When is the last time you performed something without using the pedal? That’s right, no pedal at all.
As it happens, I did exactly that on Sunday night. I was thinking about that while driving home, trying to remember the last time I’d omitted all pedal. There was one occasion several years ago.
Christ & Saint Stephen’s in midtown Manhattan features a dome above the altar area. A baritone I played for had included “Why do the nations rage” from Messiah on his recital program. The piano reduction, 16th note tremelos, sounded like what you might call a bloody mess! The singer’s girlfriend, a professional cellist, attended the dress rehearsal, for which I shall always be grateful. She suggested that I play 8th notes at first, but even that sounded too muddy for audience consumption. Then she suggested playing quarter note chords, no tremolo at all, without any pedal. Amazingly enough, that worked.
Prior to that experience, the only time I played without pedal was probably in college, when playing Baroque music. At the time, I was a die-hard original sound freak, or preferred to come as close as possible given that I was playing a piano rather than a harpsichord. That certainly meant that the pedal was not to be used at all.
Since college, I have discovered that using the pedal on every note of a continuo bass line (i.e. quarter notes) enhances the sound without blurring it. But it must be used judiciously! Just tap it. The idea is to allow the strings to vibrate without making the sound last longer. You will hear the sound become rounder, closer to cello pizzicato.
Sunday night’s concert venue was a large church with high, valuted ceilings. The reverberation time was at least 4 seconds. We performed Copland’s “The Promise of Living” with a large group of combined choruses. The version on our program featured a piano four-hands accompaniment.
Both of us arrived at the piano, sat down and looked at each other. Whose score would we use? After we solved that question, my fellow pianist said, “Do you want to pedal?” I said, “Go for it!” He was playing the secondo part. The pedal would be easier for him to reach. In addition, he would be playing the part with the harmonic rhythm.
Soon after, we heard how live the acoustics were in the space. The piano was some distance away from the singers. We decided not to use the pedal at all, in order to provide as much clarity as possible.
I’m happy to say it worked! A professional singer, who sang an aria during the program, was sitting in the audience during the Copland. She and I were talking afterwards, when she said she heard clarity, and it sounded as if we had pedaled.
Have you ever performed with no pedal?
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I would appreciate it very much. Thank you!
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My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
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Bravo in Barcelona. Shutterstock image. Source: Pixabay.
A new blog post! Surprising, I know. Having a few days’ vacation time gives me an opportunity to catch up a little.
A most amazing thing happened in musical theater class a couple of weeks ago. I’m so excited to have a chance to tell you all about it!
A student took her turn a few minutes into the class, singing “Almost There” by Randy Newman.
She had nailed “All That Jazz” by John Kander just the week before, so I was anticipating that this would also be wonderful.
As it happened, she was anxious about something. When she began to sing, I could barely hear her. I wanted to get into it and play, but my sound would have covered her voice.
Why was she nervous?
It could have been anything.
Was she coming down with something?
Was she unprepared?
Was she working on one aspect of vocal production rather than performing the song?
What was going on?
She was worried about the high note at the end of the first phrase, so she held back out of fear that her voice might crack. This is a freshman class. The students are shy about making a fool of themselves in front of other people, even in class. (I’ve been there myself so many times! As a freshman, I was so nervous in my first voice jury that I forgot every word after the title of a slow song in English! I changed my major immediately.)
The professor, who is also her voice teacher, identified the problem and found a way to deal with it. Among other things, she vocalized the student to a top note a third above the one she was concerned about.
And THEN…
On the fourth or fifth try, she knocked everyone out of their chair! She was SO GOOD!!! It was perfect.
Next:
The professor talked about how well the student had just performed, giving her kudos for her substantial progress this semester. She talked about how gratifying it was to witness this as a teacher, saying, “If I had my shoes, I’d throw them!” ++
Huh?
She elaborated. In the African-American tradition, when something is “too good,” audience members throw their shoes! *
And then the professor burst into tears. It was so moving.
The student was in tears soon after.
And the class was speechless.
And that, for me, is what it’s all about.
