Symphonies reframed

Symphonies Reframed is Sigstein Folgerø and Gjertrud Pedersen's joint research and development work at the NMH. It began in 2014 with Sigstein Folgerø's adaptation of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 for an ensemble of nine musicians: four winds, four strings and piano. The idea was to adapt orchestral music for chamber ensembles with the possibility of different instrument groups, without the need for a conductor. Over the years, Symphonies Reframed has undertaken projects including Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 and Schumann's Symphony No. 2, as well as works with choirs and vocal soloists. Folgerø has prepared scores, led rehearsals and been the pianist in the ensembles. Pedersen has observed rehearsals and interviewed students who have participated. What have the students learnt by participating in the projects?

During the interviews, it emerged that the students experienced the instrumentation in Symphonies Reframed as unfamiliar. The students said that they were familiar with standard chamber ensembles such as voice and piano, piano trio, string quartet or wind quintet, and larger formats such as choir, band and orchestra. But the medium-sized format with seven to nine musicians and a mix of winds, strings and piano was a new experience for most.

«I just feel that everyone brings their own unique musical baggage and it makes for a good party (...) That's something that makes for extra fun with this ensemble when everyone comes from different backgrounds.»
(student)

Several emphasised that the chamber ensemble gave them a better overview than they were used to from larger ensembles. One student said: "I would say that I learn to have an overview (...) Everyone gets a look at what everyone else is playing. And then you also learn to have a leading role." This overview may be related to the fact that a chamber ensemble without a conductor can allow for more transparent and clear communication compared to a large orchestra. It may also be related to the fact that the students felt that they gained better knowledge of the music by performing it themselves. In the interviews, all the students emphasised that they experienced a big difference between playing or singing themselves and "just" listening. One of the students said: «You have a completely different knowledge of the music when you have played it. You know exactly what it sounds like.»

In Symphonies Reframed, there is one musician on each instrument. Several of the instrumental students said that they played more solo in the chamber ensemble than they would in an orchestra. Each instrument can also have multiple roles; for example, a violinist can alternate between playing parts originally written for violin, viola or flute. By playing parts originally written for another instrument, students told us that they had to think about sound and musical character in new ways. One student said: «I played quite a few flute parts and sometimes string parts as well. Once you put yourself in these different positions, you really start to think about character.»

In the spring of 2017, NMH carried out a project with Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor, a comic singing play that tells the story of an impresario and two competing prima donnas. The project was part of several courses at NMH, and many students and teachers were involved. In NMH's version, some elements were added that are not found in the original version, such as an audition jury and several choral movements.

Some songs were performed with more singers than the original. One example is 'I am the prima donna', originally a three-song set, which in NMH's version was transformed into a heated exchange of words between a total of eight singers who almost fought over the various text fragments they had been assigned. In an interview after the performance, one of the students said: "I listened to the original afterwards, and I was disappointed by how boring it was." The student said that they experienced the dynamics between eight singers as far more complex and exciting to listen to, compared to the original.

Through Der Schauspieldirektor, the singing students constructed their own characters and worked creatively with staging. In the interviews, several emphasised that they found this educational. The students pointed out that through the project with the theatre director, they experienced a unity between several bachelor courses. Here are excerpts from an interview conversation between two singing students:

Student A: - It's been incredibly educational, actually. And it's something you think about more afterwards.

Student B: - When you look back and have been through it, it's like oh, I've actually worked on stage, I've actually written lyrics, I've actually performed a song, not just stood at the piano in Levin Hall.

A: - Building a character has been very educational, and little things like speaking so that people can hear you in the theatre are things that you can gain a lot from later on.

B: - So we should really encourage that, to have more projects like that, I think. I feel that I learn much better when I do it in practice, intensively. Very focused (...) There's something about just getting the whole package at once. That has been the biggest benefit. What I've gained the most from the whole project was getting it all at once.
The instrumentalists who participated in the project said that they found it enlightening to be close to the singing students' work with text and stage direction. For several of the instrumental students, it was the first time they had played with singers, which several experienced as different. This difference was about both the singers' tone production and timbre and their work with text communication and stage performance.

Through Der Schauspieldirektor, the students were given the opportunity to perform music that they might not otherwise have been able to play or sing. One instrumental student said:

- I think it's very rare that you get the opportunity to play this kind of music at our age. The music is simply not available to us, unless we are hired to do an opera project or we are employed in an orchestra. I think I'll have to wait a while to be able to play this kind of music.

The students said that they found it positive to participate in projects with Symphonies Reframed. Both instrumental and vocal students said that Symphonies Reframed had challenged them to be clear in their own music making while listening to what the others in the group were doing. One student said: «I have to figure out what I want with the music.» The student explained that they had to be clear through their breathing, approaches and articulation:

«We have to work together towards a common goal, and that doesn't happen unless you talk to each other or happen to have the same idea in the first place (...) I have to become more aware of where I want to go, and then I have to be able to communicate that to the people I'm playing with (...) I think you learn a lot from that.»

With Symphonies Reframed, we have tried to build a practice where students have the opportunity to learn together and reflect on their own music making in relation to historical practices and their own time. Since 2020, Symphonies Reframed has been an elective course at NMH.