(Original Link - http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/878228--beethoven-and-your-brain-a-synaptic-symphony?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4cbfbc74a4bd6c6b,0)
Think of a new piece of music you heard recently. Chances are you knew right away if you liked it, hated it, or didn’t care.
Now try to describe what caused that instant reaction. If you’re like most people, it isn’t easy translating a visceral impulse into words.
That made conductor Edwin Outwater think. “Everyone always talks or writes about music in terms of structure; no one ever describes it in terms of effect,” he says.
To help him make the point, the dynamic and inventive music director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony has teamed up with McGill University neuroscientist Daniel Levitin — author of This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs — to present a very different kind of concert at Koerner Hall next Wednesday night.
In “Beethoven and Your Brain,” Outwater, his orchestra and Levitin are going to take the audience through the infamous Symphony No. 5, focusing on what has kept this music so fresh and compelling over the two centuries since its premiere.
Rather than an old-fashioned show-and-tell, this concert is about an involved audience. Outwater says as many patrons as possible will be given electronic “clickers” to measure reactions throughout the symphony.
“We’re going to show the results of each poll on a big screen,” Outwater explains. “It’ll be a way for audience members to feel a sense of community with each other.”
Much of the focus will be on showing how “predictive” our brains are — that we expect the music we hear to do certain things. If those expectations are met, we are likely to enjoy the music; if the music keeps crashing into our expectations, we get upset.
Outwater, palpably energized by this project, talks about how Beethoven plays with expectations in his symphony, beginning with the strange pause at the end of the famous “ba-ba-ba-bam” opening.
“And how does that relate to the world around us?” Outwater asks. “Could it be like suddenly hearing a car alarm go off?”
The conductor and Levitin hit it off after an initial meeting two years ago, and co-wrote a big chunk of the evening’s script by trading emails during their busy schedules.
Toronto gets the premiere performance. They repeat their experiment on Oct. 28 and 29 at the Conrad Centre in Kitchener, and hope that there will be interest farther afield in the future.
“I’m really nervous about it,” Outwater admits, smiling. Conductors are expected to make music, not talk about it.
But the native Californian isn’t going in cold.
“I sang in an a cappella chorus in college,” Outwater recalls. The group linked its musical numbers with jokey introductions. “We learned timing really fast.”
The conductor admits he didn’t come to classical music until he was 14. “I had an epiphany,” he adds, wishing that more people would let go their inhibitions and give the genre a try.
“So many people are afraid of asking questions,” he says. “They’re afraid that they might not like it.”
Outwater says that finding out what he does for a living causes many people to wonder what that means. “Well, the music’s all there on paper, right?” is a common reaction.
The maestro has his answer ready: “How many ways are there to say, ‘To be, or not to be?’” he asks, launching into several very different versions. He’ll then tell that person that it’s the conductor’s job to choose which version is going to get heard from the stage.
“As soon as I’ve done that, people understand what interpretation means, right away,” Outwater says with a smile.
He hopes “Beethoven and Your Brain” will offer up more of those “aha” moments — along with some fine musicmaking.
Now try to describe what caused that instant reaction. If you’re like most people, it isn’t easy translating a visceral impulse into words.
That made conductor Edwin Outwater think. “Everyone always talks or writes about music in terms of structure; no one ever describes it in terms of effect,” he says.
To help him make the point, the dynamic and inventive music director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony has teamed up with McGill University neuroscientist Daniel Levitin — author of This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs — to present a very different kind of concert at Koerner Hall next Wednesday night.
In “Beethoven and Your Brain,” Outwater, his orchestra and Levitin are going to take the audience through the infamous Symphony No. 5, focusing on what has kept this music so fresh and compelling over the two centuries since its premiere.
Rather than an old-fashioned show-and-tell, this concert is about an involved audience. Outwater says as many patrons as possible will be given electronic “clickers” to measure reactions throughout the symphony.
“We’re going to show the results of each poll on a big screen,” Outwater explains. “It’ll be a way for audience members to feel a sense of community with each other.”
Much of the focus will be on showing how “predictive” our brains are — that we expect the music we hear to do certain things. If those expectations are met, we are likely to enjoy the music; if the music keeps crashing into our expectations, we get upset.
Outwater, palpably energized by this project, talks about how Beethoven plays with expectations in his symphony, beginning with the strange pause at the end of the famous “ba-ba-ba-bam” opening.
“And how does that relate to the world around us?” Outwater asks. “Could it be like suddenly hearing a car alarm go off?”
The conductor and Levitin hit it off after an initial meeting two years ago, and co-wrote a big chunk of the evening’s script by trading emails during their busy schedules.
Toronto gets the premiere performance. They repeat their experiment on Oct. 28 and 29 at the Conrad Centre in Kitchener, and hope that there will be interest farther afield in the future.
“I’m really nervous about it,” Outwater admits, smiling. Conductors are expected to make music, not talk about it.
But the native Californian isn’t going in cold.
“I sang in an a cappella chorus in college,” Outwater recalls. The group linked its musical numbers with jokey introductions. “We learned timing really fast.”
The conductor admits he didn’t come to classical music until he was 14. “I had an epiphany,” he adds, wishing that more people would let go their inhibitions and give the genre a try.
“So many people are afraid of asking questions,” he says. “They’re afraid that they might not like it.”
Outwater says that finding out what he does for a living causes many people to wonder what that means. “Well, the music’s all there on paper, right?” is a common reaction.
The maestro has his answer ready: “How many ways are there to say, ‘To be, or not to be?’” he asks, launching into several very different versions. He’ll then tell that person that it’s the conductor’s job to choose which version is going to get heard from the stage.
“As soon as I’ve done that, people understand what interpretation means, right away,” Outwater says with a smile.
He hopes “Beethoven and Your Brain” will offer up more of those “aha” moments — along with some fine musicmaking.
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