Visually Experiencing the Audible

Zoe Keating graced Austin, Texas with her presence on Sunday May 17, 2015 at the Parish on 6^th street. A community atmosphere was created when she invited the nearly packed venue to sit down; witnessing a musician perform this action was a comforting change and reassurance that Zoe Keating is an artist. The concert that Keating put on was a brand new experience for me as a concert-goer and as an artist; this experience allowed me to challenge and widen my perspective on music as art.

As a recent dance graduate I have had an extensive amount of experience with watching various dance concerts, and often discussing these concerts on a professional level. I instinctively began to prepare myself as if I was watching a dance concert, but it quickly became clear that I would not be able to watch this in the same way. Unlike music, dance is more easily relate-able because the audience is having a visual experience; being able to have this visual field allows a person to see a relationship or story develop. With music being solely audible the visual field is not being accessed and therefore relating to this type of art has to be done in a significantly different manner. I found it highly difficult to find any metaphors or 2^nd functions within any of Keating’s pieces because I could not rely on being visual. Before Keating would play a piece she would inform the audience the story behind the music or what it was about, this helped me more thoroughly understand the music.

One piece, Seven League Boots, was about having magical shoes that would allow you to travel seven leagues in one step; this came from Keating’s desire to easily pass the mountains that blocked her from the ocean. During this piece I made the decision to look at the ground instead of watching her. I employed the technique of soft-focus that improvisers use when improvising; this allowed me to focus on what I was hearing and what images it was creating for me. I was able to imagine myself wearing these magical shoes walking over valleys and mountains. Using soft-focus forced me to internalize which proved to be successful in fully experiencing this musical art.

Although I was successful during one piece I did not prove the same in the rest of the concert. During this experience I discovered that every medium of art cannot be approached in the same way, but prior knowledge of different art forms can help with understanding others.