Performers: John, Marilyn, Céline. All three performances were really well done!
Observers: Nick B, Christopher, Janice S, David R, Gregory
Opening Discussion
Last year, the October meeting of the Ottawa Piano Group was held at Southminster United Church on the beautiful Heintzman nine foot concert grand piano. Roland mentioned that we were the first group to have performed at Southminster on this recent acquisition. For many years, this piano was at Massey Hall in Toronto and is said to have been used for performances by great pianists of the last century such as Horowitz and Rubenstein.
Since then, the piano has been equipped with a Dampp Chaser for humidity control and tuning stability, a dolly for ease of movement, and a Jansen adjustable artist bench.
Roland indicated that the format of the afternoon would be that of a group lesson. He would listen to each person play, ask them questions, provide general comments, and ask others in attendance for constructive comments; the goal being for everyone to listen more critically and encourage some discussion amongst the group.
One of Roland’s teachers once said that you can only conduct a “masterclass” in the presence of a “master” such as an Angela Hewitt; hence the term group lesson.
Performance by John - 2nd movement of Mozart's Sonata in C Major (K545)
Before playing, John mentioned that this is sometimes referred to as the “easy” Mozart sonata. He had listened to six different recordings, all with different tempos, and selected a tempo somewhere in the middle.
First impressions of John’s performance: nice touch, singing melodic voice, good steady tempo, good appoggiaturas, a few wrong notes, tendency to speed up as the piece progressed, end part was a bit too loud in proportion to the rest, and a nice close.
Roland observed that while the second movement is easier than the well known first movement of this sonata, it’s not at all easy.
The tempo works and it’s a nice touch; avoid the tendency to overplay.
How do we fix the tendency to speed up throughout a piece? Start in the middle and think of the correct tempo. Take a challenging part and pick a tempo that works for that, and use the same tempo for simpler parts.
The first note of a piece can be difficult to play, especially if marked as P (soft). It’s a balance between being too careful and too much. In general, it’s better to err on the side of too much. The first note of every phrase should sing out a bit. The analogy was cited of starting a car on a hill. Be careful that the bass accompaniment does not become too vertical (with accentuated beats) rather than a background texture.
Most musical phrases have three parts, sometimes referred to as a “hair pin”: anacrusa (the unstressed notes before the strong beat of a phrase), accent (strong beat), and the falling away as it resolves.
Writing words to a tune, as John demonstrated with this second movement, can help with memorization.
The pedal on pianofortes of Mozart’s time had limited sustain capability. While the sustain pedal is an essential part of the modern piano, too much pedal can make the sound a bit “wet” where it’s difficult to discern the details. As an alternative, take your foot off the pedal and try “finger pedaling” where the fingers overlap and stay depressed while playing different notes of a chord. This opens up more articulation possibilities.
In selecting a tempo, find one that is comfortable to sing. How slow can you make it and still have a sense of line? Playing music is like riding a bicycle in that there is a sense of momentum. A good way to practice fast more complicated music is to play it at a deliberate slow tempo.
For Mozart pieces, tempo and dynamics are usually within a certain range, as compared to, for example, the Romantic period. The result is usually more convincing by staying within that range and not playing too loud. Pieces by Bach are within an even narrower range of tempo and dynamics, with the exception of the concertos. It’s about judgment, musicianship and making more informed choices.
While it’s useful to listen to recordings of a particular piece by various artists, don’t get caught up; they are just a guide.
While there are various books that attempt to describe these musical attributes, the tradition with classical music had been that of master and apprentice.
Marilyn - Humoresque by Dvorak Op. 101 No. 7
First impressions of Marilyn’s performance: nice singing melody, good dynamic balance, appropriate tempo, good contrast with the middle part.
Roland mentioned that a humoresque is typically a light, whimsical melodic invention with a distinct rhythm.
We should be using our ear to determine the appropriate amount of sustain pedaling.
A wrong note can sometimes disrupt the flow of the music.
Rubato, a relaxation of strict time, is often used when completing one section before the main melody begins.
An appoggiatura is a musical ornament consisting of a dissonant note resolving to a harmonic one, usually trailing off with a quieter sound.
With the lead-in, try to find a way to connect more, making the musical phrase as smooth as possible.
When we first approach a new piece, how are we to make musical decisions on how it is to be played before learning all the notes? At the outset, you need to take a step back for some perspective of what you want. One approach is to start with playing only the top and bottom notes to get a sense of the structure and outline. It’s a good way to learn a piece and better understand it. Everything else is supportive.
An analogy is first building the frame structure of a house. It’s also learning a piece the way the composer might have composed it; first coming up with some catchy melody and later filling in the texture and details. For this initial go, you don’t need to use the final fingering. Later on, when you are trying to polish each of the voices, then using the correct final fingering is important.
The second, more complicated part of the piece has a similar shape and line as more layers are added.
How do we decide which musical line should be in the foreground? One approach is to listen to recordings of what other artists have done. In some cases the melodic line can move from part to part. With a Bach fugue all voices are equally important.
Céline - Duetto (Songs Without Words) by Mendelssohn, Op.38 No.6
First impressions of Céline’s performance: singing melody alternating between right hand and left hand, nice finish.
The trickiest part of this piece is keeping the filler notes very quiet while the melody sings out. Slowing the tempo a bit might help with this.
It would be useful to map out the dialogue between the soprano and tenor voices. The goal is to hear in advance where your attention should be.
Hand weight management is key in playing the melody and the supporting notes at the same time, particularly with the same hand.
Look at the note stem directions to ascertain the top and bottom lines.
At this point in learning the piece, focus on practicing the latter half. Start there each day and play very slowly.
Try playing octaves only to get a sense of the musical line and structure. With all the notes, there is risk of losing the line.
The triplet/duplet combinations are easier to practice slowly and again it’s a matter of hand weight management.
It was observed that while Céline had the score in front of her, she played the first part from memory. When there was a memory snag, it was then difficult to recover by finding the right spot in the score.
Kinesthetic memory (when we know a piece by heart and play it on autopilot) and music score reading/playing are different cognitive activities. For any particular piece, the recommendation is to use one or the other.
