Adventures in not pedaling

Tags

collaboration

Cupola. Source: Pixabay. Public Domain

 

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?

If this post has been helpful and you think your friends and contacts would benefit from reading it, please share.

I would appreciate it very much. Thank you!

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

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.

Back to top

I resigned!

Last week, I came to the decision that I needed to resign from my church job.

In the days that followed, it was obvious that this was the right move.

The atmosphere was chaotic, the supervision oppressive.  I had been unable to sleep at night, waking up in physical pain, with clenched fists.  I had become sick to my stomach on several occasions.  There were so many pieces of information competing for space in my brain that I couldn’t focus.  My practicing was affected, not to mention my ability to enjoy life.

Since I resigned, I have regained the ability to enjoy my surroundings.  I can listen to music and actually hear it.  I found that my soul is intact.  I have protected my integrity and the integrity of my playing, and feel optimistic about the future.

Addendum regarding that glamorous lifestyle

Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Flickr.com user “Ilpo’s Sojourn”

When writing about Robin Williams’ passing, my thoughts needed to be put into written form. They were not all from one place, in that being on stage means the performer is not him/herself while on stage, in a way. Sports are something entirely different.

I want to say more about being an artist.

When the public attends a concert or watches a performance by other means, they can become mesmerized.  It’s magic.  It’s a chance to suspend cares and discomfort.  They have the wonderful opportunity to enter another world.

Performers do that, too!  Having the ability to do that is the reason many performers are on the stage in the first place.

I can’t speak for all performers, obviously, but just yesterday, I entered another world while practicing.  Sometimes this occurs in mundane ways.  Just before leaving home in the afternoon, I felt hungry.  So I took an energy bar along and headed for a practice session.  While practicing, I forgot all about being hungry.  Five minutes after stopping, I was ravenous!

It is often not only possible, but necessary to place whatever problems or concerns one has into an invisible box while practicing, rehearsing, and performing.  If the music doesn’t come first, the work is compromised.  What are you going to do, turn to the audience when you miss a note and say, “Oh, sorry!  I was thinking about…  I forgot to turn off the over.  I forgot to lock the door.  I’m worried I might miss my plane.  I’m planning dinner for tomorrow night!”

Performers have daily lives, just like everyone else.  When they are not “on,” they can feel insecure and vulnerable.  Think for a moment about what percentage of their time is actually spent performing.  Not so much, right?  That leaves plenty of time left over for whatever normal life is supposed to be.

Sometimes the difference between those two lives, performing and not, can be difficult to navigate.  After a concert, there is very often a huge letdown. Just because someone is a good performer does not mean their entire personal life is wonderful, easy, ideal, glamorous… feel free to add your own terms here.

You may feel you know a performer if you follow his/her career.  But that is just a small part of that person’s life.

I’ll give you one more example about the glamour involved:  My piano trio drove from New York to Pennsylvania to play a concert.  On the way back, we got lost and ended up stuck in traffic for miles.  At some time around 3:00 a.m., we all became hungry at the same moment.  Even though we were only 1/2 hour from home, we stopped at a highway rest area.  So there we were, standing in the empty parking lot in concert dress, enjoying burgers and fries from Roy Rogers off the top of the cellist’s BMW (a relic), laughing about our glamorous lives.  We arrived home at 4:00.

I’d do it again in a second.  We had a blast.  But the next day each of us had to get out of bed and practice.

Back to top

Got a box? Here’s why you need one!

Tags

Andy Murray, Headache, sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, US Open

English: Bromo-Seltzer advertisement for headache medicine. Lottie Collins sings Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-de-ay! after being healed by the medicine and this effect makes her to dance and sing. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Several years ago I went out to dinner with a singer/client.  Although she had a pounding headache, she was delightful company.  She was joking, laughing, and making wonderful contributions to our conversation.

How was she able to be so personable, considering that she had a headache?

Well, she was compartmentalizing.  I didn’t understand how to do that at the time. But I worked on it, and am now so much better!

Which brings me to the point:  What happened to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals at this year’s US Open?

