Colossal Classical Composers: Ludwig van Beethoven, Early Influences-Family

Beethoven was named after his grandfather, Ludwig van Beethoven, who lived from 1712-73.  The elder Ludwig was Flemish.  He was born in Mechelen, which is in present-day Belgium.  The name Beethoven means beet garden and was a common last name in that area at the time.  The elder Ludwig was a bass vocalist and keyboard player.  By age 20, he was a singer in St. Lambert’s Cathedral in Liège.  Here, he would’ve caught the attention of Elector Clemens August, who summoned him to join the court chapel in Bonn. Clemens August was the Elector and Archbishop of Cologne, a German city along the Rhine River north of Bonn.  His court was located in Bonn instead of Cologne for political reasons.  Elector August was a great patron of the arts and builder, but he had no interest in ruling.  He left the Electorship with a huge debt when he died in 1761.  To alleviate the debt, the new elector cut musicians and musicians’ salaries.  The salary cuts caused the old Kapellmeister to leave.

The elder Ludwig van Beethoven secured the Kapellmeister position after Elector August’s death.  Not a composer like his grandson, the elder Ludwig was the leading bass soloist at the Bonn court.  In addition to remaining the leading bass soloist, his duties as Kapellmeister would have included directing the choir and the combined choir and orchestra.  The elder Ludwig was also an astute businessman as a wine seller.  He died in 1773 when his grandson was three years old.  Beethoven recalled his grandfather fondly; however, it is doubtful he had any clear memories from that age.  The musical talent and business acumen in the family would skip a generation from the elder Ludwig to his grandson.

Beethoven’s father, Johann van Beethoven lived from about 1740-92.  He was a tenor vocalist who began receiving a salary as a court singer in Bonn in 1764.  Johann van Beethoven was an alcoholic and a schemer.  His alcoholism would eventually leave a teenage Beethoven largely responsible for the family. Unfortunately, Johann wasn’t as intelligent or talented as his father.  After his father died, Johann attempted to succeed him as Kapellmeister but was denied.  Part of his scheme to succeed his father involved a forged letter of a lucrative job offer from another municipality. Johann would have heard the child prodigy Mozart on tour in Bonn in 1763.  He began training son Ludwig as a musician from age four or five on keyboard, violin, and viola.  His initial goal was to secure his son a position as a court musician in Bonn as soon as possible so Ludwig could start earning money for the family.  Johann quickly realized young Ludwig had talent and attempted to turn him into the next Mozart as one of his schemes.  Unfortunately, Johann was abusive both physically and mentally as a teacher.  Abuse as a motivator to learn would have been prevalent at this time, and Johann was likely passing on lessons as he had learned them from his father. While unlikely the sole cause, one hypothesis on Beethoven’s deafness suggests it was caused by repeated blows to the head as a child. Johann would eventually realize that his son needed better teachers.

We’ll pick up next time with the influence of liberal Bonn, the Enlightenment, the Freemason society and Christian Neefe, young Beethoven’s primary keyboard and composition teacher.  Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the subscribe button for notifications about more information on Colossal Classical Composers and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Jazz Giants: John Coltrane, Biography and Influences Part 1

If your main focus is on Coltrane’s playing, you might be asking “Dr. Mark, why don’t you jump straight to the important aspects of his playing and composing instead of wasting time on this boring biographical stuff?”  To understand Coltrane’s significant contributions to jazz, it is necessary to understand his background and context.  The journey through Coltrane’s life story will illuminate several tenor saxophonists and other musicians that influenced Coltrane who are worth exploring each in their own right.  My main source for biographical information is Chasin’ the Trane:  The Music and Mystique of John Coltrane by J.C. Thomas.  Here is a link to it on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Coltrane-Chasin-Trane-J-Thomas/dp/0306800438.

