If ever video would have significantly improved a performance experience, yesterday afternoon’s Old First Concerts offering provided an excellent opportunity. Korean musician Hwayoung Shon had prepared a solo performance on the gayageum, the Korean version of a plucked zither with twelve strings, closely related to the Japanese koto. She performed a single composition,“Scattered Melodies” by Kim Juk Pa. Lasting about 55 minutes, the music consisted of eleven sections, whose rhythms get progressively faster as the durations of the sections get progressively shorter. They are framed by daseuleum movements at the beginning and end, the opening laying out the themes that will be developed throughout the work.
The accompanying program listed the titles of these thirteen sections. However, because the overall approach to rhythm tended to be far freer than the more consistent pulsing of Western music, it was difficult to apprehend how the pace of those rhythms was increasing. Furthermore, the thirteen sections unfolded without noticeable pauses. Indeed, had the program not listed the titles of each of the sections, it would be fair to say that most listeners would not have been aware of any transitions.
Given the unfamiliarity of the content, even the most attentive listener needed all the help (s)he could get. This was a perfect opportunity for video technology to enhance the experience without interfering with it. All it would have provided would have been labels of the individual movements, deployed in easily-readable locations and fonts, which would have facilitated following the composition with the program sheet in hand. Presumably, Shon could have worked with a post-processing technician to supply this information; and those that had read the background material in the program book would have been far better equipped to make sense of it all.
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