The Language of Clothes
17 November 2006 • The University of Auckland News: Issue 21
For Doctor of Musical Arts student, Tzenka Dianova — as for many other solo performers — the question of what to wear has often been a source of stress.
To play the piano you need freedom of movement, Tzenka explains. Your clothes have to be comfortable, but they also need to live up to a tradition of elegance in performance, and that combination is not easy to find.
She has often ended up returning to her safest choice: the black dress made for her high school prom more than 16 years ago.
But earlier this year, when checking out the boutiques in Ponsonby Road, Tzenka saw an outfit displayed in a window that she felt would be ideal for a forthcoming recital.
The designer was Robyn Mathieson, who is based in Wellington. Tzenka went home and wrote to ask if she would be willing to supply one of her previous season’s dresses for use in performances. Robyn Mathieson - who plays the piano herself, and is interested in the type of music Tzenka plays - took the idea a stage further by inviting her to become her Auckland brand ambassador.
At all future public lectures or performances Tzenka will wear clothes designed by Robyn Mathieson, with no obligation but to give the designer’s name to anyone who asks. And one three-piece outfit that she will be wearing is the one that caught her eye in the Ponsonby shop window.
Musicians in orchestras always wear black and, though solo performers have the freedom to choose, they often choose black as well, Tzenka explains. However, Robyn Mathieson has encouraged Tzenka to extend the range of colours in which she performs.
"We have a perception that colourful clothes distract attention from the music," says Tzenka. "However, I play twentieth-century music, which is colourful, experimental and uses many unusual techniques. So now I’m realising I can use colour in a way that’s attuned to the music."
Tzenka's doctoral study in the School of Music, entitled "The prepared piano of John Cage as an introduction to twentieth-century music", combines a theoretical component, supervised by Professor Heath Lees, and a performance component, supervised by Associate Professor Tamas Vesmas.
In prepared piano, different objects - such as felt, wood, rubber or plastic, metal bolts or screws - are placed between the strings of the piano, changing its sound to something that can resemble percussion instruments such as Javanese gamelan, skin drums, gongs or bells.
In her performances Tzenka usually begins with one of the 30 or so works for prepared piano by John Cage — who is normally well-known to the audience — before introducing less widely-known figures such as Karlheinz Stockhausen or Pierre Boulez.
Tzenka was originally from Bulgaria but now lives in Canada and is completing her DMA at the School of Music on an International Student’s Scholarship.