John William Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina.  Hamlet is in the southern part of the state between Charlotte and Wilmington.  His father was John Robert Coltrane, known as J.R., and his mother was Alice Blair Coltrane.  From age 3, John was raised in High Point, North Carolina.  High Point is just southwest of Greensboro.  The Coltrane family moved in with John’s mother’s parents in High Point.  The Coltrane family was considered middle class at that time.  He had two close childhood friends, Franklin Brower and James Kinzer.  Coltrane’s hobbies were baseball, cars, and movies.  His father died in 1938, so his mother moved to Philadelphia and then Atlantic City in search of work.  She was a maid for wealthy, white families.  John remained in High Point to graduate from high school.

Coltrane began playing music when Reverend Warren Steele formed a community band in High Point in about 1939 based at St. Stephen’s church.  Reverend Steele was a scoutmaster, so Boyscouts formed the core of the band.  Coltrane had joined the Boyscouts and then joined the band.  Coltrane had to miss the first rehearsal, so he started briefly on alto horn as it was the only instrument available.  The alto horn is a valved brass instrument that served as an alternative to French horns in marching and brass bands.  A clarinetist, Reverend Steele recognized some musical talent in Coltrane and quickly switched him to clarinet.  John would eventually switch to alto saxophone as a student before he made the switch to tenor saxophone as a professional.

After graduating from high school, Coltrane moved to Philadelphia with Brower and Kinzer.  Coltrane worked in a sugar refinery and was accepted in the Ornstein School of Music.  He joined the Navy in 1945 and was stationed in Hawaii for the end of World War II.  He was discharged in 1946 at the conclusion of World War II and returned to Philadelphia where he re-enrolled in the Ornstein School of Music.  Coltrane was friends with tenor saxophonist Benny Golson and the Heath brothers.  It is likely that he first heard Charlie Parker live in 1945.  This would be important as Parker would be Coltrane’s primary influence on alto saxophone.

Coltrane joined alto saxophonist Eddie Vinson’s band in 1948 and had to switch to tenor saxophone since Vinson was already playing alto and didn’t want another.  The switch to tenor wasn’t permanent at this point, but it allowed Coltrane to escape the huge shadow cast by Charlie Parker and opened up multiple influences.  Coltrane himself named some of these influences as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, and Sonny Stitt.  Of those five, Wardell Gray is the one I’m least familiar with.  He was about five years older than Coltrane and was one of the saxophonists transitioning from the Swing era to Bebop.  Coleman Hawkins (Hawk) is considered the first saxophonist to make the instrument viable as a solo instrument in jazz.  Hawk had a big sound with a wide vibrato and tended to play vertically.  Lester Young (Prez) was Hawkins’ foil in the swing as he had a lighter sound and vibrato and tended to play linearly.  Dexter Gordon is one of the early bebop tenor saxophonists.  As Hawk and Prez were foils in the Swing era, Gordon and Gray were foils in the beginning of bebop with Gordon following Hawk’s sound conception.  Sonny Stitt recorded extensively on both alto and tenor.  Stitt has been one of my favorite saxophonists.  His style is similar to the bebop style of Charlie Parker but on tenor as well as alto.

It’s interesting that Coltrane names tenor saxophonists from both of the previous eras of jazz as well as players on each side of the tenor saxophone’s dichotomy.  Coltrane would incorporate aspects from both sides into his own playing.  We’ll pick up here next time with Coltrane’s career.  I would encourage you to check out the music of saxophonists who influenced Coltrane in addition to Coltrane’s own music.

Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on jazz and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Colossal Classical Composers: Ludwig van Beethoven, An Overview

Early in formal music education, we’re taught to leave our opinions out of scholarly writing.  Opinions, likes and dislikes, of myself and other experts don’t serve a purpose in scholarly discourse that is only concerned about concrete facts.  Ludwig van Beethoven is my favorite classical composer.  Oops.  I broke the cardinal rule.  We’re discouraged from issuing them, but opinions actually serve an important purpose both in music scholarship and performance because they become starting points for further exploration.  So Beethoven is my favorite classical composer.  Why?  And what’s so great about him anyway?  In the coming weeks, Beethoven’s biography and influences, the aspects of his composition that served as his primary artistic importance, and three significant symphonies will be explored.  This post will provide an overview of these topics.

Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17th, 1770 and was most likely born on the 16th in the city of Bonn in present-day Germany. He died in Vienna, Austria on March 26, 1827.  Beethoven is most famous today for his compositions, but he actually became famous first as an outstanding pianist known for his improvisational skills.  Stylistically, Beethoven composed in the Classical and Romantic eras.  His legacy is enormous.  His works are still loved by millions frequently performed today almost two hundred years after his death.  The main genres Beethoven is known for are the symphony, concerto, song cycle and chamber music.  These chamber music genres include the piano sonata, string quartet, piano trio, violin sonata, and cello sonata.

Beethoven’s primary artistic importance in Western music is that he stretched Classicism to its limit and beyond.  His compositions began to embody ideals and concepts from Romantic philosophy that included the fragment, Romantic sublime, and programmatic works.  The increased dissonance and abstraction found in some of his late works foreshadows the future of Western Classical music.  Beethoven established new standards for a number of different genres such as the symphony and string quartet.  He is attributed with creating a new genre, the song cycle, which is “a group of related songs designed to form a musical entity” (Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music 475).  

I may add more pieces in the future since he wrote a lot of important works in a number of different genres, but I’ll start by looking at symphonies 3, 5, and 6.  The opening of the fifth symphony is perhaps the most famous melody in Western Classical music.  The sixth symphony is Beethoven’s only work where he shares his program for the piece with the audience.  The third symphony is Beethoven’s first large-scale work that transitions from the Classical era to the Romantic era.

One of my issues with music education is that we’re taught a lot of information, but we’re often not explicitly taught the significance of that information.  Here’s another opinion:  I think that’s a huge mistake.  Not knowing the significance of the information being learned makes it harder to use that information.  These posts on Beethoven and Coltrane are my initial attempt to remedy that deficiency.  My Coltrane research is ahead of my Beethoven research for these posts, so I’m not sure when I’ll publish my next Beethoven post at the moment.  Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on jazz and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Jazz Giants: John Coltrane Overview

Several years ago I decided to finally sit down and really listen to John Coltrane’s Live at the Village Vanguard album.  I sat on the floor of my basement in the light of my eternal Christmas tree and barely moved.  I’ve tended to listen to his earlier recordings like the Blue Train and Giant Steps albums.  I have the complete set of the quartet recordings he made with Impulse!, so it’s not like I’ve ignored his later works.  Really listening to Coltrane is an experience.  It’s not always comfortable or pleasant.  This post serves as an overview of John Coltrane and his music.  In the coming weeks, we’ll explore his biography and influences, the aspects of his improvising and composition that were of primary artistic importance, and three significant albums.  

John William Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in High Point, North Carolina.  He died on July 17, 1967 at 40 years old.  His primary instruments were tenor and soprano saxophone.  Coltrane was active professionally from about 1948 through 1967.  Stylistically, he helped shape the Hard Bop and Free eras of jazz.  John Coltrane’s legacy as a jazz musician is enormous.  His influence can be felt in some way in the playing of all jazz saxophonists who followed him.

Coltrane’s artistic importance and influence revealed itself in a number of improvisational and compositional aspects that include complex chord changes, superimposed chord changes, modal approach, electric tone quality, sheets of sound, extended improvisations, avant-garde, and his continuous musical evolutions.  In the coming weeks, we will delve further into each of these aspects of his artistic importance.

To start with, I’ve chosen three important albums to explore that Coltrane recorded as a leader.  They are Blue Train, Giant Steps, and A Love Supreme.  I highly recommend listening to these three albums.  Coltrane recorded many other albums as a leader, and I may add more in the future.  Next week, I’ll write an overview of Ludwig van Beethoven.  I’m working on Beethoven and Coltrane concurrently as there are some parallels between them.

Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on jazz and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

How to Construct All 12 Major Scales

I’m a bit odd for a music teacher.  Most students learn their scales by reading them from a book or sheet of paper.  I don’t teach scales out of a book.  I have my students memorize major scales from the beginning.  It may take them longer to learn the scales initially, but I think they learn them better in the long run.

