violin

The Art of the Ostinato

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An ostinato is a musical motif or phrase that is persistently repeated.  Here are three pieces from the Baroque period that are constructed around a repeating bass line known as a basso ostinato, or ground bass.  In each case, the bass line provides the framework for a set of increasingly complex and thrilling variations.  It’s as if the composer is saying, “Listen to how clever and inventive I can be!”

Canon in D…Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

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The performance below by the San Francisco Early Music Ensemble uses period instruments and attempts to authentically capture Baroque style.  Notice that the bows differ slightly from our modern bows and hardly any vibrato is used.

The cello provides the ground bass.  Listen to the contour of this bass line as it moves stepwise downward and then gets pulled back again.  A Baroque organ and theorbo (a plucked string instrument similar to a lute) fill in the harmony, providing what is known as a continuo.  The solo violins perform a three part canon.  A canon is “a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration.”  In Pachelbel’s canon the voices are two measures apart.  Pay attention to the way the three identical solo parts fit together.

Passacaglia…George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)  Arranged for violin and viola by Johan Halvorsen

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Similar to a chacconne, a passacaglia is a Baroque dance form that features a series of variations over an ostinato bass.   Handel wrote this music for a harpsichord suite that was published in 1720.  The Norwegian violinist and composer Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) made this spectacular arrangement, re-scoring Handel’s variations for violin and viola.  Here, violinist Itzhak Perlman and violist Pinchas Zukerman perform this dazzling virtuoso showpiece as an encore.

Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582…Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

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You will hear amazing new details each time you listen to this piece.  Bach was a master of counterpoint, which is “the technique of combining two or more melodic ideas in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality.”  Listen to the way Bach weaves new musical lines over the repeating passacaglia theme.  Also, listen to the exciting ways Bach chooses to harmonize these lines.  Like Pachelbel, Bach was an organist and, starting out with a pre-existing melody (often a choral tune, but in this case a passacaglia), he improvised this complex music for church services.  Only later were these improvisations written down.

The second part of the piece is a Fugue (starting at 8:06) which is “a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (known as the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others.”  Bach uses the first eight notes of the passacaglia theme as his subject.  See if you can pick out the subject each time in enters.  Sometimes it will be higher in register, other times lower, and it will usually be surrounded by other musical lines.  The music becomes increasingly complex, modulating to different keys before triumphantly returning to the home key of C (this time Major replacing minor).

Enjoy the music and if you feel inspired, leave a comment below.  Your insights greatly enrich the conversation!

As Winter Turns to Spring…

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For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is slowly beginning to loosen its grip.  As we look forward to warmer temperatures and longer days, let’s enjoy music from Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Written in 1723, The Four Seasons is a collection of violin concertos, each depicting a different season of the year.  A concerto is a composition, usually in three movements (Fast, Slow, Fast) written for a solo instrument (or instruments) and orchestra.

Vivaldi was one of the greatest violinists of his time.  He was influential in both the development of the violin and the establishment of the concerto as a musical genre. Vivaldi, Corelli, Veracini, Tartini and others in Italy around the beginning of the eighteenth century wrote music that extended the range and technical possibilities of the violin and incorporated “cantabile melodies, brilliant figuration, expression and dramatic effects [which] strongly influenced the course of music in other countries.”*

As you listen to these performances, consider how Vivaldi musically captures the atmosphere of winter and spring.  To help performers interpret the music, Vivaldi wrote sonnets in the score before each concerto.  Listen to the icy sounds in Winter and notice how the bows are used to create these sounds.  In Spring you’ll hear the violins depicting bird songs.  Pay attention to the back and forth dialogue between the orchestra and the solo violin.  This is part of what gives a concerto so much drama.

I have included two great performances.  The first features violinist Julia Fischer and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.  She gives a beautiful, twenty-first century performance of the piece.