He tanked!  There is plenty of video footage of him smashing his racquet against the court and screaming during his match with Stan Wawrinka. That was   between points. During play, he looked like a bump on a log. He let shots go without moving at all, netted several returns, and generally looked disengaged.

Don’t you think the spectators who paid for those expensive tickets expected to see both players at their best?

I should say that I have long thought Murray’s game was erratic.  He is extremely talented, but his widely variable focus and frequent lack of will make his game so inconsistent.

What would happen if he could put his frustrations in a box for the duration of the match?  Does he need to vent so much that it saps his concentration?

Try this:  When you are practicing and feel distracted, frustrated, angry at the company you spent an hour on hold with just now, or worried about something else, take out your imaginary box.  Put all of that in the box, then go to the front door.  Open the door, and place your imaginary box out in the hallway.

All your “stuff” will still be there when you’re finished practicing.  You can have it back if you want it.

By the way, the same procedure works just as well for rehearsals, auditions, juries, and performances!

Related article

Murray Loses Cool and, Soon, the Match

NYTimes.com 

Got a box?  Please share your thoughts in the Comment Section below!

Back to top

Weird weather

Tags

hail, nature, New England, weather

weather symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just had to say something here about the weather!

Not being a native New Englander, I’m not sure I will ever become used to this.

Today we have snow and HAIL at the same time!  Did you ever?

Turning on a dime

Tags

chorus concert, chorus rehearsal, Church service, vocal coaching

Look MA! 4 Hands ~ Image via Flickr

Please don’t try this at home!

Last weekend, every musical situation in which I found myself required instant changes.  I felt like I was on hyper-alert like an E.R. doc the whole time.

Coaching a singer

Due to the singer’s work schedule and my warmup and concert, we decided to carve out what time we could by using a practice room.  We ended up with 20 minutes in a small, soundproof room.

Singers enjoy larger spaces, and soundproofing is the worst.

We used the time well, making sure not to push.  The phrasing in one Brahms song will need to be revisited when we add time next weekend in our usual larger space.  The end of every phrase sounded chopped off, but we knew the room had a lot to do with that.

With less experience, we might have tried to fix the phrasing problems.  But that would have been pointless.

Chorus warmup and concert

The Hampshire College Chorus is too large for everyone to perform, with audience, in its rehearsal space.  So… we moved to a lecture hall.  No stage, no piano, no stage lighting.

When I walked into the hall 5 minutes after the coaching session, the keyboard was set up.  So I tried it out.  WAY too high.

The student who set it up was hanging around, so I asked him to lower it one notch.  I based my guess on a different keyboard I had played in another rehearsal.  He took it down a notch… no more time to make further adjustments, as the chorus needed rehearsal time.  The keyboard was still too high.

The light was awful… generally OK, but nothing special aimed toward the music.  There was just as much light on the audience as everywhere else.

There was a big black orchestra music stand for me to use, which was too far back.  I guess the keyboard’s music rack was either lost or no one knows it exists.

The pedal, tethered to the keyboard and nothing else, was also in the wrong place.  Because of the big base on the music stand, it was impossible to get the pedal into a comfortable spot.

During rehearsal, the conductor took a much faster tempo in a Mozart piece than we had rehearsed.  The piano reduction appears to be easy, but definitely is not.  Both hands are required to change range with no time to do so, and continue playing subtly.  That is completely different from jumping fast to land on a big chord at full volume.  I did not play the Mozart well in rehearsal.

After that, the conductor said that when the soloist was singing alone, the keyboard was too loud.  Could I turn it down and then turn it up when the chorus came in?  Well, no… both hands were busy.  Leaving something out would have meant leaving a hole in the music.  The volume dial was a ways away, forward and to the left.  The dial had to be turned.  You couldn’t just hit it quickly and go back to playing.

So a chorus alto came over, wedge herself into a very small space while being careful not to trip over cables, and operate the volume dial.  Immediately after the volume change, she sprinted over to the opposite side of the keyboard to turn pages!

The concert, fortunately, went very well.

Church service

During the church service on Sunday there were lots of last-minute changes.

