Group 1
Welcome to the NEW TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
Improving your Lyricism (feat Chopin)
Post your progress with videos and written commentary on how things are going for you!
- Course Period: June 26 - July 10th
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: July 2nd at 11am PT
- ZOOM MEETING Recording!
- https://youtu.be/Fl-ExGT9aZY
Assignment #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQpw6fZBOlE
- Pick a short piece (Mazurka, Nocturne, Prelude) or excerpt of a longer piece (Ballade, Polonaise, Scherzo, Sonata, Concerto). Focus on lyrical/slow sections.
- Learn bass carefully, labelling all chords and cadences.
- SING melodic line. Practice singing until your voice can identify the melody instantly.
- Submit a video: playing the Bass while singing the Soprano.
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Assignment #2
https://youtu.be/ri2UD1z8sKE?si=w36XWzqb_rao3RAu
-Label all breathing points with an apostrophe between phrase markings. Practice deep breaths between significant points or use a regular breath for phrase changes.
-Sing Bass notes of all chords while playing Soprano melody.
-Submit a video: playing hands together (performance).
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Hi Jarred! I have question about phrasing. In bar 8 the f-sharp - is this the end or beginning? I feel more the end, but on bar four the phrase starts with f-sharp. The other phrases are quite clear.
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Kerstin it's the beginning of the phrase; Chopin writes a slur that finishes there to show it's still legato, but the phrase really does end on the C-sharp in a poetic rise. As with many long phrases in Chopin, you can play it as an elision (end and beginning are one note, the note functions in two ways), but the phrases are upward in this movement, so thinking of the poignant moments as high notes is more lyrical.
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Jarred Dunn Okay, makes sense.
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And here is the newest version. I feel much better. https://youtu.be/cL6ficZzQqM?si=4aHAfyuRdBqtyM1d
This is such a wonderful piece. Normally, if I play the first part I can’t stop until the end.-
Kerstin Love it!
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Kerstin this is beautiful!
I like how the melody stands, is bright… it has a good color! :D
Maybe, you could put a little more of emphasis (without losing the melody) in some base notes.
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Adriana López Thank you.
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Vidhya Bashyam Thanks.
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Kerstin good work - this is tender and has better lilt than your previous post. I would still say the F-sharp in phrase 2 is a beginning and to give more time to the C-sharp at the end of m. 8. Make your triplets more lyrical by starting with less sound (1:21) and growing toward the end of the triplet - don't let them sound too rhythmic or you'll hear beats emerging rather than singing (same goes for 2:22-2:33).
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Jarred Dunn Thank you.
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Kerstin oh so beautiful
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Group 1: we won't have a Zoom debrief after this TWI, so I'd like to ask you: how do you see your development in the last two weeks? Here are some prompts to get you started:
1) In one sentence, what did you learn from this TWI?2) What skill do you need to practice daily to improve your lyricism in Chopin playing?
3) How easily (or not) was it to practice singing/solfege? What did you learn from it?
4) Which new practice methods began with frustration or struggle, but need to be used regularly until they are habits?
5) How important are harmony and colour to lyrical playing in Chopin?
7) What new understanding(s) did you gain about Chopin's music?8) Do you have a new set of questions or topics to approach in your lessons?
9) How has your listening changed?
10) How has your score reading changed?
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Jarred Dunn I need to learn solange looking at various chords helpful before starting to play Learn left hand first need to figure out how to know chords that are augmented or diminished or sus and inverted
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Jarred Dunn
1) Singing can help to clear the phrasing. 2) Get more dynamics and colors of sound. Balance of both hands. 3) Singing was not easy, but have shown me, that I have more time for breathing. 4) Singing 5) Very important. 7) I don’t know what Chopin was thinking, while he was composing a piece. But I should have a concept of what I want to communicate to the audience. 8) Not right now. But there are always questions about pedaling. 9) Listen more to the harmony changing. 10) There are more details in it that I have thought.
Thanks a lot Jarred. I hope I will have another master class with you sometimes. LG Kerstin -
First of all…
Thank you so much for your time and your feedback Maestro Jarred Dunn
I must say, this 2 week intensive was challenging. Which of course, I was looking for.
