Mystique vs Clarity: Temianka's Philosophy
From both sides of the debate, one question lingered in the minds of many: what drove Temianka to comment from the stage in the way he did?
In his 1973 book, "Facing the Music," Temianka explains two opposing schools of thought on the relationship between a performer and their audience.
"One holds that there is a certain mystique about the artist that should be carefully nurtured and preserved. The artist who follows this precept makes every effort to remain aloof from ‘the people.' Some will not even condescend to announce their encores," Temianka wrote, "I am of the other school."
Temianka's "other school" focuses on the democratization of music: the belief that artists have a duty to welcome an uninitiated public into the world of music through education and engagement. In many of his other texts and lectures, Temianka argues that the prestige of a composer or conductor shouldn't be maintained at the expense of an audience's understanding of music.
Standard notes from a handout or program, he reasoned, weren't engaging with concertgoers nearly enough.
"Most (program notes) seem to start with the assumption that the average concertgoer has made a lifelong study of counterpoint," Temianka recalled. "But that's the least of it. There is usually no opportunity to read the program notes until one gets home after the concert, by which time it is too late."
For newcomers especially, reading complicated technical phrases on a page did little to help audiences understand what musical techniques they were going to witness at a concert — wouldn't it make more sense to hear those techniques instead?
[The importance of illustrating onstage exactly how a song is performed, what each instrument is doing, etc. - Temianka's FTM thoughts on it]
But Temianka didn't stop at onstage commentaries and demonstrations, either. Books, radio shows and articles were all part of Temianka's toolkit in his efforts to educate those around him, often presented in a similar style to his commentaries.
In the manuscript for his unpublished book, Music Appreciation, Temianka elaborated more on his goal to make music knowledge more readily available through various mediums.
"While many textbooks of academic excellence are available, they do not take into account the average student's total lack of previous exposure to classical music and its history," Temianka wrote, explaining his efforts to make the book beginner-friendly without sacrificing any of its content or "dumbing it down." In the same passage, he also notes interest in the creation of an audiobook version of Music Appreciation in order to make the publication even more accessible to the masses.
[facing the music quote about two camps in the artist-audience relationship - he chose the more democratic one; his philosophy on the artist as an educator just as much as a performer - music as a way of life article]