OK, your comments for me are great!
I just wonder though - when you are playing the piano perhaps your objective is to interpret the composer's intent as closely as possible. That is one type of musicality. When Charlie Parker was playing a great jazz chorus on "Indiana" I think he was showing a musical genius the world had never seen at that time. He wasn't really expressing the composer's original intent. He was expressing his own feelings and musicality. Is that any less musical than a classical performer trying to play Mozart the way Mozart had intended?
It might be interesting to hear from some dancers or skaters or gymnasts and their feelings about musicality, how it was taught them from an interpretive point.
Skating is so unique - unlike dancing it can provide at time's an almost magical gliding feeling along with other elements provided by skates meeting ice.
I think Irina was artistic, she could catch you with her performances but she was not a ballerina.
Some skaters are just wonderful even if they are skate circles around the ring to the music. This is artistry gift or musicality?
This is almost unanswerable. I guess I find skaters musical when they:
* move to the rhythm of the music
* find a personal way to express the emotional heights of the music - usually by a combination of facial expression and gesture (esp. head movements)
* generally convince me they HEAR the music at all! So often the music is just a backdrop and could be anything!
Well, I took ballet for a couple of years and I was never able to dance musically. I hear the music, all right, but you'd never know it by watching me. And I've seen many unmusical dancers, alas!I agree. In dance, the term musicality refers to moving in time with the music. Regardless of how one defines musicality, it always involves listening to what the music does, and in skating, being able to skate with the ebbs and flows of the music (in time, of course). I think skating doesn't properly train that because attention is placed on all the different technical aspects required of skating. I think one must take dance lessons to really work on musicality. Music lessons help, but dance lessons is more applicable to skating because it involves moving your body to music. That's why I think taking dance lessons is really critical for someone who wants to take their skating seriously since skating lessons doesn't address musicality sufficiently.
I never felt great musicality from any of the recent Russian male champions.Their musicality was good or even better than average but not that impressive to me. They were extremely dramattic and very theatrical - and of course technically superior. It was enough to win but not sure if any of them approached Kurt Browning at his best when it came to musical interpretation.
I feel that guys like Lysacek "Uhh, what's classical music? Is that something extraterrestrial?" and Joubert "Every time I expressed some melody with arms and upper body, would make me, OMG, g..g...ggg...ga...gay!" limit themselves, and the worst thing is - both do it on purpose. (Ahemm, those aren't literal quotes) Just go speedskating already, or play ice-hockey! But Joubert only after an Olympic medal, I still like him (don't look at me, heck, I'm only human and female on the top of it).
Really the entire post is great, but this in particular is a good observation.musicality has to be awakened, you have to allow yourself to get a feeling for melodies, for rhythms, you have to open up to the emotionality of music. You have to flow with it, take the different feelings, ideas, fantasies, imaginations and impulses the music initiates in you and turn them into movements.
The unfortunate thing is that I think Joubert is perfectly capable of being more expressive in his programs, but it's not in his comfort zone for competitive skating. After the Worlds gala, some people were really surprised - Joubert skating to non-techno, non-soundtrack music and doing it well! I wish he could bring some of that into his competitive programs. I don't know why he doesn't. Maybe he figures if it's not broken he shouldn't fix it. But I would like to see him with two programs next season that are musically and stylistically different from each other. Albena, Maxim, please make him do that!Joubert "Every time I expressed some melody with arms and upper body, would make me, OMG, g..g...ggg...ga...gay!"[/I] limit themselves, and the worst thing is - both do it on purpose. (Ahemm, those aren't literal quotes) Just go speedskating already, or play ice-hockey!
Plushy also!!LOL, thats one common thingp.s. Joubert wanted to do hockey as a child but picked figure skating because he liked jumping. Ha, is anyone surprised?
Abbott uses everything except for his face.
That is a very interesting reply and I almost used them for an example.
What I wonder about is the fact that Caroline is supposedly a very good violin player. Caroline is a musician and AFAIK Rachael is not.
We get into a question of technique here I think. Watching some of Caroline's Gala skates I would say she is the most musical skater of all the USA ladies. Watching Rachael skate competitively I see a young lady more assured of her technique. Her artistry and ability to express it looks more self assured to me than either Caroline or Mirai at this point.
To me Rachael is a more artistic (to me that means she can express what she is trying to do very well) and Caroline is more musical but not always in competitive events. It shows up in her show skating.
As a musician myself, I belive Caroline has a tremendous advantage over most skaters interpreting music but I see a need for stronger technique to realize her potential.
That said, I think Rachael is musical skater but I think her technique and artistry are better at this point.
This is very subjective and just my opinion and you may very well be right and I might be wrong.
I am known to be a big Caroline fan.
Flatt is a musician and has played the piano for over 10 years.
See Hersh's comment in his blog:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-081021-rachael-flatt-skate-america,0,3740434.story
I have no idea if Shizuka is musical or not - she just always skates to the same type of music, it always looks great because she is so elegant, has such great flexibility and extension and fantastic skating skills.Another term, "lyrical" to consider. Shizuka is frequently refered to as being a "lyrical" skater. I think that is used to describe her musicality - but doesn't it also apply to some of her positions and extensions? I could imagine watching Shiz skating over the ice, practicing without music and still think she might strike me as being lyrical. Am I now confusing lyrical with "beautiful."
Do we do that with Sasha as well. And maybe Caroline?