not any sort of ephipany, but...
Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2024 2:56 pm
"All classical instrumentalists should view 'technical' and 'lyrical' studies as equally important."
Particularly, violinists, flautists, and a few other sections of symphony orchestras are constantly being assigned epic "workouts", but some of the rest of us (agreed?) rarely are.
The most technical passages that we are assigned to play at auditions (though "hard" for us) usually don't feature much velocity.
Which is more common?
- instrumentalists being told to phrase and articulate more like vocalists
- vocalists being told to phrase and articulate more like instrumentalists
I'm sorta thinking that it's probably best to spend just a bit more time (as far as we gigantic brass instrumentalists are concerned) on mastering the lyrical, and mastering delivering it smoothly and with (what is known as "organic") phrasing.
In the early part of the 20th century (OK, and present-day as throwbacks), brass soloists stood in front of bands and performed solos which demonstrated dazzling technique which rivaled that of violinists and flautists. Those were mostly theme-and-variations compositions categorized as "novelties". Marches (maybe...?? yes...??) were sort of the early 20th century version of (more recent) "rock and roll", whereby being able to execute fast technical passages in them was (arguably) the pre-war equivalent of "shredding".
As far as studying to become a classical musician (outside of being a bowed string player, flautist, or one of the other instrumentalists who are daily handed fistfuls of notes and endless "black" pages of music)...
technical exercises - really important
bel canto/lyrical exercises (some of which are really quite "technical" indeed) - absolutely essential
secondary schools mindset for choosing audition material for "honor" band eligibility/chairs.
"We're going to give 'em ONE 'technical' and ONE 'lyrical'."
...so how can the 'technical' one not be lyrical (if it's to be performed well), and how can the 'lyrical' one not be 'technical' (if it's to be performed well) ?
Feel free to interpret this as a musing, or as yet another troll.
bloke "absolutely NOTHING against Kopprasch, Schlossberg, Clarke, Arban, Reynolds (I double-dog-dare some of y'all to work through those 48 etudes), nor any of the others"
Particularly, violinists, flautists, and a few other sections of symphony orchestras are constantly being assigned epic "workouts", but some of the rest of us (agreed?) rarely are.
The most technical passages that we are assigned to play at auditions (though "hard" for us) usually don't feature much velocity.
Which is more common?
- instrumentalists being told to phrase and articulate more like vocalists
- vocalists being told to phrase and articulate more like instrumentalists
I'm sorta thinking that it's probably best to spend just a bit more time (as far as we gigantic brass instrumentalists are concerned) on mastering the lyrical, and mastering delivering it smoothly and with (what is known as "organic") phrasing.
In the early part of the 20th century (OK, and present-day as throwbacks), brass soloists stood in front of bands and performed solos which demonstrated dazzling technique which rivaled that of violinists and flautists. Those were mostly theme-and-variations compositions categorized as "novelties". Marches (maybe...?? yes...??) were sort of the early 20th century version of (more recent) "rock and roll", whereby being able to execute fast technical passages in them was (arguably) the pre-war equivalent of "shredding".
As far as studying to become a classical musician (outside of being a bowed string player, flautist, or one of the other instrumentalists who are daily handed fistfuls of notes and endless "black" pages of music)...
technical exercises - really important
bel canto/lyrical exercises (some of which are really quite "technical" indeed) - absolutely essential
secondary schools mindset for choosing audition material for "honor" band eligibility/chairs.
"We're going to give 'em ONE 'technical' and ONE 'lyrical'."
...so how can the 'technical' one not be lyrical (if it's to be performed well), and how can the 'lyrical' one not be 'technical' (if it's to be performed well) ?
Feel free to interpret this as a musing, or as yet another troll.
bloke "absolutely NOTHING against Kopprasch, Schlossberg, Clarke, Arban, Reynolds (I double-dog-dare some of y'all to work through those 48 etudes), nor any of the others"
