Group 4
Welcome to the latest TWO WEEK INTENSIVE on tonebase!
For the next two weeks either start learning OR take a Chopin mazurka in your repertoire to the next level through guidance and assignments from Jarred Dunn! Learn about stylistic advice, aspects of the dance and more!
Pianists of all levels are welcome.
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Assignment #1: Seeing the Mazurka
1) Watch Mazurka Dance Lessons 1, 2, and 3:
http://www.tance.edu.pl/en/lessons/show/dance/720
-Pay close attention to Lesson 3: the lesson builds rhythms from what we hear as a Waltz into a clear accent on 2nd beat, 3rd beat, and both 2nd/3rd beats
2) Learn one Mazurka
Choose one from the following suggested opuses for the whole TWI.
Week 1: Practice the LH:
-Op. 6 nr. 1, nr. 2
-Op. 7 nr. 1, nr. 2
-Op. 24 nr. 1 or 2
-Op. 30 nr. 1 or 2
-Op. 67 any
- or a different mazurka
Practice Activities:
a) Identify/mark all articulation in LH parts.
b) Clap the rhythm, emphasize accents and count aloud (speak louder for accented beats, eg. "one, Two, THREE" or "one, TWO, Three" etc.)
c) Identify/mark any unknown harmonic shifts or chords.
d) Find all cadences and notice unfamiliar accents (beat 2).
e) Voice tops of chords in LH or find a moving line (could be the middle notes of a chord that change).
f) Use RH for chords and LH for bass lines.
g) Circle any rests/pauses - they need to be heard.
Upload videos of your LH practicing/playing.
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ASSIGNMENT 2
Second Assignment: Continue your new Mazurka
Week 2: Practice the RH:
Listen to instruments, timbres, and moods in the following:
Kujawiak: https://youtu.be/RjV1bpxi0bc
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego: https://youtu.be/mTx45S-dQmQ?t=4
Chopin Mazurkas/Folk Mazurkas: https://youtu.be/n8OyddwnVbE
Look For/Listen For:
a) Learn the soprano part (melody), always sing/scream with it when you play. Think of dancers in this video: https://youtu.be/p6svoYBEWCs?t=10
b) Add ornaments after you learned the rhythms of the melody.
c) Dotted rhythms and triplets must sound distinctly different (no slackened dotted-eighth/sixteenths).
d) Accents on beats two and three can be subtle: try different levels of pressure/weight on the keys, to create at least four different accent types: sudden accent, leaning/swaying accent, light accent, heavy accent.
e) Remember that recording yourself is the best way to find out if you're actually doing what you intend. Record your melodic playing/singing/screaming whenever you practice.
Upload videos of your RH practicing/playing.
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- Sign-Up : starting July 14
- Course Period: July 17-31
- Class Size: ALL are welcome!
- Optional check-In via Zoom: July 27th 9am PT
CHECK IN VIDEO!
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HI all - My right-hand-only recording of Op.7 No.2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O2A11cic8YSorry 'bout that bangy tone with the electronic keyboard, I'm not at home.
Jarred Dunn I'd be particularly interested in hearing your comments about "the placement of the first beat". This particularly struck me in the live Q&A session; it resonates, but I'm not sure I completely understand it. It now seems to me that this Mazurka features numerous accents on the first beat, and I'm trying to square that with the standard one-Two-three-one-two-Three rhythm in many of the Mazurkas.
All comments, welcome of course!
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Jarred Dunn Wspaniale! Dziękuję bardzo! Więcej radości jest zawsze dobre!
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here is the right hand for Op7 No 1
and Op7 No 2
I’ve been looking -or rather listening- through your list of suggested performances Jarred, and I noticed that you don’t include Horowitz or Pollini.
Is this because you felt the list was already long enough or did you have a particular other reason for not including them?
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Angela Fogg they’re all Polish pianists, to highlight that tradition of mazurka playing.
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Jarred Dunn Okay- thank you!
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Angela Fogg Obvious really!
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Angela Fogg It was a question from the Zoom meeting we had - if it'd write some of these names down because not everybody is fluent in Polish!
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Angela Fogg słuchałem (I listened) to your work. I would suggest a few mazurka-style changes in rhythm mainly, because most technical things aren't a problem for you. First, the sixteenths in mm. 4-6 need to be much faster, gaining speed without losing clarity. The accented half notes in these measures can be more emphasized as well like stomping (tupania). Second phrase 0:38, keep the legato in your imagination between slurs - the slurs need to flatter the singing quality here. Tip for 1:14 jumping off thumb: this jump can be better achieved with a loose wrist that dips below the keys and the arm will lift it instinctively to reach the fifth finger. Op. 7 Nr. 2: slurs here can be more legato, think of a starting point softer in touch. It's a Kujawiak with an optimistically nostalgic side. Chopin's articulation didn't include by default the traditions he learned had existed before him: the classical and Baroque style of applying slight pressure of the fingertip to articulate the first note of a phrase clearly was not something Chopin used. In this mazurka you can start the slurs without finger pressure and a rather relaxed wrist and hand, using arm weight to help control key speed. The melancholy begins at the second phase, where the tones are pleading rather than optimistic. In the A-major/F-sharp minor mazurek, keep dotted rhythms distinct from triplets and bounce more onto/off the octaves! There's room here to show gymnastic rowdiness and joy, but that's through time between the tones and rhythmic precision. It's easy to let dotted rhythms become triplets when Chopin uses triplets to demonstrate circular dances - we must insist that eighth-sixteenth rhythms sound different than triplets. Do roboty!
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Jarred Dunn Thank Jared for your detailed reply. So much to learn as always…
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Angela Fogg proszę bardzo!
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