Group 1
In this two-week initiative, weāre moving beyond the black and white of the keyboard and into the colorful spectrum of instrumental timbres. In week one, you'll hone your skills in spotting orchestral writing in the works of the great composers. Week two will focus on experimenting with a variety of tones and textures in your own playing to illustrate the qualities of the many varied orchestral instruments.
BYOP: Bring your own Piece! This challenge does not rely on specific repertoire, so feel free to pick any piece that best suits your current abilities.
Pianists of all levels are welcome. You may choose how much of the piece you would like to work on. It can be a phrase or a page.
More Detailed instructions coming soon!
- Sign-Up : Monday January 16th at 10 am PST
- Course Period: January 23 - February 6
- Class Size: max. 4 Groups Ć” 10 Participants
- Optional check-In via Zoom: February 2nd at 10:30am PT
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84808836865?pwd=dGhjYkRKRndhSFhvbU5RdUppaENIQT09
Assignment 1
Supplementary material: Beethoven Sonata Op.10 no.1
Part 2
Overview of Week 1: Spotting orchestral writing in your pieces!
Look out for the following:
1. Bass Octaves
2. Sudden shift of texutre
3. Stems of notes going in different directions
4. Melody in the middle of piano/middle voices?
5. Exact repetition (different instrument playing it?)
Assignment 2
Supplementary material: Beethoven Sonata Op.2 no.3
Part 1
Part 2
Overview:
Put together a list of 5-10 descriptive words you can use to express the music you are playing.
Upload a piece or excerpt of your piece where you discuss how you adjust your attack (finger/arm/pedal) to accommodate the instrumentation and expression you chose in video 1.
Upload an excerpt of your piece where you CHANGE the instrumentation and/or expression and note what conscious changes you made in your attack to do so.
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Hi Daniela, Thank you for introducing the concept of thinking in different timbres of instruments in an orchestra. I'm an adult beginner and I have very little experience with this aspect.
I am learning BWV999, which was written for lute. I looked for the following:
1. No Bass Octaves
2. Sudden shift of texutre: the last two measures has different texture
3. Stems of notes going in different directions: none noted
4. Melody in the middle of piano/middle voices? : I think the top voice is melody and I sing to that voice when I practice in block chords, but the bass notes are also important. I don't think the middle voices are melody (less important).
5. Exact repetition (different instrument playing it?): I can't think of what different instrument play the repeated measure but I try to play the repeated measure softer.
In another piece I'm learning Clementi Sonatina op36 no1:
- 1st movement has trumpet timbre. Part A and B are both repeated but I don't know what different instrument it would sound like.
- 2nd movement the long note melody sounds like violin
- 3rd movement right hand sounds like flute at the beginning, light. The changed texture to descending scale runs. The ending four measures are chords a different texture as well.
Please feel free to add any comments/thoughts. Thank you!
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ALICE Hi Alice, sorry, didn't tag you in the reply. Just want to make sure you saw it
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Daniela What does harmonic instrument mean? I realized that I don't know the all the instruments in each section wind, string etc. Would you suggest to watch more symphonies? Please feel free to share links of good symphonies to watch. Thank you very helpful!
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ALICE Harmonic instrument, meaning it's easy for them to play multiple notes-harmonies-at once. (piano, guitar, harp)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbvhU22uAM
This is a great example to show the instrumental colors. The breakdown of instruments is in the description.
In terms of other symphonies, they're all wonderful, and everyone fed off one another so the evolution is quite fascinating to see. I would start with early classical (early Haydn) so you can see a more trimmed down version, and then work your way through, well, time really. It helps to read about the symphony you are listening to. You never know what important detail will make your understanding that much deeper.
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Daniela I am opening my eyes on this subject. I enjoy watching and listening to the different timbre of these instruments. I guess the woodwind instruments are made of wood and the player needs to blow wind :). I am glad to sign up this intensive! also enjoy reading your responses to other postings.
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Hi Alice. This is excellent actually. Lute writing is a lot like piano writing in that it is also a harmonic instrument, so the fact that you didn't see any of those signs of orchestral writing fits right in.
Clementi is in the same time period as Mozart and would be familiar with his and Haydn's orchestral compositions. Where this sonata is less involved, as it was intended as a teaching tool, it still has stereotypical classical elements. I like your idea of trumpet timbre. I also see cellos interjecting in m. 4. What about the long notes in m. 16? Those seem like winds to me. In m. 20 and 21 we also have a middle voice melody.
The two halves repeating are a standard of the sonata form in this time period although I would still try to vary in some way. When we're looking for exact repetition, it's usually of a much smaller variety, a measure, melodic figure, or part of a phrase.
Second movement, I definitely see a solo melodic instrument also. I may even go as far as to say that this seems vocal. Where I see the third movement as more pianistic (broken chords/scales), I think there are times where playing around with the idea of timbre can't hurt (m. 17, 33 for example).
Happy discovery! Happy to connect
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Iām working on the piece Aufschwung by Robert Schumann. Iāll attach a photo of the A section.
My teacher and I talk about orchestration at times, but this exercise made me realize that I always default to imagining a score as vocal music, probably because I grew up singing and listened to a lot more opera than orchestral music. Iām excited to expand my horizons. When I did this exercise, I thought about timbre, but I donāt really know the ranges of any of the instruments in the orchestra, or how they might map out onto the keyboard.