You might have fun comparing Fischer’s interpretation with the second set of clips, featuring a really exciting performance by Giuliano Carmignola and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.  Although no one knows exactly how this music was played in Vivaldi’s time, this performance attempts to be more historically accurate.  You will notice that the bows are shaped differently than the modern bow and the sound produced is quite different.  You will also hear ornamental notes added, especially in the slow movement of Winter.  In Vivaldi’s time this kind of freedom and sense of improvisation was common.

After listening to these clips, I think you’ll be amazed that the same music can sound so different depending on the concept of the performer.  This is an aspect of music that we should celebrate.

In my next post, in the middle of the month, we’ll listen to an amazing piece written in the twentieth century that was inspired by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Antonio Vivaldi

The Four Seasons…Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, “L’inverno” (Winter)

Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro 

Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, “La primavera” (Spring)

Allegro
Largo
Allegro Pastorale 

Julia Fischer and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKfuhLCVldg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRRDCDFQj3s

(*Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Robin Stowell, pg.1)

Ten Tips For Practicing

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The beginning of a new year is a great time to evaluate our practicing and to reaffirm our commitment to consistent, thoughtful practicing.  How we practice is as important as how much we practice.  Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Practice Every Day

In some ways, practicing is like exercise.  If it’s sporadic you won’t see progress and you’ll be constantly frustrated.   When practicing becomes a part of your daily routine, your practice sessions become easier. You begin to develop muscle memory and one skill builds on another.  Progress and momentum follow.  Dr. Suzuki said that for every day you don’t practice you need to practice two days to catch up.  “Only  practice on the days that you eat.” was his famous advice.

2. Organize Your Time

Understand each component of your practice session and its purpose.  In the first Suzuki books a typical practice session should include Suzuki’s Tonalization exercises, your new piece and review.  More advanced students might similarly divide their time between scales, etudes, unaccompanied Bach, concerto, sonata, show pieces and orchestra music.  Each component helps your playing in a different way.

As you become more comfortable with a new piece, continue to practice small sections of the piece slowly, but also spend some time “performing” the piece by playing through from beginning to end without stopping.

3. Identify Your Objective 

Make sure you always understand specifically what you’re trying to accomplish.  Be goal oriented and focus on only one point at a time.

4. Use Your Time Efficiently and Intelligently 

Practicing almost always involves problem solving.  Identify the problem and then consider the most efficient and effective way to solve it.  If you have difficulty with a musical passage, don’t immediately play it again.  Instead, stop and ask yourself why it isn’t working.  It may involve a string crossing, a shift or questionable intonation. After you have identified the problem, focus only on its solution.  This usually involves starting in the middle of the piece and only repeating a small group of notes.  Stop and isolate each action, whether it be a string crossing or setting fingers on the fingerboard.  After repeating it correctly many times, back up and play the passage again in context.  It’s important to be able to start anywhere in a given piece.

5. Stay Mentally Alert 

Listen carefully and evaluate your playing throughout your practice session. Be as tough on yourself as your teacher is at your lesson.  Every time you go on autopilot and allow a sloppy string crossing or out of tune note to pass you are ingraining that habit.  By listening and solving the problem quickly, you save yourself time in end.

6. Imagine What You Want It To Sound Like

Let the piece play in your mind like a recording.  How do you want it sound?  Put the bow on the string and play.  Then evaluate what you played, making adjustments if necessary.  Always stay positive and evaluate after you have played.

7. Stay Relaxed

Relaxation is the key to all technique.  Focus on four points of relaxation, isolating each separately before you play: the right shoulder, right elbow, right hand and the knuckles of the left hand.

For less advanced students, always go through a posture checklist before starting to play.  Place the bow on the string and take a moment to feel the connection and relaxed arm weight.

Throughout your practice session, keep renewing a soft, springy feeling in your left hand and bow arm.

8. Slow Down

This is especially true when learning a new piece.  Find the tempo where it feels easy and focus on your most full, beautiful tone.  Stay calm and relaxed.  If you find yourself scrambling for notes, evaluate what is happening.  Usually, this is a sign that you are not making the most efficient physical motions possible.  This, in turn makes it harder and you risk building a habit of tension.  Think about a relaxed “roof” over the fingerboard and fingertips that stay close to the strings and try again.