Not only because I chose a difficult piece but…
Because the exercises were tough.
Specially singing the base (at least for me since I’m already use to singing the soprano).
Voicing the soprano helps me know where my melody is going and helps me highlight it.
Voicing the base is teaching my ear to know exactly where I can put more emphasis on certain notes easier than I could before.
And also, is teaching me to get out of my comfort zone.
Which as a pianist I think is very important.
So… overall, I think this was a very interesting challenge, method which…
I’ll take with me.
To finish this reflection…
I want to ask…
How would you practice playing together all the voices?
What happens to me is that, when playing the voices separately…
I like the sound and I have an understanding where the piece is going.
Nevertheless… when trying to play it together…
It’s all over the place.
I chose for this challenge the Nocturne op.48 no.1… the recapitulation of the theme.
Thank you so much Maestro Jarred Dunn :D
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Adriana López practicing all the voices together in this nocturne is similar to voicing in Schubert: there is a repeating-note accompaniment beneath a wonderful melody, combining them is a question of voice and balance in each tone. Start by thinking of and deciding the dynamic ranges for each accompaniment+melody phrase. Practice singing the phrase for as long as it can possibly be sung - keep ears open to the long melodic lines (in Polish we would say "keep the tension" as in the feeling of a long, developing phrase with intensity, direction - no cutting up the phrase into beats or small groups). If you have a teacher to work with during this process it's easier to improve: they'll tell you how long your phrases actually sound. All the best with this piece and your future work!
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Hi all,
My schedule has not allowed for much recording, and I don't want to end up making a parody of the singing assignments, inadvertently. I have found them quite valuable. So I decided to tell, rather than show, what I learned. Maybe a recording of the hands-only performance will follow.
I wanted to share an insight I gained from the bass-singing assignment, #2. In learning about Op 9 No 2, I read that Chopin told his students to learn the left hand part by using both hands at first, using the LH for the root/bass note, and the RH for the completion of the chord/inner voices in each triplet. First insight: this shortened my learning time for the chord sequences hugely! (Note to self: do this from now on for any similar passages in Chopin or otherwise.) It was a short transition to just singing the root/bass note and playing the others, leaving the melody out for the time being. I will come back to that.
This leads to the other instruction apparently given by Chopin, that the emphasis be on the bass note, and the other 2 components of the triplet be played more gently, "like a guitar". (I'm not familiar with Chopin as a guitar composer so I didn't understand this at first). The posting I read speculated that he meant an analogy to soft classical guitar plucked chords, which did make sense to me after thinking about it. So practicing my sung bass line, with my RH on the 'guitar' to complete each triplet, allowed me to get a lot more emotional movement out of the bass, and reflect or contrast it in the 'guitar'. I was a high school cello player, so I have some instincts about bass/tenor melodic lines, but the singing did bring it out a lot more than just using my hands.
Finally back to the melody: I reverted to the true instruction of assignment #2, singing the bass and using LH for the middle chords and RH for the melody. Having done the prep work above, it was just so much easier to get the bass and melody to sing to each other, with the soft harmonies in between. Suddenly it was... 3 dimensional. Quite amazing.
Now working on reproducing the feeling with hands-only. I still sing along with the bass. Thanks Jarred Dunn for leading us through this. Even though I did this mostly in absentia, it was very valuable.
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So, I know this is a day late and a dollar short as my grandmother would say, but life happened in some major ways around my household last month. Here is my final product for the Chopin Challenge, Op. 48 no. 2. I have been hashing my way through the entirety of the nocturnes this summer, and only have five remaining to study. My goal is to be done by Labor Day weekend- which is a lofty goal, as I go back to school next week. (Send prayers- I have 214 ninth and tenth graders in chorus this year! AMAZING growth in my program, but, I am terrified! 54 freshmen boys alone!)
I am growing quite enamored with the nocturnes, and I am sad that I waited this long to learn them. I am recording them this week, at least the ones I have completed! If anyone is interested, the progress is documented on my youtube.
Cheers to the end of the summer!
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Bryan Sable great project and beautiful playing!
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Beautiful playing! Well done on the nocturne-project, and best of luck with the new semester.
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Beautiful