There are two methods to construct a major scale.  The theory books I’ve seen don’t go into detail in explaining how to construct a major scale beyond provding the required interval order.  These two methods are unofficial.  I’m calling the first method the Circle of 4ths method because it uses the handy Circle of 4ths.  I find this method quicker and easier than the second.  It requires you to know how to use the circle to figure out which notes receive accidentals.  See Figure 1 for the Circle of 4ths and make sure to check out my previous post on it.  Step 1 is to write the name of the first scale degree.  I’ll use F# major as an example in the list below this paragraph.  Step 2 is to write the letter name for each note in the scale until the octave is reached.  Letter names follow the music alphabet.  Step 3 is to use the Circle of 4ths to figure out the number and type of accidental.  Step 4 is to use the circle to figure out which notes receive an accidental, and Step 5 is to apply the correct accidentals to the correct notes.

Step 1:  F#

Step 2:  F#-G-A-B-C-D-E-F#

Step 3:  6 Sharps

Step 4:  F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#

Step 5:  F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#-F#

I’m calling the second method for constructing major scales the interval method.  It requires knowledge of the order of whole and half-steps in the major scale.  That order is Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Whole-Half.  The interval method also requires you to know the difference between whole, half-steps, and augmented seconds and how to adjust to get the correct intervals.  Step 1 is to write the name of the first scale degree.  I’ll use Gb major as an example below and explain how and why each note is modified.  Step 2 is to write the letter name for each note in the scale until the octave is reached.  Letter names follow the music alphabet.  Step 3 is to determine if the first interval is a whole or half-step.  Step 4 is to adjust the second note in the interval if needed to create a whole-step.  Step 5 is to change each successive interval to match the required pattern of whole and half-steps by repeating steps 3 and 4.  Changing the second note in each interval will change that note’s relationship to the note that follows it.

Step 1:  Gb

Step 2:  Gb-A-B-C-D-E-F-Gb

Step 3:  Augmented 2nd

Step 4:  Gb-Ab-B-C-D-E-F-Gb

Step 5:  Gb-Ab-Bb-C-D-E-F-Gb

Step 5:  Gb-Ab-Bb-Cb-D-E-F-Gb

Step 5:  Gb-Ab-Bb-Cb-Db-E-F-Gb

Step 5:  Gb-Ab-Bb-Cb-Db-Eb-F-Gb

The current interval order after Step 2 is A2-W-H-W-W-H-H.  As a reminder, the required interval order is W-W-H-W-W-W-H.  For Step 3, we need to turn the augmented second between the G-flat and the A-natural into a whole step by lowering the A-natural to Ab.  That creates another augmented 2nd between the Ab and B-natural, so the next step is to lower the B-natural by a half-step to Bb.  This creates a whole-step between Bb and C, so the next step to lower the C to a Cb for the needed half-step.  C-flat creates an augmented 2nd between it and D-natural, so the D needs to be lowered to Db.  The E needs to be lowered to E-flat to eliminate that augmented 2nd.  Fortunately, the F can stay where it is as it creates the needed whole-step with E-flat and half-step with G-flat.

See Figure 2 for the ascending form of all 12 major scales.  You’ll notice 15 scales listed.  I listed enharmonic equivalents for three scales, which are C# and Db, F# and Gb, and B-natural and Cb.  C major is the scale I start with when practicing major scales.  It’s fairly easy on most instruments and is the only scale without accidentals.  For transposing instruments, start with your C major scale and don’t worry about transposing or concert pitch.  I like to go around the Circle of 4ths when practicing all 12 major scales.  An alternate method is to go up or down by half-steps.  Use the information in this video to learn all 12 major scales on your instrument and start practicing the scales that form the foundation of Western tonal music.  

Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on music theory and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Figure 1. Circle of 4ths

Figure 2

What Is a Major Scale?

“Again???”  My student glared at me.  “Dr. Mark, why do I have to play this stupid scale AGAIN?”

