CLASSICAL EMBELLISHING AND IMPROVISING
Information for Teachers and Students
For excellent discussions & demonstrations on classical embellishing, see the following website and articles by John Salmon:
http://addonbach.com/aob/Videos.html
Adding Notes: A Reflection on Interpretive Freedom
http://www.uncg.edu/~jcsalmon/articles.html
Extemporaneousness in classical music is especially appropriate in music that has repeats. In Baroque music this would be particularly effective in dances. It is especially instructive to study J.S. Bach's own methods of embellishing, as revealed in the Sarabande movements of his 2nd and 3rd English Suites. In both Sarabandes Bach presents a simple version, followed by a more ornamented version. Presumably this was to show how to embellish on the repeats. A comparison of his simple and ornamented versions is highly recommended. You can listen to Dr. Robert Levin, Harvard Professor and one of today's top experts in classical improvisation, perform and discuss these Sarabandes on an NPR "Performance Today" 1999 broadcast – click on RealPlayer "Audio" at bottom (don't have RealPlayer? click here). Levin also demonstrates and discusses Beethoven and Mozart improvisation.
Three articles that explain Baroque embellishing in easy to understand ways are:
"Ornaments From Bach�s Anna Magdalena Notebook" by Glen Carruthers, Clavier magazine, January 1998, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 6–9.
"Adding Embellishments to Bach�s Basic Notes" by Arthur Houle, Clavier magazine, September 1994, Vol. 33, No. 7, pp. 22–36. (Note: This article contains many inadvertent misprints. For a corrected copy, contact Dr. Houle at arthurhoule@cableone.net.)
"Solving the Baroque Mysteries of Slides, Mordents, and Trills" by Nathan Bergenfeld, Clavier magazine, December 2003, Vol. 42, No. 10, pp. 15–25.
If you are looking for more tips on how to improvise and embellish on music from the Anna Magdalena Notebook, you may also purchase a recording of Houle's lecture/demonstration for the 2006 MTNA conference. Contact Dr. Houle.
Teachers and students should also check out the online FJH Pedagogy Newsletter for great ideas on creativity and improvisation.
See also Houle's "It's
Easy to Improvise!"
Highly recomended:
Performance Practices in Baroque Keyboard Music DVD (with Bonus Lecture on Baroque Dance) (2003)
Performance Practices in Classical Piano Music (Book & DVD) (Alfred Masterwork Edition) (Paperback)
Here's a terrific new step-by-step text on the fundamentals of improvisation, especially geared for pianists with classical backgrounds:
Improvisation at the Piano by Brian Chung and Dennis Thurmond
| Schubert Wrote Fake Charts! |
Schubert wrote 25 Ländler with no
written out left hand accompaniments –– only a right hand
melody! There are no chord symbols indicated either (talk
about your ultimate "fake
charts!").
These
Ländler can be found in the Wiener
Urtext Edition entitled "Schubert:
Complete Dances for Piano, Volume 2 (UT 50022)".
You can order this music from any music store.
The 25 "fake chart" Ländler are:
- Acht Ländler, D 355 in F–Sharp Minor
- Acht Ländler, D 370 in D Major
- Sechs Ländler, D 374 in B–Flat Major
- Zwei Ländler, D 640 in A Major and E Major
- Zwei Ländler, D 680 in D–Flat Major
(the second one in this set has a Schubert realization; the first one is realized by the editor, and could be creatively changed)
So how does a student go about creating accompaniments for these Ländler? Look at the right hand melodies. Usually the first and especially last measures require a tonic (I) chord. In other measures, the second most likely chord will be the dominant (V or V7). Third most common will be the subdominant (IV). Your clue is in the right hand melody in each measure; usually it "outlines" one of these chords. How does one know what kind of pattern to use in the left hand accompaniment? Certainly imagination should come into play. But, for starters, there is no better teacher than the master himself –– Schubert! In this same Wiener collection of dances there are many other dances in which Schubert does write out an accompaniment. Study these and use similar broken chord patterns in the "fake chart" ones. Don�t be afraid to "dress up" the right hand melody too! In performance, a medley of several of these quasi–improvised Ländler would be very effective.
CLICK HERE for an example of Schubert medley realizations by Dr. Houle
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Dick Hyman, the noted jazz pianist, recently observed that Chopin would probably have been a jazz pianist if he had lived long enough. For a discussion of how it may be appropriate to improvise or embellish discretely on the music of Chopin, see the BEST PERFORMANCE OF A ROMANTIC PERIOD WORK. See also John Salmon�s article: |
Note: the tradition of creatively varying repeats applies to the Classic period sonata form as well.
Malcolm Bilson has marvelous recordings demonstrating imaginative friskiness in Mozart and Haydn.
See, for example: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000307Y/o/qid=977105793/sr=2–5/106–9726465–8619656
Other recommended recordings:
by Trevor Stephenson, fortepianist:
- Mozart: Music for Solo Keyboard
- Music of Frederic Chopin
Available from:
Light & Shadow
5741 Forsythia Place
Madison, WI 53705
(608) 238–6092
e–mail: trevor@trevorstephenson.com
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This book is a must-read for all who wish to get in touch with our real traditions: "After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance" by Kenneth Hamilton Reviewer Susan Tomes writes: "Throughout the 'golden age' of Romantic piano-playing, it was not usual to perform whole sonatas as these were thought too severe. Improvisation was popular, as was the habit of 'preluding', or making up musical links between items. Players might give themselves breaks while they chatted with friends in the audience. Most pianists were also composers, and routinely included their own pieces. Playing from memory was not required, and sometimes even frowned on." In his book, Hamilton points out that "anxiety over wrong notes is a relatively recent psychosis, and playing entirely from memory a relatively recent requirement." |