Report and Interview (EN)

Markus Stockhausen giving an IMAM Course at the United World College, Montezuma, USA, November 2-5, 2010

Report and Interview

Last week, Markus Stockhausen, a German very well known musician and composer, staid in our community and played music with some of the school’s music students and faculty. After three days of rehearsing two hours per day, he played in a concert (Friday night) organized by the music department, accompanied with eleven of our most charismatic musicians (nine students and three music teachers).

Due to Markus’ reputation and his close relation to our school (father of one of our students), this newspaper, very attentive to the events happening in our community, met the need to follow the activities he organized and participated in, in order to tell about it to those who did not have the chance to share music with him personally.

This article has been written in two parts; the first part is a reflection-­‐evaluation of intuitive improvisation (which is the name he uses to designate the kind of music he plays), and the second part is an interview done to him in the afternoon of last Saturday the 6th.

PART 1: Markus Stockhausen and Intuitive Improvisation:

As one of the students who had the honor to play with him and tried to understand his philosophy of life through music, I have to say that my experience with him was quite transforming. I had never thought of music in the way he does, and the fact that I had the opportunity to play with him expanded my perception of music. Sentences such as “music gives you infinite possibilities, don’t limit yourself by
doing just that”, “music is food for the soul”, or “a melody doesn’t have to be regular. Look at the stars: are they distributed in a regular pattern? No, but they still draw beautiful shapes” dance within my most recent thoughts yet.

His philosophy of music-­‐playing is very meditative, and for him, music means expressing something at a very profound level (even deeper than words), and that may be why he likes to close his eyes while playing music (whenever it is possible). “The soloist tells a story, and the others have to listen to it well enough to understand what the story is about, so that they can decorate it in its pertinent style”, told us in the first session of intuitive improvisation, carried on Tuesday the
2nd.

Despite of his very deep philosophy of life, he often overflowed with sincerity and directness, in a way that surprised some of us in the rehearsals; if he found out about something wrong he would not hesitate to stop everybody from playing to review the error, that being, in my opinion, a good skill for somebody having to direct a group of musicians.

What did we do in every rehearsal? Even though he loves to improvise, he seemed to have a very clear conception of what to do in every meeting. That is how it usually worked: first, we dedicated a half an hour or so to do ear training, each person with his/her own instrument (he kept repeating how important ear training is for almost any improvisation exercise); second, we practiced the signs he usually uses to direct musicians towards the same direction while improvising; and third, we practiced improvising in particular scales. Afterwards, the rehearsals arrived to their freedom point, when he gave all the musicians the permission to improvise, regardless of a particular scale in the beginning, to find the union between them all in a coherently improvised piece, where “everything is possible, if in the adequate moment”.

In conclusion, intuitive improvisation ended up being quite successful for the group of UWC musicians that were playing with Markus, in a relatively short period of time, and even though most of us could not be considered professional musicians (yet!). Markus proved his great skill by, between other factors, showing us so much in a so short interval of time. In my experience as musician, I had never sang so relaxed and concentrated in front of an audience of more than 200 people: was it because we meditated for three minutes before stepping onto the stage? Or maybe because of his confidence and positive attitudes towards our capabilities?

PART 2: Interview to Markus Stockhausen:

What are the functions of music in your life?

“One is to fulfill myself; through music you grow exploring your own abilities, and you develop them further. And, it is by using them that you get use to search in new and unknown areas. Another function is this to meet other people at a very profound level, not only their ability to play but also the way they think or feel, their awareness, style, or fantasy. So, music can reveal much about yourself and others in very short periods of time, and especially when you improvise. Of course, another function is this to convey a message to people, to tell a story, or explain something through emotions: to get your inner ideas across to other people”.

What role do you believe that music has in the education and up growing of new generations?

“New generations? Any generation: old generations, young generations... I think that music is one of the key elements in education, and it has been stated that children who have music education are able to master other subjects very quickly. I think that it is because in playing an instrument or singing you enter into the world of music, which is very complex: through music composed by others you are absorbing their approach to life as well, and there’s rhythm, melody, harmony... Music requires you to be aware of many factors (play in tune, and in the same rhythm, at the adequate volume and at the exact moment, etc.) you have to be socially flexible to play with others. Hence, I think that music is a very important art in education and for the growth of men as a human being and as a soul”.

Bearing in mind the evolution of music in the last century, do you think that improvisation (intuitive improvisation) has a strong role in the music of future generations?

“Let’s go a little back in history. In medieval music there was some kind of improvisation for sure, where you could do the ornamentation of melodies inside compositions. And later, in the Classical period, a very good musician was able to improvise: J. S. Bach, for instance (end of the Renaissance), who was a master improviser (he was a virtuoso of several instruments, but specially in harpsichord – the instrument that we have in the Castle lobby), or, later, Franz Liszt... And I think all the great masters of music were also able to improvise, if they played an instrument. After some time, improvisation was somehow quite forgotten and started not to play any role into music. Centuries later, with the appearance of jazz improvisation was revived in Europe and in the US. And jazz has become more important, which means that there are jazz departments in almost every music high school (conservatory) in Europe, and I think that also in the US, and jazz is a very broad genre including the technique of improvisation in its roots. That causes many young musicians to explore through improvisation that gives an extra dimension to their music: infinite possibilities. Artists like this freedom”.

Do you think that the principles of improvisation are against those of composition?

“Decades ago, musicians were supposed to learn an instrument and interpret what was written in other scores composed by other musicians, and that was it; and there has been a very old fight between classical teachers and jazz teachers, because classical feel superior since they have often thought that improvisation is not something serious. But this is changing; improvisation has a much higher value now than 20 or 30 years ago. There is a trend to a progressive expansion of the possibilities in the world of music, but I don’t see improvisation in competition with composition; in fact, I think they develop in parallel”.

This is a school of young human individuals; and people of our ages are those who download music by Internet most. So, thinking about those who will read this interview: what are the issues that musicians have to face regarding piracy? To what extent does piracy affect the continuity of high-­quality music?

“Internet is a blessing but also a problem. It is a blessing because you can get your art out to many people, and there are many musicians who don’t really care about making money with their music, they just want to be heard. And also for the access to music that it represents for many people (Youtube and other websites represent a channel by which people have the opportunity to discover music from many perspectives). However, the problem is the illegal downloading of works that have an author right. The author right is this to have a life from selling your own recordings, and the problem comes when a musician cannot sustain her/himself because of the illegal downloading of his/her music by Internet users. I have experienced this problem myself. That is very sad, because it can affect the quality of music (if musicians cannot live from selling their own music maybe they’ll have to start working in another business).

Do you think that a solution to the problem is to be found in an alternative format to a CD?

Solutions to the problem are there, but they are not enough to save many musicians from failure, iTunes is an example. I think most important solutions can be through in Internet. Some other musicians are giving their CDs for free, asking people to pay voluntarily something for their music. Another aspect is that, when you need to live from you music, you find creative ways to do it: that is why I am sure that good alternatives will be found”.

Thank you very much for this interview, Markus.