Scales aren’t fun and exciting to practice for most people.  As Classical musicians, the melodies we play are almost all based on one scale or another.  Sometimes, the melody is a run straight up or down a scale.  As jazz musicians, the melodies we improvise are all based off of a scale.  Each chord we navigate in the chord progression is based off of a scale.  Scales are the basis of Western tonal music, which is why we have know them forward, backward, and inside-out.  Unfortunately, knowing scales are the basis for every note we play doesn’t make them much more fun to practice.  The major scale is the most important scale in Western tonal music. Unlike the minor scale that has three forms, the major scale has one form, which makes it a better point of reference. Before discussing major scales, there are three terms, pitch, octave and scale, that need to be defined.

A pitch is “the perceived quality of a sound that is chiefly a function of its fundamental frequency.”  This frequency is measured by the number of oscillations per second, which are called Hertz.  I won’t try to explain the physics of sound here, but each musical pitch or note that we play is a construct based on the frequency of vibrations of something in our instrument.  For woodwind instruments, the reed vibrates to produce the sound.  While the sound associated with each note name in our musical alphabet is somewhat arbitrary, the relationships between different notes are not.  These relationships are based on mathematics.  Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras is attributed with discovering the ratios for intervals in Western music.

An octave is “an interval bounded by two pitches with the same pitch names and the higher of whose frequencies is twice the lower.”  The ratio for an octave is 2:1.  If the frequency of A is 440 Hz, then an A 1 octave above that would have a frequency of 880 Hz, and the frequency of the A 1 octave below would be 220 Hz.  Regardless of register, we perceive all three of these frequencies as an A.

A scale is a collection of ordered pitches arranged from lowest to highest or highest to lowest.  In Western tonal music, the octave is divided into 12 equal parts, so there are 12 major scales, one for each division of the octave.  Our Western major scales are seven-note scales with a specific combination of whole and half-steps (H).  The order of whole and half-steps for each major scale is W-W-H-W-W-W-H.  Each scale creates a hierarchy of pitches.  Each note in the scale is assigned a number or scale degree as well as a name.  The most important note in each major scale is scale degree 1, also known as the tonic.  A step down in importance are scale degree 5, known as the dominant, and scale degree 7, which is called either the leading tone or subtonic. Each of these scale degrees naturally progresses back to the tonic.  Farther down the ladder of importance are scale degree 4, known as the subdominant, scale degree 2, known as the supertonic, scale degree 6, known as the submediant, and scale degree 3, known as the mediant.  Each number should have a carrot (^) above it when referring to a scale degree.  Unfortunately, I am unable to do it on my word processor.

Figure 1 shows an ascending and descending C major scale in one octave written in both treble and bass clefs.  Ascending and descending, the notes are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C. It starts on C, ascends to C one octave higher, and descends to the original C.  Notice that there are no leaps.  The scale doesn’t skip any letters in the alphabet.

Because major scales are such an important part of Western tonal music, they need to be memorized.  Start by practicing your C major scale as shown.  Return here next week, and I’ll show you how to construct all 12 major scales.  Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on music theory musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Figure 1

Applying the Metronome March Part 2

Last week we found a hard passage of music in the first movement of Gustave Vogt’s 4^ème Solo de Concert and broke it down into smaller, more manageable chunks and pieces.  This week I’ll explain how to increase the metronome incrementally and put the pieces and chunks back together.  I’ve tried to minimize the repetitions in the instructions, but you’ll still notice a lot of them.  Applying the Metronome March forces tons of repetitions.  Repeating a difficult passage correctly numerous times is the only way to play it consistently under the pressure of a performance. As with part 1, make sure to watch the video at the top for the musical examples.

Start with the metronome set at 60 bpm with the 16th-note subdivision turned on.  Play m. 219 through the C on beat one of m. 220 perfectly at least three times in a row.  Five or even ten times in a row would be better at the slower tempos.  The slow tempos at the beginning of the March are where the motions required to play the passage are ingrained in your body.  Move the metronome up to 63 bpm and repeat m. 219 perfectly at least three times in a row.  Move the metronome up to 65 bpm and repeat m. 219 perfectly at least three times in a row.  Move the metronome up to 68 bpm and repeat m. 219 perfectly at least three times in a row.  Move the metronome up to 70 bpm and repeat m. 219 perfectly at least three times in a row.  Just writting this looks like a stuck record, but we’re just beginning to make the number of repetitions necessary.