A member of the congregation had sent me 3 hymns she wanted to add to the opening of the service.  I alerted the choir to the plan.

The choir insisted on singing through at least one verse of each hymn.  I understand where they’re coming from… they are in front of the congregation, so the perception is that they are leading the hymns.

It turned out that looking at all the hymns was necessary.

• One hymn had a descant, which required a decision about whether to add it or not.
• Another had 2 possible paths from beginning to end.  One involved a brief modulation in the keyboard part.  It’s important to know that some of the singers know what to do in that case.
• The third hymn was easily navigated until the last line, an “optional choral ending.”  With no rehearsal, the singers would arrive at that point and not know whether to try it or not.

The choir had other music to rehearse as well:

• 3 hymns for the main portion of the service; and
• 4 anthems (for that day and the next 3 weeks).

So we had to rehearse 10 pieces of music in 30 min.  I think this needs further discussion!

After that, the service proceeded smoothly… until just after the sermon.  As I was sprinting from the front pew back to the organ to play the last hymn, the minister decided to switch to a different hymn.  Why would that be a problem?

Well, I’m glad it was something I knew.  I don’t sight-read pedal parts.

In order to facilitate turning pages and changing locations (organ, piano, front pew), I take the hymns for the day out of the unwieldy binders (the ones with the accompaniment, which are different from the congregational hymnals).  A small binder is much easier to handle.  Turning pages is easy, and carrying a small binder from place to place is so much better than hefting two oversized ones.

I leave the large binders on the floor, which is raised, just behind the organ bench.  Ministers change their minds.  I’m used to it.

Since the pages in the large binders are so difficult to turn, they have to be handled a few at a time.  Turning 40 pages at once, say, doesn’t work.  So finding a page quickly takes a little time.

The minister waited a few seconds, then asked the congregation to begin singing with him, no organ.

The hymn was several verses long, so I made the decision to join in at the beginning of the refrain.  Wrong key, of course.  I don’t have perfect pitch.

Had I been playing the piano at that point, it would have been easy to find the key by testing notes softly.  Not so easy on the organ!

Oh well, stuff happens.  Hopefully next weekend will be more normal.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

E-book

“Goal-oriented Practice: How to Avoid Traps and Become a Confident Performer” gives every musician a fresh perspective!

Does your practice time get results? If you are spinning your wheels, this book is for you.

“Goal-oriented Practice” is also available in print!

Goal-oriented Practice

sold in 9 countries!

Review by pianist Robert W. Oliver

Back to top

Mozart takes the speedway

Tags

arts, Mozart, recording

Audi_Rosemeyer_Modell.jpg ~ Image via Wikipedia

Recently I heard a recording of a widely respected pianist playing a Mozart concerto.

This provided an enjoyable listening experience… until the last movement.

This being one of the most famous Mozart piano concertos, many listeners know the melody lines.  Had it been possible, we might have been singing along.

Singing along was, however, not to be.  Why?  The soloist got the speed bug.  The result, instead of ascending, melodic scale passages, was an accent on each high note of the scales, followed by a blur.

Yes, his playing was even.  But where was the expressivity?  No one can discern the shape of the music when the playing is unclear.

So I’ve been wondering.  How did speed playing become popular?  Must everything be played as fast as possible as if it were a competition piece?  Why is speed rewarded?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Summer Concerts

See complete details about Rocky Hill Concerts. 2 remaining  Sunday afternoons in July in air-conditioned comfort!

E-books

“Goal-oriented Practice: How to Avoid Traps and Become a Confident Performer” gives every musician a fresh perspective!

My book frees up time to learn more music, memorize, or do something else entirely!

“Goal-oriented Practice” is also available in print!

Goal-oriented Practice

sold in 8 countries!

Review by pianist Robert W. Oliver

Back to top

On Arrogance and Humility

Tags

Bill Keller, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, tennis, Wimbledon

How to Fold a Dunce Cap ~ Image via Wikipedia

​This post began as a rant about Novak Djokovic’s attitude.  And then I read Bill Keller’s wonderful article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine.  Keller talks about the effect reading poetry could have on members of Congress.