++ Class is held in a studio with a dance floor. Everyone takes off their shoes so the floor remains grit-free. If a dancer were to trip on grit, s/he could sprain, dislocate or break something, putting him or her out of the game for a long time. So that’s why the professor didn’t have her shoes!
*Both professor and student happen to be African-American. After class, I shared with the professor that I worked in an African-American church in Brooklyn for quite a while, also performing in other venues with the music director, who is a wonderful singer. However, when things were “too good,” no one threw their shoes. So where did that come from? She said it’s a Southern thing. People even throw their shoes in church!
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Please take a look at my e-book!
“Goal-oriented Practice” Are you practicing well? Is your repertoire of ideas working for you? Are you making consistent progress?
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
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No worries! The following is not a scientific analysis!
*The lid may be closed or removed entirely.
Where do our preferences come from concerning the position of the piano lid in performance?
Early teachers
It’s always been that way
Never thought about it
If you think about balance, I’m sure you must have your own list.
Variables
What are the important considerations when balancing other instruments/voices with piano? If you’re the soloist, your main concern is that your part will be clear. But what about the other performers? If you’re the pianist, YOU want to be heard. (There are exceptions. Sometimes pianists seem to be intent upon disappearing out of a fear that they will be too loud.)
Assuming that our goal is to find appropriate balance among all participants, there are several variables that need to be considered from venue to venue:
Acoustics of the room
Curtains (at the front, back, and sides of the stage, at the windows, and on the walls of the room), seat cushions, carpet, wall hangings, hard surfaces, shell/no shell behind the performers
size of audience (which wears clothing that soaks up sound)
the way sound travels on stage (can you hear other performers?)
other variables in the hall (i.e. moveable acoustical features, such as blinds, panels, walls, ceilings)
Sometimes a room has a muffled sound. A closed lid, in that case, means that the piano’s sound is not clear.
Where is the soloist in relation to the piano? If the piano is “too loud,” is that actually the case, or would moving away from the piano create a separation in the sounds (soloist/piano) and resolve the problem? Try it! A change of only a few inches often makes a huge difference.
Size of room, size of piano. Smaller rooms with larger pianos may call for a shorter stick. I would tend to consider this arrangement, but I know other musicians who use full stick regardless.
Type of music? Joseph Fuchs used full stick ALL the time for violin/piano. Part of the resonance of the violin came from the piano’s soundboard. When playing music with more density in the writing, I would tend to prefer short stick.
The pianist’s manner of producing sound. When less arm weight is used, the sound is lighter. More transparent writing in combination with less arm would make full stick clear but not overwhelming. Also, voicing the piano part (more focus for prominent lines) goes a long way.
Wooden block
Perhaps you feel that using the short stick would be too much. In addition, some pianos no longer have a short stick. Occasionally, manufacturers include only full stick or a variation, about 3/4 high.
You can take a wooden block with you.
A rectangular block, painted black, about 5” or 6” x 3” x 2”, is a better choice than a hymnal or book. Propping the lid open with a book results in a dented book cover. In church concerts, churchgoers are sometimes offended when hymnals are used in this way. (Setting anything on top of the Bible is considered sacrilegious. By extension, the hymnal, which contains sacred texts, is included in this category by some. If you want to be invited back, don’t prop the lid open with a hymnal.) Also, painting the wooden block black helps to avoid audience distraction. The dimensions of the block allow it to be used on either side and on end. Plenty of options.
Recording
Using a recording device to assess the sound is a great way to go when you have the time. Yo-Yo Ma swears by it, placing the recorder at varying distances from the stage. This can be done during solo practice sessions, rehearsals, and warm-ups, as well as in performances.
The acoustics of the room change depending on the size of the audience. Rehearsals typically take place in empty halls. Once the audience arrives, everything changes. So keeping an open mind, listening to the room, making adjustments in one’s playing during a performance, and trying various options make a difference.
Takeaway thought
My hope is that performers will be aware of the variables. For the music to reach the audience effectively, the sound needs to be clear.
Please experiment! And… go.
How do you approach the piano lid issue? Comments welcome!
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
If this post has been helpful and you think your friends and contacts would benefit from reading it, please share.
Collaborating with children’s voices is something that requires listening and imagination. The first thought many pianists have is, “I can’t play too loud. I’ll cover them up!”
