| MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT is the result of a life-long
interest in unraveling the mysteries of music. Conceptually, the project
began with the idea of engaging the musicians of the Orchestra in
dialogues about the “unanswerable” in music – how does music work? why
does it move us? etc. Over the course of several months, I held workshops
(on camera) with 20-40 musicians at a time, in which they discussed their
lives as musicians and how music was part of who they are outside the
concert hall. In the workshops, we banned mention of repertoire and the
use of the technical musical language or terminology. The hope was to
discover ways to talk about music in basic human terms.
Then, over the next several years, I explored on camera
the ideas and the stories that emerged. For example, I spent time with
Judy Geist, a violist who’s also an accomplished painter, exploring the
relationship between art and music. I followed Israeli cellist Udi
Bar-David as he reached out to a Palestinian musician. I went on tour
with the Orchestra to eight European cities, to the Midwest, and to China
and Japan, looking at the unique way that musicians experience music of
other cultures and communities.
The end result is a “musical essay,” constructed
completely in cinema verite and shot on digital video. There is no host
or narrator. Because there is no specific story line to hook the
audience, MUSIC FROM THE INSIDE OUT relies on its multiple stories, linked
together through the connection of ideas.
The hope is that the project will engage the audience,
not only through personal stories, but also through music. As we began
editing, I made the stylistic choice to treat the music differently than a
typical documentary about an orchestra. Rather than have music as
“b-roll” illustrating what is said, the music itself is a character.
Almost every segment is constructed over a single piece of continuous
music, with few music edits.
The program therefore proceeds stylistically on multiple
levels – the music and stories are interwoven with provocative
conversation and a deconstruction of the elements of music and
music-making. Ultimately, we hope to find a way to draw people into music
that doesn’t require knowledge of the fundamentals of music. The project
seeks to acknowledge and explore music’s mystery, its inherent
abstraction, its ideas, and its relevance to our lives. |
