Teachers’ Topic of the Day by Ian Clarke

A BRIEF EXPLORATION OF GESTURE

Through playing with different kinds of gesture … physical, verbal, pictorial … and attempting to embody these in short improvised phrases, we will explore the relationship between intention and action in playing, as well as between the reality of live-performance and notation.  We will try some practical games around gesture in order to ask questions and discover more about how we communicate in performance.  How is this notated if we create our own short phrase or melody?  Are our flute-playing skills fulfilling our imaginative expectations?  Can we learn more about the gestures in the music we interpret or create?