Unfortunately, the thinking process sometimes stops there.
Are there other options?
When the only goal is to stay out of the way, is that enough? How can we not be too loud and still be expressive?
In a recent performance with children’s choir, the program included “The Birds’ Lullaby” by Marilyn Broughton. I’ll refer to her beautiful composition in the following examples.
Example 1
Dynamics
The first step in finding expression, for me, is to find workable dynamics. My goals are to:
express the text;
support the singers; and
make the piano solos interesting while enhancing the entire piece.
Introduction
In the introduction, the indicated dynamics were helpful. Piano and mezzo-piano needed to be there, and the crescendo to a level above mp needed to be practiced. I looked through the piece to determine how far that could go. I wanted to reach the loudest dynamic level on the downbeat of bar 7, then diminuendo into the choir’s mp entrance (but not below).
Accompanying the singers
At the singers’ entrance, the pianist’s role changes. S/he must listen in a different way. How can s/he be supportive without getting in the way? Where does the pianist’s expression come from?
To be supportive of the singers, simply disappearing from the fabric of sound is not an option. The choir’s pitch and rhythm could lose their integrity.
Bass line
In this piece, the bass line can certainly match the singers’ sound. It does not need to be softer! Since the bass is in a different range from the voices, it will not be covering the voices.
Counter-melody
As for the right hand when the singers enter and beyond, the top line can be more prominent. When played with a focused sound, it will be heard as a counter-melody.
Example 2
Moving part
On the second page, the short piano interlude begins on the word “through,” with a crescendo into the next chorus entrance. With a little advance planning and practice, this moving line can be interesting. In fact, it propels the piece while the singers hold a long note. They also need to breathe! The pianist’s crescendo to mf encourages them to sing their next entrance at that dynamic level without even thinking.
In scores where dynamics are indicated only in the voice part(s) or the piano part, both singers and pianists can benefit by looking at the markings in the other parts. What if the dynamics apply to both? (Why wouldn’t they?)
Interludes
This piece has three verses, with the voice parts expertly arranged differently for each (i.e. canon at the measure, canon at 2 measures, and crossing voices). The two piano interludes are nearly identical. Our job is to make them interesting! I wanted to find a way for the interludes to sound different from each other while matching the singers’ volume at the end of their verse and meeting them at their new volume at the start of the next.
First
The first interlude worked well with a simple arc, soft to louder, then diminuendo into the second verse, which was softer than the first. The dynamic scheme I used was mp to mf, then dim. to p.
Second
Finding a compelling way to play the second interlude was a little harder. After trying two or three different ideas, I noticed that the third verse was marked with a louder dynamic. I wanted to crescendo into the singers’ entrance.
So I found a way to start the interlude piano, then play a dynamic arc (cresc. and dim.) earlier than in the first interlude. Following the diminuendo, I could then crescendo from piano to mezzo-forte. This time, I played from p to mp to p, then cresc. to mf.
Problem solved? Not entirely.
The right hand of the piano part was in the same range as the singers’ entrance. My right hand melody continued past the singers’ entrance. So I needed a way to crescendo without covering them up.
Voilà!
It took a little longer to realize that the right hand could diminuendo while the left hand, which had moving notes, could crescendo at the same time. It worked like a charm. The interlude was compelling, it supported the singers, and nothing interfered with the children’s voices.
If playing a simultaneous dim. and cresc. seems like a juggling act, it might help to think about it in a different way. Try thinking about your feet. When we walk, we transfer weight from one foot to the other. One foot has more weight on it than the other. They feel different.
Another instance would be like driving a stick shift. One foot depresses the accelerator while the other releases the clutch. Now get the same feeling in your hands that you have in your feet. Problem solved!
In listening to pianists, my impression is that many people cresc. and dim. with both hands doing the same thing at the same time. However, playing fugues requires voicing separate parts, even when two or more parts are in the same hand. That requires using different amounts of weight on separate fingers. So why not apply this to other music? Why not use each hand differently when playing with hands together?
Postlude
The lullaby ended softly. The short postlude needed some shape, so I decided to begin mp, then diminuendo, with focused, high bell tones at the end.
