the summit experience is a basic necessity of all human beings and the reason for study, practice and knowledge’ and that ‘continued occurrences of this state encourage and motivate the students to greater involvement, accomplishment and expectations’ (Lisk, 1991, p. 13).
For a student in a choir or instrumental ensemble to experience a state of flow, the development of the group must be carefully prepared and managed in order to reach the ultimate performance experience.
Lisk asserts that:
the priority of an ensemble rehearsal is to unify the group’s perception of the composer’s intent along with synchronizing the timing of the physical skills necessary to produce a musical result. There must be a rhythm of thinking and timing by all ensemble members and minds must work in concert (Lisk, 1996, p. 21).
In practical terms this means that, in addition to the basics of pitch, rhythm, phrasing, articulation and dynamics, musicians must be taught how to react spontaneously with other ensemble members to execute the slightest adjustments to balance, blend and intonation, in order to achieve unity in performance.
Lisk identifies five levels of ensemble development required in the achievement of a summit experience. During the first level, students deal with the mechanical functions of the piece — time signatures, key signatures, note values, rhythm, articulation and dynamics.
The second level is repetition where the initial skills are practised repeatedly to achieve accuracy and precision. Repetition must be through a logical, sequential process in order for the cerebellum to accurately store these motor skills.
In level three, the focus moves to the structure of a piece, where students visualise and hear the total sound of the work while shaping and developing musical aspects such as motifs, phrasing, transitions and tempo changes.
Level four is the transition point where there is a shift to the functions of perception, creating conceptual images and developing expressive qualities. These are complex concepts to develop as we are dealing with ideas unseen, unheard and difficult to explain verbally, as well as the challenge of enabling each individual’s unique expression of feelings and emotions.
Level five is reached when all previous procedures have been developed, and the performers can free themselves from the verbal, analytical, mathematical mode of thinking and allow the images of beauty, emotion and expressive qualities to take over. An holistic state is experienced when the performer achieves total involvement of all the senses in the musical experience, and an internal feeling of openness and freedom.
Each year the Gala Concert is conceived and planned to provide the vehicle for a true summit experience for the performers. The theme is set, the repertoire is selected, soloists are auditioned, rehearsals are planned, infrastructure is put in place and the preparation begins. The variables are many and the stakes are high in this pursuit of the ultimate performance experience. It is a risky business, but with the combined efforts of the gifted and dedicated staff, the talented young musicians, the significant logistical assistance of the Music Support Group and the general support from School staff and the wider community, the final result is one that creates a significant and lasting memory.
The theme and title of this, our nineteenth Gala Concert was chosen to celebrate the Music Department and reflect on its development in this 140th anniversary year. As Time Goes By is an example of the balance between high challenge and high skills, and has provided a variety of opportunities for the adolescent performers to explore a wide range of feelings and emotions that will engage, entertain and captivate the audience.
On Saturday night, more than four hundred young musicians and community choir members will be taking the risk as they search for musical meaning and that special moment that sends a chill through the audience. The hope is that the weekly music lessons, endless scales and arpeggios, ear training, tutorials, auditions and rehearsals will all converge to reach the state of flow which is the source of another powerful and lasting personal experience.
References
Corporon, E.M. (2000). Fervor, focus, flow, and feeling: Making an emotional connection. In R. Miles (Eds.), Teaching music through performance in band, Vol. 3 (pp. 81–101). Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.
Lisk, E. (1991). The Creative Director: Alternative Rehearsal Techniques. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Meredith Music Publications.
Lisk, E. (1996). The Creative Director: Intangibles of Musical Performance. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Meredith Music Publications.