Next, we’ll move the metronome back to 60 bpm and work on measure 220.  Play it at least 3 times in a row perfectly.   Incrementally increase the metronome to 70 bpm as with Piece 1 (m. 219).  On metronome markings ending in 0 or 5, add a 4th repeat but start in measure 219 to practice linking the two pieces together at slower tempos.  Make sure to watch the video at the top that accompanies this to see the musical examples.

There are two options moving forward from here.  Option 1 is to stick with this first pair of pieces.  Return to Piece 1 at 70 bpm and incrementally increase the tempo on the first two pieces as previously outlined until the target tempo (112-120 bpm) is reached.  Then proceed to work on the second pair, Pieces 3 and 4 (mm. 221 and 222), in the same manner as the first pair until the target tempo is reached.

The second option is to jump to mm. 221 and 222 beginning at 60 bpm and work them up to 70 bpm.  The only difference is that we’ll add a 5th repeat when m. 222 reaches both 65 and 70 bpm to play from m. 219 through beat one of m. 223.  After playing all four measures of this chunk at 70 bpm, play m. 219 once at 70 bpm before moving the metronome up to 73 bpm.  Proceed in the same manner as above until you reach 80 bpm for both pairs, then 90 bpm, 100 bpm, 110 bpm, and finally our target tempo of 120 bpm.  The performance tempo does not have to be reached in one practice session.  Your goal may only be five to ten bpm per practice session depending on the current tempo.

The next step will be to work on the second chunk.  The slide in the video tells you to work on Chunk 2 just like you worked on Chunk 1; however, you may have noticed from the examples in last week’s video that Chunk 1 and Chunk 2 are almost exactly the same except for some articulations and a couple of notes at the end of m. 226.  Because these to chunks are so similar, they can be worked on at the same time.  Instead of playing m. 219 (Chunk 1) perfectly three times in a row, only play it twice.  Switch to m. 223 (Chunk 2) and play it twice in a row perfectly before increasing the tempo.  Learn the 3rd and 4th chunks in the same manner as these first two.  They aren’t similar, so you won’t be able learn them concurrently like you can with the first two.  

Now that each chunk of this difficult passage can be played at the performance tempo, we have to put them together.  Sometimes chunks go together easily, and sometimes they don’t.  Begin back at half-tempo, which is 60 bpm, and increase the tempo by 10 beats-per-minute after playing two chunks perfectly three times in a row together at each tempo.  Start by combining Chunks 1 and 2.  Then combine Chunks 2 and 3, and then combine Chunks 3 and 4.  This step is where we’ll start adding the long notes and trills that didn’t make it into the four chunks.

Now that the links between each pair of chunks are solid we can put together all four of them.  At this point, you likely won’t need to start at half-tempo.  Instead, start at two-thirds or three-quarters tempo, which would be either 80 or 90 bpm for this example.  Start with Chunk 4 and play it once.  Add Chunk 3 and play it together with Chunk 4 once.  Add Chunk 2 and play them once.  Add Chunk 1 and play the entire passage once.  Increase the tempo by 10 bpm and start with Chunk 4 again.  Once the entire passage is put together, increase the metronome by another 10 bpm.  Proceed in this manner until the target tempo for the entire passage has been reached.

