4 Things that Separate Great Performers from Good Performers

Mar 7

There are good performances and there are great performances. You can enjoy a good performance, but a great performance will draw you in and connect you to the music.

It all comes down to the performer themselves. We sat with experienced performer and adjudicator, Krystyna Tucka and she spoke about what exactly makes a great performance so great!

Communicate Through the Music

Great performers communicate through the music. Every score has it’s own character and when a performer communicates the character of the piece, it stands out. Even though there may be some technical flaws in the performance, if the performer can communicate the character of the music, it separates it from just playing the instrument.

“I tell my students to think about the piece as a story or a movie…if this was one moment in the entire movie, what would it be”?

Once you visualize the music in a practical way, your goal will be to translate the feel of it and communicate that in your performance. Once you have that goal, everything must revolve around it.

Technique Serves the Music

“Obviously, your technique has to be very good”, but ultimately, “the technique that is being used is subserving of [the character of the music]”. This comes down to how the technique is used. For example, staccato. “If the piece is supposed to have a darker feeling and you have staccatos in the piece…are you going to use short staccatos which are light? You can’t”! Alternatively, “You would not be using long articulation or long, heavy staccato if something is supposed to be very joyous and bright”.

All of your technique, legato, staccato, articulation, etc. should differ depending on what you are trying to communicate. The technique and articulation of great performers match the story they are trying to tell and amplify that expression.

Everything is Intentional

In a great performance, everything is intentional. Let’s use dynamics as an example. “Say the piece is in C Major and the first phrase is forte, then you have a second phrase that modulates to G Major, which is forte too, well does it sound the same? No”. The performance may be good, but if the forte stays the same, it won’t be at the next level. A great performer will look at the change in the phrases and say, “well this is [also] forte, but now it’s a different phrase, so it’s actually supposed to be shaded differently.” It’s not as simple as having forte and piano and you’re done, there is much more complexity and intentionality.

“Start practicing with the dynamics from the very beginning because the thing about dynamics and expression is that it needs to develop too. You can’t just slap on the dynamics in the last moment because it will never feel natural”.

Serving the Composer, Not Yourself

A great performance is truthful to what the composer wants, not what you, the performer, wants. “In the tempo, dynamics, and everything, you have to be truthful to [the composer]”. To do this, great performers study the composers themselves.

“If you study Mozart and the type of sound that he produced or the type of music he played, everything was in the major keys. [It was] upbeat and rather bright”. Compare that to Beethoven who would tend to write towards “heaviness and darkness, which would be a different vibe altogether”.

Composers also wrote for entire orchestras. “The composer didn’t write just for your instrument, but for everything else”. This is why studying the composer is crucial. You must know of the role that your instrument played within the entire orchestra. “Once you have some idea of about everything else, then you can translate it to your instrument”.