Week 3: Improving your interpretation and performance!
This week, we will now study our written analysis from last week, and apply to performance interpretation. Some ideas to apply, but not limited to:
1. Looking at your labeled phrase groups and the overall form of the selected prelude, create a mind map of the architecture of how the piece is structured. What can we do to make each of those phrases/larger sections special in their unique ways?
2. Key areas and harmonic content: how can we utilize this knowledge to decide on what type of color and character to apply in our performance in dynamics, style, and articulation.
3. Please feel free to upload your performance recordings from this week, and share about how this practice shaped your interpretation!
Please reach out to Dr. Eloise Kim below with any of your questions!
36 replies
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Part 2 (continued): two pages of harmonic analysis attached! My first post with more commentary and video is pending review by Tonebase. Very weird!
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Hi Eloise! Thank you so much for this challenge and your instructional videos. Like Juan Carlos and others, I'm combining my submission for Weeks 2 and 3 here.
Score analysis pics are attached, the first two pages. The piece is essentially in A-B-A format. The exposition and recap essentially alternate a lot between V and I chords, B major and E major. Chopin constructs pretty long phrases — usually 8 or 12 bars, with 4 bar sub-phrases within that.
The development is interesting and was complex to analyze harmonically. He starts with a new theme, in B major which is repeated in the darker C# minor. Things slowly build and more chromatic and then really loud, where it's a whole bunch of ascending chromatic double fourths and diminished chords that I don't even know how to describe (!)
The climax of the piece is probably the big loud B major chord in bar 46 and it's extended via a tense 8-bar con bravura passage of diminished double sixths (bars 46-54) that lead to a more placid 8-bar transition back to the home theme finally at bar 62. This marks the beginning of the recap and home stretch.
Attached is a video. One thing I'm struggling with is how to execute the rubato hairpins faithfully without sounding stilted or weird. The hairpins appear everywhere and right away even in the opening bars!
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Part 3 (continued): And here is the video link.
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Hi everyone! Chopin Prelude op.28/3. Basically it is only one cadenca. But absolutely nice.
