Expansions and Contractions of the Soul

According to the 18th century German composer and music theorist Johann Mattheson, "joy is the expansion of our soul and thus could best be expressed by large and expanded intervals. Sadness is a contraction of the subtle parts of our body, so the small and smallest intervals are most suitable for this passion." (not quoted word-for-word)

I find the concepts of "expansion of the soul" and the "contraction of the subtle parts of the body" really interesting, and as I'm preparing for my Andersen Etudes workshops, the etude in A minor comes to mind, exactly with the pointed contrasts between large and small intervals. You'll find some poignant places in piano and using more neighboring notes, and the large leaps in forte or part of a crescendo. For me, learning about rhetoric and affect in earlier music made me appreciate later music so much more. I learned to notice details as well as the physical and emotional connections with the notes on the page. The "expansion of the soul" speaks volumes than merely "big interval" or "crescendo". It's not enough just to do something in music, it needs to be internalized and FELT. 

Thus, it is the joy of flute-playing to physically FEEL those expansions and contractions as our air moves through those intervals. This internal sensation really allows us to experience that feeling of affect and rhetoric on an intense level!

🩷What's a sensation YOU love when playing the flute?