Dr. Suzuki asks beginners learning a new piece to use short, small bow strokes and to stop between each note to prepare the left hand.  Practicing this way reinforces the appropriate coordination (the left hand preparing first).  It also ensures that mind and muscles have time to learn and remember the correct finger patterns.  Students who try to go too fast and skip this step often end up ingraining wrong notes that have to be unlearned later. There is also a danger of sloppy coordination between the right and left hands.

There are times when it can be beneficial to play a piece at full tempo (or even faster than the performance tempo) before you are ready.  However, as a general rule slow practice is essential.

9. Do Many Correct Repetitions

Whatever we repeat becomes a habit.  To improve we must replace old, inhibiting habits with new and correct ones.  Dr. Suzuki said, “Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge plus 10,000 repetitions creates skill.”  Those who worked with Suzuki have suggested that he intended this not as hyperbole, but rather quite literally!  In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell suggests something similar.

10. Always Play Your Best

Because what you repeat becomes a habit, it is essential that you never let down. Don’t settle for anything less than your best.  Always turn the energy switch on and practice with your best tone and most inspired musicianship.

Suzuki's Vital Points

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Dr. Suzuki listed ten Vital Points for violin playing.  He used these points to develop a weekly progress report that allowed students and parents to chart improvement over time.*  Suzuki’s emphasis on Vital Points suggests that the important question to ask is not “How quickly can I move from one piece to another?” but instead, “How beautifully can I play?”  Suzuki acknowledged that each student develops at their own pace.  He patiently enjoyed this process with the conviction that, given the correct environment, all students can learn.

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Test Your Practice Skills

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Anastasia Jempelis with a student
Anastasia Jempelis with a student

Dr. Suzuki told his students: “Only practice on the days that you eat.”  This is good advice, but it’s also important to evaluate the quality of your practicing.  It’s not just about the hours you put in, but what you put in the hours!  Suzuki’s triangle (student, parent, teacher) gives parents the vital role of guiding their child’s practice sessions at home.  Practicing correctly helps students develop self discipline, perseverance, and an increased ability to concentrate.  Years of parent led practice sessions prepare students to work effectively on their own as teenagers.  Most importantly, through practicing we develop and maintain the skills that allow us to connect freely and meaningfully with the music.  I’ll have a few more thoughts on practicing in future posts, but for now here are some helpful points that my former teacher Anastasia Jempelis put together many years ago.  Miss Jempelis asks that you “please answer this form as honestly as you would your Federal Income tax return.  Then, keep the form and test yourself again in a couple of months.”

Do you and your child
1.  understand the definition of practice?
2.  practice every day?
3.  understand exactly what your teacher wants you to practice?
4.  keep one goal in mind as you practice?

Do you
5.  keep a notebook?
6.  praise your child for a job well done so that their motivation will stay high?
7.  practice only as long as your child’s concentration is of a high quality?
8.  very gradually lengthen practice sessions if your child’s concentration is good?
9.  ask your teacher questions, so that you will be a good teacher at home?
10.  know when to stop a practice?
11.  use variety and creativity to make repetitions fun?
12.  do many repetitions so that the practice session is productive?

Some helpful “secrets” to remember:
1.  Be goal-oriented in practice.
2.  Keep motivation high.
3.  Lengthen and improve your child’s concentration.
4.  Try to be as good a teacher at home as your Suzuki teacher is at the lesson.
5.  Use repetitions to develop ability.  (The more good repetitions, the more ability).

Take A Friend To The Orchestra

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In 2006 Drew McManus asked me to contribute an article to his annual Take A Friend To The Orchestra series. Widely regarded as an industry expert, Drew is a respected orchestra consultant and the author of the popular blog, Adaptistration. Soliciting ideas from a wide range of perspectives within the music business, Take A Friend To The Orchestra (TAFTO) tackles the challenge of introducing orchestral music to people who are not in the habit of regularly attending concerts. It’s easy to get inspired by the many great articles in this series.

