Quote: Surely as a flutist, you play in ensembles from time to time. How do you FOCUS on your part, while still listening to the group play? If you can identify the technique you use to do this successfully, namely to hang on to your part, I'll bet you can use that same method or go to that same mental place when your H starts blaring loud tantrum music (or soft whiny music) that threatens to distract you from YOUR OWN song.
Far, far, far too rarely now...actually, outside of teaching, I've not touched my flute much at all this past year - and that is at least as bad as the lack of S - probably worse. I can deal with celibacy if I'm playing - especially chamber music.
But - to your question. I'm not sure I could explain that technique to you, as it's now intuitive. I'll try.
The first couple of times a new player plays with another, it is very difficult, as you say, they end up listening to the other player, and forget to count, etc. Practicing the part on their own, remembering to practice counting the rests as well, helps. Once they've done it a few times (and sometimes it takes an outside coach counting out the rests, and beating the rhythm for them) it gets easier, it's a combination, I guess, of being sure of yourself - knowing your own part well enough to not worry so much about the other, and just plain being used to have another sound go along with yours. My D9, by the way, who is used to hearing me play, and hearing music most of the time, had no problem with this - she played her little song first time through with piano, a little wobbly, but together, then next time, took off, eyes lit up. She got it.
What she 'got', was that that's still not playing together. True chamber music goes beyond focusing on your own part, and focusing on the other players. Outside of the actual basic work of learning your own part (which you do before going into a chamber music rehersal), in a chamber group, it's much easier to comment on the playing of the other members than your own. That might sound bad, as in seeing your partner's flaws, but not your own, but in fact, in a good group, it's exactly what should happen - you know what you are doing, but they can hear it. The best chamber groups happen when each member considers the other members slightly better players - they feel honored to play with them. So they strive to do their best, and listen carefully to be sure to know what's going on, and to be able to give good constructive comments when needed.
When playing together, you no longer count and focus on what you're doing,instead, it becomes literally, a conversation, where you react to the other's playing. You know the notes well enough to know what you are doing, but you can't be quite sure what your partner is going to do that night, he might make a ritard, or a slight diminuendo, or just phrase a certain way, and you react, then you do something, and he reacts, and you forget what your fingers are doing and just listen. In jazz, and in baroque music (and some modern compositions) to a certain extent, the notes themselves actually change from performance to performance depending on the whim of the performers, so it really is a conversation.
I remember one performance while I was studying, when I apologized to my pianist for my tempo - it was much slower than we had rehersed. She looked at me kind of strange and laughed - 'what do you mean, it was almost twice as fast! (this can be bad too - but in this case it wasn't. Really a case of being 'in the zone')
I'm sure there's lots of stuff you can use in there - but I'm going to leave it to you all, or I'll look at it again tomorrow or so...I'm way too close to it, and too tired right now to draw any conclusions.