Source: Pixabay. Public domain.
Followup
You may be wondering how I know that my ideas were effective. You are absolutely correct that a performer’s assessment of her/his own performance might be inaccurate.
And here’s my reason: Immediately after the concert, several audience members approached me to say how much they had enjoyed what they had heard!
Look for my next post: “PianoAnd: The lid. Full stick, 1/2 stick, or none at all?”
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click on the link to see the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
What did you find here? What would you like to see? Comments welcome!
If this post has been helpful and you think your friends and contacts would benefit from reading it, please share.
Collaborative pianists need all the same technical skills required of soloists, and some would argue that they need to be able to play mezzo forte and under.
My immediate reaction was, “Wait a minute!” Let’s look more closely.
Collaboration is working with others to do a task and to achieve shared goals. It is a recursive[1] process where two or more people or organizationswork together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective determination to reach an identical objective[by whom?][original research?]) — for example, an endeavor[2][3] that is creative in nature[4]—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Most collaboration requires leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group.[5] In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.[6] Collaboration is also present in opposing goals exhibiting the notion of adversarial collaboration, though this is not a common case for using the word.
(Note: color and bolding added by GS for emphasis.)
Breaking it down
This implies much more than the prevailing misconception, by now outdated, concerning collaborative piano playing. Even after more than 50 years of the progress begun by Gerald Moore and further championed by Gwendolyn Koldofsky and others, a significant number of pianists continue to subscribe to the habit of just showing up without practicing.
An additional component of this view seems to be a desire to stay out of the way!
I strongly disagree with this idea. If one’s sole interest is not to be heard, then why show up at all? (Gerald Moore’s humorous book, “Am I too Loud?” was first published in 1962!)
The author of the book quoted above says, “some would argue that they need to be able to play mezzo forte and under.” If one is to interpret this as a recommendation to play mf and under at all times, I have to ask, “Why?”
The music
The piano part/reduction is part of the total fabric of sound. It is crucial to have a point of view about the music which is expressed primarily by the manner in which one plays.
Even when playing for very young musicians, the bass line can be prominent. They need the support. An obligato line above or below the singers’ range should be heard. Introductions, interludes, and postludes are shaping the piece, not interfering. The rhythm should be clear and compelling, providing a foundation for inexperienced musicians. Why are we there? How are we supporting a young musician’s efforts if we may as well not be in the room at all? Do we not have a responsibility to be there?
In other situations, with more experienced singers and instrumentalists (who produce more sound), the solo line is not always the most interesting. Think of Beethoven’s “Spring” sonata (violin/piano), for example:
The violinist clearly has the theme throughout the opening statement. And then, in the 2nd system, 4th bar, the piano has thematic material, marked crescendo, proceeding without pause into a restatement of the same theme. Since the piano part is occupying a higher range at that point, it will be heard.
Note that the violin and piano parts are both marked piano, even though each plays thematic as well as non-thematic music. The equal dynamic markings would imply that both parts are to be heard. Why would the piano part be less important/played at a lower dynamic than the violin?
We have another example in Händel’s “Care selve” from Atalanta:
In this aria, the vocal and piano lines are beautifully interwoven. Listen to the incomparable Montserrat Caballé and her superb pianist, who should have been credited on YouTube! What do you hear? Is the pianist voicing his part? The bass line is always there, the melody is clear when echoing the singer, and the interludes fill the room.
A heads up: prepare to be floored!
Teatro Real de Madrid, 1979
When learning Handel’s “Sweet Bird,” I listened to several recordings so I could learn more about ornamentation. Roberta Peters’ performance with a flutist was stunning. They opted to do only the exposition (one page), then added two more pages of a duet. Their sounds blended perfectly, with the most amazing trills. I was in awe listening to the ensemble’s perfectly matched sound, ornaments rhythmically free (rather than using regular note values, the performers, who were often trilling in 3rds, used slower notes, then faster, then added a turn). I listened to the recording over and over, mesmerized.