[quote]A TAFTO initiative simply isn’t complete without a contribution from a real live, orchestra musician. This year’s contribution comes from Timothy Judd, a violinist in the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. If you’re interested in seeing the issues of audience development from the eyes of a professional orchestra musician and like straightforward, detailed ideas then this is your article…[/quote] –Drew McManus

Timothy Judd, violinist
Photo: Michael G. Stewart

TAFTO 2006 Contribution
By: Timothy Judd

As an orchestral violinist, I follow a routine before concerts. I usually leave home about an hour before the downbeat and swing by Starbucks for my caffeine fix. Dressed in a penguin suit, violin case in hand, I quickly realize that I am a walking advertisement for my orchestra. Sometimes, it garners a number of unsolicited questions and interest. A woman stops to ask me what instrument is in the case. The man behind the counter enthusiastically tells me that he played the violin in his school orchestra.

These occasional conversations have led me to the conclusion that there are more people interested in classical music than we see in the concert hall. Live orchestral music is a great product, but it doesn’t sell itself. As a musician, I believe it is my responsibility to not only play great music but also to help others discover why it is so exciting. This includes fighting for high quality music education in all of our public schools so students can experience classical music at an early age.

Before taking friends to the orchestra for the first time, it might be interesting to find out if they have any perceptions of classical music. I’ve encountered people who assume classical music is stuffy, highbrow and hard to understand. Some even tell me that they see themselves more as a “NASCAR person” than a “symphony person.”

So how do you go about shattering these stereotypes? First, help your friends understand that classical music isn’t about dressing up and showing that you know when to clap at the right times. I go to concerts because listening to classical music is fun! This music has stood the test of time and it belongs to everyone.

Maybe you could show how music relates to other activities your friends enjoy. If they enjoy watching a NASCAR race because of the speed, power and excitement, try showing them how they might get the same feeling of excitement and motion by listening to “A Short Ride In A Fast Machine” by John Adams or “Pacific 231” by Arthur Honegger or even Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. There’s no reason why people can’t appreciate both sports and classical music. As a matter of fact, I even know some musicians in my orchestra who are NASCAR fans.

Before the concert, give your friends some insights into how you listen to music. If they try to approach an orchestra concert like they would a rock concert they may end up disappointed. Unlike a rock concert, which relies on spectacle and audience participation, an orchestra concert requires you to focus and really listen. Like looking at visual art in a museum, the more attention you give to the music, the more you will get out of it.

At the same time, don’t get upset if your friends enjoy aspects of the concert experience that you consider shallow. Audiences have always been captivated by flashy, charismatic soloists and daredevil displays of technique and the stories of women fainting at concerts given by virtuosos like Franz Liszt and Paganini (whether true or not) make today’s concerts seem tame.

In the end it is important to let the music stand on its own. However, don’t be afraid to share interesting facts about the composers with people who are new to classical music. These details may help them to pay more attention to the music. For example, Mozart’s First Symphony seems like just another symphony until you consider that he wrote it when he was eight years old. Beethoven’s music sounds even more shocking when you realize that the people first hearing it were expecting it to sound like Haydn.

Don’t expect your friends to be able to start out listening to a whole forty minute symphony with the same level of enthusiasm you experience. Instead, get a recording of the piece you will hear at the concert and play your favorite parts a few times. Tell your friends why you like these sections and see if they can find them in the live performance.

Most importantly, let your friends see your enthusiasm for the music and remember that sometimes one concert is all it take takes to hook someone on classical music. I still remember my parents taking me to David Zinman’s last concert as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra when I was around ten years old. The orchestra played Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” For many Saturday mornings after that I awakened my parents with sounds of Mahler blasting from the stereo. I hope my friends at Starbucks are equally inspired.