Djokovic could use some of that, too.  Rather than seeing him as self-confident, I think he seems quite arrogant.

​The Evidence

• Djokovic never acknowledges his opponents or gives them any credit.
• During the Wimbledon awards ceremony, he ducked behind the line of people on the podium to show the trophy to his team, pointing to himself.
• In an interview, he said he doesn’t think he needs to improve anything.
• He also said that, as #1, he doesn’t need to be any different.

Down the Road

• When he eventually crashes, it’s going to be very painful.
• He’ll be playing tennis by himself!  Doesn’t he realize that he needs other players in order to play the game?
• Federer beat him once.  It’s going to happen again.

What I Prefer

• Both Nadal and Federer have self-confidence.  They are not arrogant.  And they have humility, especially Nadal.
• I also think that both Nadal and Federer have more in their game.  Djokovic apparently has only one goal:  to bulldoze his opponents.  That’s it.  No style.
• Fans embrace Nadal and Federer immediately.  Could that be because these two care about their fans?

According to Geoff MacDonald in the New York Times blog “Straight Sets,”

[Djokovic] “… showed class in defeat, walking around the net to embrace Nadal and congratulate him on his victory…” at the 2010 US Open.

What happened?

How do you feel about this?  Does arrogance have a place in a star’s public image?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

E-books

Learning a new piece? New program? Heading back to school? Looking for teaching ideas? Then this is the perfect time to read “Goal-oriented Practice: How to Avoid Traps and Become a Confident Performer!”

Goal-oriented Practice

Review by pianist and conductor Andrei Strizek

When You Buy a Piano

How to Maintain Your Piano

Back to top

Working with an opposite personality

Tags

concert, conductor, Music, piano reduction, rehearsal, tempo

Image via Wikipedia

There is an occasional performance situation in which I feel consistently thrown off my game.  Does the same thing happen to you?

It’s about major changes in tempo or interpretation at the last minute.

Background

I was trained never to sightread in public.  And I never do in a concert situation.  Sight-reading is often required in rehearsals, though.

During the Art Song Festival at Westminster Choir College one summer, I heard a recital presented by a famous singer and an equally famous collaborative pianist (not my teacher).  It was wonderful.

The audience clearly wanted an encore.  What happened next is something I will always remember.  And it isn’t positive.

The singer walked onto the stage, followed by the pianist.  The pianist had his face in the music as he was walking ~ not a good sign.  Apparently the singer had surprised him with the music backstage.

And then the pianist started the song, played a few bars, and stopped.  He started over in a different key!  I don’t want anyone to remember my playing for that reason.

​Scenario #1

A talented cellist with whom I worked rehearsed one way and performed another.  The timing of the rubato would change drastically in performances with no warning, making good ensemble impossible.

Other pianists must have encountered the same problem, as the cellist changed pianists every six months.

Scenario #2

There is a conductor who works in the opposite way to my approach.  I was trained to prepare very well in advance.  So I am accustomed to having a handle on what is likely to happen during a performance.  When I feel secure in that way, the unexpected just goes with the territory, no problem.  Major changes the day before, though, throw me.  The conductor, on the other hand, is quite comfortable with this.

While practicing for a concert, I found myself editing a piano reduction because my part was unplayable.  This took a significant amount of time, after which it was necessary to practice the edited version for several days.

Rehearsals went well, and I reached performance level a week before the concert.

In the dress rehearsal the evening before the concert, the conductor decided on a drastically faster tempo.  It was so much faster, my revised version of the piano reduction was impossible to play, particularly in the interludes.  How were the soloists to get their cues?  Marked allegro, we were racing along at presto, at least.

When I mentioned my discomfort to the conductor, the response was, “I like it fast!”  There was no further discussion.  The sound was exciting, but I felt that there was no way I could catch up.

On the day of the concert, I practiced in the new tempo, deciding to omit most of the inner parts in order to preserve the melody and bass.

When I arrived at the concert venue 15 minutes before call, a student was just beginning to set up the electronic keyboard for the performance.  I had planned on having a few minutes to acclimate myself to the keyboard, but that didn’t work out.