Point of view
When I was a scholarship student at the Aspen Music Festival, the Juilliard String Quartet was in residence all summer. Their open rehearsals were attended by singers of all voice types and interests, and students who played a variety of instruments. Why were so many students attending, week in and week out? The quartet talked about the music. During one rehearsal, a disagreement continued for several minutes. The cross-rhythms in Brahms needed clarification among the players.
One instance in which cross-rhythms are found is in 6/8 time, when the notes can be divided into groups of 2 or 3. When there is one more than one part, both groupings can happen simultaneously.
In this memorable rehearsal, each player was staking a claim to the way he wanted to play a section containing cross-rhythms. The violist opted for one rhythmic grouping; the cellist another. When the 2nd violinist chose a larger note grouping, the 1st violinist decided, “I’ll just fit in.”
At that moment (it didn’t take long!), the other three players ganged up on him. “No! You have to make up your mind!”
The rehearsal had just become more… interesting, as the quartet’s cellist Joel Krosnick would say.
The decision was made, and the quartet tried it out. Each player was doing something different! It was wonderful.
What would have happened had everyone opted to “Just fit in?” How compelling can that be?
I submit that staying out of the way is not music, and it certainly is not collaboration. If you have nothing worth saying, why play at all? If you can’t be heard, what’s the point? What contribution does that make? How is that supportive?
Bottom line
In order to collaborate as pianists, we need to ask for the music in advance (and obtain it!), practice well, and have a point of view about the music. In rehearsals, our point of view may change. Collaboration means hearing what the other musicians have to say. An interpretation reached by sharing ideas is what collaboration aims to achieve.
To reiterate the definition provided above, when we collaborate, we:
…work together to realize shared goals [in] … a deep, collective determination to reach an identical objective…
What does “collaboration” mean to you? How did you arrive at your conclusions?
Comments welcome!
Check back for my next post, PianoAnd: Children’s voices
★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★
Please take a look at my e-book!
“Goal-oriented Practice” Are you practicing well? What do you do when you hit a snag? How do you help your students practice?
Do you have a plan for putting difficult pieces together at performance tempo? How do you help your students achieve a steady tempo without slowing down in difficult passages?
This book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many useful suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click on the link to see the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
What did you find here? What would you like to see? Comments welcome!
If this post has been helpful and you think your friends and contacts would benefit from reading it, please share.
Short answer: Because if sight-reading is all you ever do, then that’s the best you will ever play.
Today, while learning a Mozart piano reduction (violin concerto), I had to stop myself from switching between fingers on a single key several times.
We have two options: sight-reading and improving. (One is more fun than the other!) The pic above accurately represents the way I feel when I have to write fingerings in my music.
The problem, for me, stems from three sources:
1. Sight-reading (both music I need to learn and music that’s put in front of me in work situations); 2. Organ playing; and 3. Playing for chorus/opera/dance/musical rehearsals.
To elaborate:
1. Sight-reading is a great skill to have! Without it, there would be far fewer work opportunities. The problem is that when one relies only on sight-reading, fingerings are random and so is the resulting sound. The playing will be slower and have considerably less finesse. In addition, when sight-reading is the only game in town, the music benefits from very little thought.
2. Organs and pianos both have keyboards, but they are completely different mechanically. To sustain a pitch on the organ, the key must be depressed. On piano, the damper pedal is available. Organists are trained to play a key with one finger, then switch to another while still depressing the same key. That’s how they navigate around the keyboard while playing legato. Playing the piano in that manner, however, is not helpful except in cases where the fingering cannot be solved in other ways.
3. When playing piano reductions (chorus, opera, and concertos where the pianist acts as the orchestra), pianistic fingering is not possible. There are too many notes included in a piano reduction to fit under the hand. (Reductions are not “pianistic.”) So “bad” fingering often results. The object is to get to the next location on the keyboard however you can, ahead of time.
So, what is “good” fingering?
Good fingering is pianistic (comfortable);
Good fingering enhances the flow of the music;
Good fingering makes use of different parts of the hand for intended results.
The thumb is heavy;
The pinkie gets a bright sound;
The 3rd finger can imitate French horn;
The 4th finger is guaranteed to be softer; and
2 and 5 are great for flute solos.
Try playing Mozart. Unintended accents will be immediately disruptive. Making good fingering decisions is the shortest route to playing appropriately.