Congratulations!  You have learned a difficult section.  Now apply the Metronome March technique to learning a difficult section in your own repertoire.  Learning music in this way is extremely tedious and not very exciting.  The only way to execute difficult passages under the pressure of a performance is to repeat them A LOT.  Don’t forget to watch the video at the top that accompanies this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on practice techniques and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Applying the Metronome March Part 1

To complete this series on the Metronome March, we’ll apply it to a passage in the first movement of Gustave Vogt’s 4^ème Solo de Concert.  The first step in the Metronome March is to find the hard part.  We’ll use the section from measure 219 to the end.  This 21-bar passage contains long strings of 16th notes at a relatively fast tempo as well as a variety of articulation patterns.  This passage isn’t terribly difficult by itself for the oboe as it mostly runs up and down an F major scale.  There are a few note combinations to be mindful of at the performance tempo; however, the primary difficulty here is both mental and physical fatigue.  It’s a technical passage at the end of a long movement with limited breathing opportunities.  I chose this section because it’s the type of section that might require the Metronome March for its entirety and because I wanted to avoid any copyright issues.  I own the copyright to this edition.  If you’d like to play it, here is a link: https://www.trevcomusic.com/products/tco-2860-vogt-4th-solo-de-concert-ob-pn?_pos=7&_sid=fd97cd66d&_ss=r.  To give you a better idea of the options you have for applying the Metronome March to a particularly hard passage, we’ll pretend it’s the hardest piece ever written for the oboe.  Make sure to watch the video at the top of this post.  Rather than flood the end of this post with photos, the examples are all included in the video.

The second step is to determine the final performance tempo so the initial tempo can be set on the metronome.  The movement is marked Allegro non troppo, which means fast but not too fast.  The maximum I would play this is 120 bpm (beats-per-minute), and it will probably settle in a little under that.  The final tempo is somewhere between 112 and 120 bpm; therefore, start with the metronome set for 60 bpm.  Sixty bpm is often a good place to start.  If this passage was extremely hard and required the tempo to be cut in half again, the metronome could be left on 60 bpm, which we would then think as the eighth-note tempo.  That would put the quarter-note at 30 bpm.

The next task is to break this passage into manageable chunks.  I’m calling this step 2A both here and in the video.  Conveniently for us, this passage divides neatly into four 4-bar chunks.  We’ll ignore the five measures with long notes and trills for now until we’re closer to the performance tempo.  The first chunk is from measure 219 through the downbeat of measure 223.  The second chunk is from beat two of measure 223 through the downbeat of measure 227.  The third chunk is from measure 227 through the downbeat of measure 231, and the final chunk is from measure 233 through the downbeat of measure 237.  I’ll discuss how to apply the Metronome March to the first chunk, and this method can be applied to the other three.

The next step, which I’ve labeled 2B, is to break each chunk into smaller pieces.  Each piece is one measure in this example.  You may not need to break this section down smaller than the four-bar chunks, but breaking a passage down even further is effective if the passage is extremely difficult or a plateau is hit before reaching the target tempo.  A chunk can be broken down measure by measure or even beat by beat.  When breaking a passage down to its tiniest pieces, you may find that only one or two pieces needs to be worked on at this extreme level.  I’m approaching this passage as if its entirety is difficult.  Isolate and practice the most difficult parts to avoid wasting time working on pieces that are easier to play.  You’ll spend plenty of time repeating the easier parts when the Metronome March is applied to the entire chunk.

To keep the videos from becoming too long and in sync with the written posts, we’re going to pause here and finish applying the Metronome March to this passage next week.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on practice techniques and other musical topics.  Thanks for reading.  Play On!

Metronome March Practicing Tricks Part 2

The first Metronome March trick this week is that the tempo may need to be increased by smaller increments such as 1 or 2 bpm (beats-per-minute).  Depending on how the metronome is set, the tempo can be adjusted by less than 1 bpm.  If the quarter-note tempo is 60 bpm, set the metronome to 120 bpm.  It will now pulse on the 8th-note.  If this 8th-note tempo is increased by 1 bpm, the quarter-note tempo is increasing by only 1/2 bpm.  Going this slow can feel miserable but is sometimes the only solution to reach the target tempo.  I’ve had to do this recently for several passages in Domenico Cimarosa’s concerto for flute and oboe (this concerto is originally written for two flutes but is often performed with the oboe playing the second solo flute part).  Once I reached about 90 bpm, I had to increase the tempo by 1 measly bpm.  It was extremely frustrating that my normal method of increasing the tempo by 3 and then 2 bpm didn’t work.  Even 2-by-2’s didn’t work.  I had to go 1 bpm at a time to reach my goal.