First, I like this piece in a bit slower tempo than a lot of pianists play it. Partly because I canāt play it āsehr raschā, partly because I think there are so many layers that it can get muddy really quickly if youāre not careful.
In the opening phrase, I thought maybe violas for the middle voice with violins on top. The top notes are marked staccato, but I donāt hear this as pizzicato. With a bow, but angularāthatās the best way I can describe the sound.
Bar 2 bass clefāthe octave jumps are a big gesture that makes me think of percussion, with a muted cymbal at the top of the gesture. (Later in the piece, itāa a wide open cymbal)
Bar 4ārepeat of the opening phrase, over string basses, maybe with a quiet timpani roll, but it has a bit of a rumble sound in my head. Menacing.
Bar 5 a woodwind in the soprano voice, probably a clarinet, with the second clarinet joining in bars 7-8. In the bass clef, beats 1 and 4 would be a cello and maybe plucked, but a very round sound, like pom-pom with violas (?) playing the slurred notes on beats 2-3 and 5-6. The violas would fall off on beats 3 and 6, like a sigh, but an anxious one.
The material repeats. I donāt know that I would change the orchestration, but I think I would change how I conducted it. Bars 1-4 would be two definite phrases with room for a breath in the middle of bar 2. For bars 9-12, I would think of it as one long phrase, and push the tempo slightly in the middle of bar 10 so that the upward gesture in the bass continues into the repeat of the main theme in the middle voice without any hesitation.
For the soprano clarinet section, I think Iād ask the clarinet to sing bars 4-8 in one long phrase, full, but lyrical and sweet, curving down slightly at the end of the phrase. It's a different persona and needs to contrast with the material that comes before. It would also contrast with some of the agitation going on in the voices underneath. For the repeat, Iād ask for the clarinet to be a little more declarative, finishing strongly through the middle of bar 16 to set up a contrast in the next section that begins piano.
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Leah Olson Hi Leah. This detail is exactly what I was hoping to get at. You actually got a little ahead of my timeline. The descriptive words that you use for the type of sound that you're hearing (angular, rumbling, an anxious sigh) shows that you have a lot to offer by way of interpretation. You mention tempo fluctuations too, which we won't really talk much about here but which are so important in expression. Did you notice yourself doing these when you played them, or are they things you noticed after taking a closer look at the score?
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Daniela Thank you. Some of them I hear myself doing, but it was helpful to look at the score in terms of orchestration. I was thinking more in terms of characters (Florestan and Eusebius), and mood (stormy, interrupted by calm). I think putting this in terms of instruments, and being a little more intentional about writing down my thoughts, is going to help me be patient while I pull these lines apart to keep working on them. I'm trying to be better about singing out loud, which I know will help with timing and overall expression, but I like the idea of imagining I'm a viola while I sing, or a kettle drum :-) It will make practicing less work, more playful, more joyful. And since this piece is at the top level of my current abilities, a more playful attitude is much needed! Great videos, btw.
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Leah Olson Hah!, I love the spirit. We can all use that I feel.
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Hi Daniela,
Inspired by the ideas from your videos, I thought I'd have a go at doing this assignment with the piece linked below.
I have really enjoyed putting this assignment together, and am grateful for the opportunity of participating in this two week intensive.
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Natalie Peh Hi Natalie. I LOVE this movement. I see this as the perfect example. The counterpoint strikes me as a clear example of orchestral writing. Each of the instruments has pretty much the same material (same writing), meaning itās not so clear-cut which instrument to assign (or not so important). The important thing is that we bring out the different timbres for the different entrances. I definitely hear some of that in your playing. In a piece like this where the lines overlap, have you tried highlighting entrances only, and then backing away to allow room for another instrument? It creates kind of a cool effect of the subject poking out from different places.
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Daniela thanks very much for the feedback and suggestion, Daniela. I will try to highlight the entrances and pull away for other instruments to shine!
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Natalie Peh Nice to see you in my group again! What a wonderful piece. Great job! I particularly liked the bassoon/strings entrance.
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Leah Olson thanks, Leah! Nice doing this intensive with you in the same group. Whenever I put up a recording I see many things I need to improve on :)
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Leah Olson p/s you did a very detailed and excellent job on your assignment, I think you might be the only person whose post anticipates the second assignment and delivers fully for both assignments in one go! Well done!
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Two videos are below. This was a lot of fun! Thank you so much :-)
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Leah Olson I love it Leah. It's so well-planned, which I think gives your performance a lot of structure. I especially love when the LH comes through as an individual. It's very clear and adds a wonderful layer to the repetitive thematic material. So, I hope you don't mind if I push you a bit. In my live stream, I talk about assigning dynamics on a scale from 1-10, to help us have a larger spectrum and really make sure that there is progression in our phrasing. So here, I know the thematic material is the same, but if you were to assign each slight variation a dynamic, on a scale from 1-10 (10 being the greatest) what would they be? You don't have to share, but having a sense of varying intensities not just of sound quality, but also of level will go further to contribute to your performance.
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Daniela I don't mind the push. That's a great idea. Thank you!
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