By Wissam Boustany

   

A while back, during a meeting with our teacher member Carolyn Kelly, she asked me about my views concerning where to stand when performing. That woke up a whole load of conflicting thoughts immediately – about voicing what is ‘right’ without seeming ‘dogmatic’. How is it possible to hold a strong view that is fundamental to your effectiveness as a performer, without losing respect for the fact that others may have different views? Difficult…you just have to go with the flow of your own views and hope that youyr love and respect for others saves you from unnecessary misunderstandings.

Here are the concepts that need to be addressed, when deciding where the best place to stand is:

1. Projection of sound
2. Projection of presence
3. Blending with piano
4. Communication with your pianist

 

STANDING BEHIND THE PIANIST

A considerable number of flutists feel they need to stand behind the pianist, in order to be able to project their sound and articulation through to the audience. The idea is that the flute sound travels at a tangent, sideways and outwards, so the flute player needs to be able to point the flute towards the audience somewhat. In terms of sound projection, this is probably true – but a whole lot more needs to be taken into consideration in performance, beside the projection of your own sound.

This position puts the pianist at a severe disadvantage, because in order to see you, he/she needs to turn backwards and away from the music they are reading! This really looks very unnatural and stops the general flow of communication dead in its tracks. Of course there are some players who manage to communicate well in this position – but that really is against all the odds of practicality.

The other disadvantage is that, while it is true that the flute sound can be projected well from this position, it creates a separation of sound between the flute and the piano – a kind of stereo effect that is not necessarily desirable. Surely one of the most important aspect of our playing as a duo, is to be able to BLEND our sounds together, making the flute melt into the enveloping harmony around it?

We need to also remember that we are not only projecting our sound when we are performing…we project our PRESENCE as well – if we are standing slightly sideways to the audience, this begins to look a little unnatural. When you are communicating with a person, surely it is best to face them, if you want a truly functional discussion?  Body language counts for a HUGE amount of what happens between people when they are communicating with each other.

 

STANDING IN THE BAY OF THE PIANO

In my view, this is by far the best position for performing in a recital situation….but it needs to be done correctly, bearing in mind all of the above numbered criteria, if your performance is to be successful.

You need to stand in just the right place, allowing you to simultaneously maintain contact with your pianist using minimal movement, project your presence and your sound to the audience, avoid the full blast of the open lid of the piano (see below) and blend with the resonating chords of the piano. It is possible to do all that while standing in one, deeply rooted spot, radiating intense energy outwards. You need experiment and find this spot.

 

PIANO LID

I would encourage you to perform with the piano lid fully open. In my experience, pianists actually wind up playing with more force when the lid is down – because they are instinctively trying to the adjust for the lack of clarity, articulation and projection that this results in. Try covering your mouth…and notice how you wind up speaking, in order to make yourself understood. Having the lid open allows for all the resonances of the piano to happen more naturally, meaning that the pianist can begin to play with more subtlety. Also, the open lid looks GREAT visually, particularly when the audience is waiting for you to come out, in anticipation of hearing a full, uncompromised sound coming out of two glorious instruments.

 

The flute and piano recital is a truly magnificent and diverse art form…approach it in a complete and pragmatic way, not just from the perspective of the flute…..

 

Wissam Boustany

wboustany@aol.com