What make a great musician?

[Kenneth Palmer]

You can have two individuals, with similar musical technical ability, play the same exact notes on a guitar and receive completely different reaction from the audience. You can also have musicians who train day in and day out and become extremely good at technically manipulating their instrument but when you hear them play, they hardly evoke any emotional reaction in the audience. On the other hand, you have the other kind of musicians, who may either be technically good or not, but their delivery always triggers a palpable emotional reaction in their audience. So what is the element that makes the difference?

[Kenneth Palmer]

Coudn't agree more!!!

Aaron Marshall said:

It's personality and feeling. You can have a brain surgeon who is extremely smart and skilled, but to talk to him at a party he might be a complete buffoon. A performance is a suave interaction with the audience. You make each of them feel like the individual that they are. Just because you can play 64th notes doesn't mean you have anything interesting to say or have had life experiences that translates to others. You have to feel it. You can be at any technical level, but you have to feel. I think that's how the audience judges the performance. There are droves of technically competent musicians. The ones that can actually feel are few and far between.

[Kenneth Palmer]

Heard a principle cellist of a major american symphony orchestra play a recital the other night. Listened for 3-4 minutes and was ready to leave and did leave after the first piece Reason: While technically brilliant I felt played AT rather than played TO-- I think musicians can use the drive for pure technical prowess as an acoholic uses booze to mask their feelings-- I saw pure arrogance, a palpable sense of dismissiveness emanating from his demeanor-- a posture that seem to say "Aren't you lucky to be listening to me" I felt offended rather than awe-struck It seems that "great music" has to necessarily be coming from a heartfelt CARING place


Kenneth Palmer said:

Coudn't agree more!!! Aaron Marshall said:

It's personality and feeling. You can have a brain surgeon who is extremely smart and skilled, but to talk to him at a party he might be a complete buffoon. A performance is a suave interaction with the audience. You make each of them feel like the individual that they are. Just because you can play 64th notes doesn't mean you have anything interesting to say or have had life experiences that translates to others. You have to feel it. You can be at any technical level, but you have to feel. I think that's how the audience judges the performance. There are droves of technically competent musicians. The ones that can actually feel are few and far between.