Schumann, Verdi, and Prokofiev sound distinct from each other when played by good orchestras. Why not play them with different sounds on the piano, too?
Why spend valuable practice time eliminating accents produced by the thumb when you could find a better fingering? Practicing for hours attempting to produce an accented downbeat with the 4th finger is similarly a waste of time.
What do you think? Is fingering important to you? How many practice sessions do you spend playing the same music before writing in fingerings?
Free of musical jargon, it will save you time. By identifying practice goals, you will soon be able to learn music more accurately, resulting in confident playing.
Click on the link to see reviews, book intro, and table of contents!
Marble Collegiate Church, New York. Photo source: Pixabay
Congregational singing, along with church attendance, has declined. With this post, I am beginning a new series that looks at various aspects of the problem and suggests some steps we can take to improve on the current trend.
A Facebook friend, Joe Kenney, posts wonderful photographs on Iowa Through the Lens. He also writes songs for his church and plays them on guitar, as I recently discovered. When messaging each other about this, he very kindly shared two songs with me. The songs mentioned here are both written by Michael W. Smith. Joe has promised to send me some of his own compositions as well.
“It’s a little repetitive cause it’s meant to be a simple group anthem,” he said about the first song.
Upon listening to the audio, I felt that it was just repetitive enough for congregational use. I responded, “Great rhythm, and nice variety with the guitar and then no guitar, and then it comes in again.”
Although large churches in major cities are well-attended, that is not the case in smaller towns. Marble Collegiate Church (pictured above), The Riverside Church, and All Souls’ Unitarian Church, all located in New York City, have many congregants who are professional musicians, even opera singers. Everyone should experience the singing of such congregations at least once!
Smaller congregations may not be so fortunate. When their congregations are asked to sing, people in attendance are often reluctant to make an attempt. In order to encourage participation, it is helpful to choose hymns/worship songs that are either familiar or easy to learn and remember by exactly that group of people. Many, if not most, do not read music. The range of most untrained voices is limited. Highly syncopated rhythms are just too complicated to master quickly.
So, once again, repetition is helpful. Having the melody, rhythm, harmony, and even the words repeat (think of the refrain, especially) results in greater comprehension and, thus, participation.
Joe’s second example featured a repetitive ending. Again, perfect for a congregation. I responded, “People could walk away singing the ending. It’s a winning strategy.”
Bottom line: Choosing worship songs that are singable by normal mortals will create a more unified, participatory worship experience for your church.
Do you agree?
Take a look at a master, Alice Parker, teaching a hymn to workshop participants. Alice is the first to say she doesn’t have a great voice. Notice, though, her modeling of the style, rhythm, and text emphasis. She teaches songs without using the piano, even though she plays very well. In fact, her teaching in this video, from a hymnal she compiled, is unusual in that she and the singers are using the music.
Please let me know what you think, either in the comments or via the contact form in the left sidebar. And be sure to check back for the next installment, and upcoming guest posts! We will continue to explore ways to encourage participation in congregational singing. There is a lot more to say!
Also, while you’re here, be sure to look at my ebook, “Goal-oriented Practice.” It will save you practice time! You will know the music securely and still have a chance to go outside and work on that snowman! 50% off!
Pete Seeger teaching William Boyce “Alleluia” round in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, 2011. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Do you sing your music as you practice? I recommend it (see previous post).
For the past 2 or 3 days, I’ve been thinking about why this works so well.
When playing involves brain work only, one can become caught up in the exact length of each note, the weight given to each, the dynamic changes from one note to another. That level of detail is crucial to interesting playing, of course, but isn’t that mind-boggling, doing all that thinking?
When I practice in that way, I find that I am physically removed from producing the sound. I am not a participant in playing phrases. I notice that when I sing while playing, my body takes care of all that.
When the amount of breath sent through the body to produce the sound varies from pitch to pitch, the breath maintains the line. The body (arms, hands, tips of fingers) produces music, not just mathematical changes. What if someone told you that to reach a certain goal involving myriad details, all you needed to do one thing?
This is the best explanation I can come up with at the moment. I hope it is helpful. Singing makes all the difference. It coordinates separate, much smaller details, making them an organic whole. And it’s so easy!
