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Embodying Music

The Body Tension of the Performer

One-day workshop with Ulrich Mosch and Marcus Weiss
13 August 2023, 10.00, Wilhelm-Petersen-Saal (tbc)

String and wind players interested in an active participation are asked to sign up for this workshop by indicating a piece that they would like to work on. Please email Marcus Weiss as soon as possible: tonus@darmstaedter-ferienkurse.de
The workshop is open to all other participants of the instrumental classes for passive participation.

The tonus of the performer’s body plays an important role on various levels of musical performance: on the level of instrumental playing (sound production, gestures, phrasing, articulation, etc.), on the level of communication among musicians in an ensemble or orchestra, or simply on the level of stage presence and communication with the audience. However, there has been no systematic research on this phenomenon, which often remains unconscious and is often underestimated. Neither music physiology, musicians’ medicine and music psychology, nor the theory of non-verbal communication or music theory, to name just a few of the disciplines involved, have to date dealt with this fascinating phenomenon in a systematic manner.

The event is designed as a workshop and will combine theoretical reflection and practical work with active participants. But even for those who cannot actively participate, the observation of the phenomenon and its effects will be very instructive and enlightening.

The practical part of the workshop will focus on the connection between the tonicity of the
performing individual and the inherent tension in the music itself. Individual musicians will play parts of pieces. As individual as each piece of music is, but also as individual as each musician, the corresponding tension relationships can be experienced in the playing body in the most diverse ways: the tonicity of the body connects with that of the music.

String and wind players interested in active participation are asked to sign up for this workshop, indicating a piece they would like to work on. The workshop is also open to listeners without active participation.