What does taking risks mean when we’re playing music??

 First of all, when you’re playing in an orchestra as a section member with lots of other players playing exactly the same part, one cannot really take risks. We need to be careful to play accurately all the time, do what the conductor asks, and not stick out. 

However, when playing solo or chamber music (ie: one on a part) while we must still play accurately we can take a lot more risks to either add profile to our parts or simply be more dramatic or more expressive. 

For string players taking more risks can mean opening up slurs that have been edited and are not original by the composer. If the bowings are indeed original then I think it’s certainly best to at least try to make their bowings work- but even then, there are times when opening up slurs might actually serve our perceptions of their intentions better.

Another way to take risks is to think more about our fingering choices to really serve the mood/color of the music- rather than just staying in a comfort zone.  Go for the big shifts to be more expressive and more lyrical (like a great singer would sound), rather than being safe and staying in one position (and crossing strings) and being worried about missing a shift. (gasp!) 😉

Leading in the character of the music and naturally with your body movements is another wonderful way to play “out of the box”. Again, sometimes we worry if we move too much we can’t play cleanly and we make more mistakes. But I think the opposite is actually true- the more careful we are, the more we actually miss stuff- plus the music can sound stiff and even dull. But if we make grander gestures (and GO FOR IT), even if we miss something a little, it will be hardly noticeable- if at all- AND the playing will be much more compelling! 🙂