In the concert, the conductor reverted to the previous, slower tempo.  I wasn’t ready for that, and wasn’t happy with my playing.

How could this be handled in the future?  Do accompanists have a say?

I could have called the conductor to confirm the tempo before practicing.

I could have practiced both the slower and the faster tempi.

Arranging for a few minutes to play the keyboard may have helped.  Playing on different pianos, even without warmup time on the instrument, is something I am used to.  And playing a keyboard is no problem, but the action, sound, pedal, and sustain time are all different from the piano.  The absence of warmup time for this concert was likely a contributing factor to my heightened sense of unease.

What would you do?  Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section below!

E-books

Goal-oriented Practice
Review by pianist and conductor Andrei Strizek

When You Buy a Piano

How to Maintain Your Piano

Back to top

Piano and: balancing sound

Tags

balance, collaboration, Music, piano

copyright Bob Elsdale ~ used by permission

As collaborative pianists, we can feel confident about balance without depending on someone else to assess the situation.

Relying on someone who is listening from the house is iffy ~ 3 different people will give you 3 different opinions!​  Depending on which instrument a person plays, s/he will hear differently.

Following a recent concert, two audience members came backstage ~ one a string player, the other a pianist.  One said the piano was too loud.  The other?  Just right.  I didn’t think it could have been both at the same time, so there’s your third opinion.​  (The music director told me it was great.)

Performing with many different instruments and voice types has helped me figure out what’s what.  Playing in a number of halls has also provided the opportunity to find out what works.

Be aware that curtains, wall hangings, carpets, seat cushions and clothing all absorb sound.​  Beyond that, the sound changes a great deal from an empty house to one with an audience.

Balance in general

When the piano is behind the other performer, that performer will be facing the audience.  That means that their sound is headed away from you.  If you can hear them, you aren’t too loud.

The lid

Many people, upon seeing the lid at full stick, will tell you the piano will be too loud even without hearing it first.  Actually, having the lid open results in a clear piano sound which is easier to hear and adjust.

Several musicians with whom I have coached insist on using full stick.

Sometimes I do use 1/2 stick.  I also have a “piano block.”  It’s just a piece of wood, about 6″ x 4″ by 2″, painted black.  In churches, especially, the block is useful.  It can be set between the lid and the frame three different ways, opening the lid to any one of three dimensions.  And it makes the use of a bible or a hymnal unnecessary.  (Members of the congregation often find that to be sacriligious.  If you want to be invited back, don’t do it!)

Voicing

Range matters.  When playing for flute, for example, treble sounds in the piano compete.  Treble instruments and voices need less piano treble and more piano bass.

With cello, the range can be low bass or in the middle of the bass clef.  Pianists need to be sure the cello is heard, and adjust the piano’s voicing accordingly.

One exception to both of the above would be when the piano has the melody or a counter-melody.  When the other instrument has the accompanying part, the piano is more prominent.

When the piano has a fugue subject or counter-subject, the two instruments should match.

The Debussy Cello Sonata is another great exception.  When both instruments match articulation and volume, the result is stunning!  It becomes impossible to hear which instrument is which.  Incredible.

Recording

It can be helpful to record dress rehearsals and concerts for our own information.  I find that it’s important to listen for a comprehensive take on the sound.  But the playing takes precedence, so if I start to become obsessive about the recording, I turn off the machine.

When to ask

The “system” may break down in unusual situations.

When a hall is exceptionally live, you will want to ask whether the sound is clear.  You may need to adjust your pedaling and find a slower tempo.

If you have a bad cold that affects your hearing, feedback can be reassuring.

So listen to what’s going on in every situation.  Process the feedback you get from others, including those on stage and in the audience.  Take what helps, and put the rest “under consideration.”  To gain more experience, playing in master classes is invaluable.  Play for them whenever you can.

How do you assess balance in collaborative situations?​  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Back to top

“Goal-oriented Practice” has gained many satisfied readers! Click for great reviews and comments. Buy it now!