Leontyne Price. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Carl Van Vechten, 1880-1964, photographer. Public domain.
This afternoon, I practiced some music I hadn’t played in several weeks. While reviewing notes, fingerings, and dynamics, I found myself thinking about the function of the passage I was working on at the moment. Was it melody? Accompaniment? Beginning, middle, or end of a phrase? And then I started altering the lengths of the notes to accommodate the direction of the line.
But that felt too removed from the sound.Then, by chance, I started singing the line.Everything changed immediately.
Why?
It was no longer necessary to intellectualize the length of each note (this one is shorter, this one is slightly longer, this one falls away from the previous sound, this one leads up to the next one).
Singing instantly makes the line legato, continuous, and infused with life. Singing makes it human. Pianos don’t do that. Organs don’t either, really, unless the organist uses the volume pedal all the time.
So this is my recommentation for today, tomorrow, next week, next month…
Our plan is to move the church service outdoors this Sunday.
When choosing music earlier in the week, the first thing I did was to look at the weather forecast. As it turns out, we have deferred to Mother Nature twice already this summer.
For August 4th, AccuWeather.com predicts that it will be “partly sunny with a t-storm.” With that in mind, I chose music that can move easily from a Clavinova outdoors to an acoustic piano inside if necessary. (I’ll play piano this time so as to eliminate the possibility of last-minute pedal and registration changes.)
The music
The Clavinova has only one sound. The volume can be raised or lowered with a toggle wheel, but there are no alternative sounds available (such as harpsichord, flute, etc.). So the music needs to being written for one manual, and the ability to employ voicing to differentiate various parts (melody/accompaniment; fugue lines) will be quite limited.
I prefer playing sacred music for services, not piano preludes by Chopin and
Debussy,
The music needs to have an organ pedal part that can be played along with the manual parts (i.e. close to the left hand in range). Another possibility would be to choose music with no organ pedal part at all.
Pieces that are 2 pages in length would eliminate page turns. That way, when clothes pins are keeping the printed music steady, they can stay there for the entire piece. (It’s safer! Picture removing clothespins, turning the page, and re-clipping the clothespins, while playing the entire time.)
What else?
Although I have played services outdoors under the roof of a picnic shelter, the setting on Sunday will be completely in the open. I will need hair clips and sunglasses.
West Nile Virus has come to the area, so bug spray is a necessity.
And may I please borrow your dog to fetch the things I drop?
Thanks!
Repertoire for August 4th
Prelude Come, Thou Almighty King Martin Stellhorn The organ pedal part can be played an octave higher. This will allow the piece to move without arpeggiating the bass and tenor lines (to accommodate reaches wider than the span of the left hand).
Offertory Praise God the Lord, Ye Sons of Men Johann Gottfried Walther This piece is contrapuntal, but is not a fugue. The tune is clearly in the top voice, so it will be easily heard when played on a Clavinova.
Communion I Come, O Savior, to Thy Table Paul Kretzschmar The embellished tune is a right-hand solo. Played on the organ, a solo stop on a separate manual would be the way to go for clarity. With the embellishments, the tune stands out from the slower left-hand rhythm, so I think it will be OK played on a Clavinova.
Postlude Now Thank We All Our God Georg Friedrich Kaufmann This is a toccata with the tune in the top voice.
As it happened
This is a follow-up, added on Monday.
We had a beautiful day! During the outdoor service, the breeze kicked up 2 or 3 times, but I was reduced to holding the music with one hand and playing with the other only once. That was during a hymn. With the congregation singing at the time, it was fine.
The Clavinova has more variety available in volume by touch than I had recalled from a year ago. That was a welcome surprise.
In the offertory, the editor indicates in the score that the melody is to be played an octave higher when all parts are heard on the same manual. I actually forgot during the service until the B section. When moving up an octave, though, the sound was unsatisfactory for a melody. So I went back to playing the score as notated.
Around 11:30 a.m., we had a few raindrops. I was in Amherst by then.
Later on, we had light rain. But the “t-storm” forecast never materialized.
Score!
Have I forgotten anything?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!