The next trick is to start each day at the original slow tempo.  Just because you finished yesterday’s practice session playing a difficult passage at 100 bpm doesn’t mean you’ll be able to start out that fast today.  So I don’t become bogged down at the slower tempos each day, I move them up more, 10 and then 5 bpm at a time, to reach yesterday’s tempo faster.  If I reached 100 bpm yesterday with the goal being 120 bpm, I would again start today’s Metronome March on 60 bpm but jump directly to 70 bpm after playing the passage three times in a row perfectly.  I would then jump to 80 bpm followed by 85, 90, 90, and 100 bpm.  Once yesterday’s tempo is reached, I switch back to increments of 3 and 2 bpm.  If increasing the tempo by 5 or 10 bpm increments is too much, go back to the 3 and 2 bpm increments at the slower tempos.  You may have to adjust your goals for the day.  If a plateau is reached at a certain tempo and small increments don’t work, start the Metronome March over but decrease the initial tempo by at least 10 bpm.  If the target is 120 bpm and the starting tempo was 60 bpm, start over at 50 bpm.

The last trick is to be patient, which is easier said than done in our current society that expects instant gratification.  Music is not a field of instant gratification.  Contrary to the popular belief that music is a talent you either have or not, the greatest performers all have to work hard at some point.  Musical progress isn’t always consistent or linear.  If you feel like you’re just banging your head against a brick wall, practice something else.  If that doesn’t work, take a break and come back later.  Some days I feel like I’m making fantastic progress, and other days feel like I accomplished nothing.  Patience, perseverance, and self-discipline will see you accomplish your short-term musical goals.

I hope you’ve found this post useful.  Don’t forget to watch the video at the top of this post.  If you’re a subscriber, the videos aren’t necessarily appearing at the top of the email.  If you don’t see the video, click on “Dr. Mark’s Music Notes” in the top right corner of the email.  That should take you to the blog post on WordPress, and the video should be at the top of the post.  Check back here next week for an example of how it apply the Metronome March technique to a musical passage.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the subscribe button for notifications about more information on practice techniques and other musical topics.  Play On!

Metronome March Practicing Tricks Part 1

“How do I start?”  I was staring at two pages of 64th-notes in a fantasy by Antonio Pasculli.  I knew I was going to have to use the Metronome March to reach a decent performance tempo, but those two pages look extremely daunting.  I decided to start at the beginning; however, I knew I couldn’t try to learn the entire two pages at once, which leads to the first Metronome March trick.

The first trick is to break difficult passages into smaller, manageable parts.  There’s no rule saying you have to learn the entire 16-bar or two page hard spot all at once.  The breakdown would depend on exactly what is hard within the passage and its phrase structure.  A hypothetical 16-bar phrase could be cut in half to work on it in two 8-bar sections, quarters to work on it in four 4-bar sections, 8ths to work on it in eight 2-bar sections, or 16ths to work on it in sixteen 1-bar sections.  Sometimes, I’ll break down a difficult passage beat by beat, so each chunk might be as small as 3 or 4 notes.  Once I break a passage into sections or chunks for the Metronome March, I like to work on two chunks in tandem.  Practicing on one at a time is fine, but I find alternating between two can make it less tedious.  I will provide a specific, detailed example of how to break down a longer difficult passage in an upcoming post to make applying this trick more clear.

The next trick is to use the metronome’s subdivision function to help.  Most digital metronomes and metronome apps have a way to subdivide each beat into 8th-notes, 8th-note triplets, or 16th-notes.  This function helps ensure all those fast notes are being played evenly, especially when working in slow tempos.  It is easy to rush when starting the Metronome March at a slow tempo.  Sometimes, I leave the subdivision on throughout the entire March, but it can be effective to toggle it on and off at the faster tempos to see if the notes can be played evenly without it.  There’s a section in the third movement of the Mozart oboe quartet where the oboe plays eight notes per beat against the strings playing three notes per beat, so I like to switch the subdivision from duple to triple to see if I can play my 16th-notes evenly against the triplets.  If you don’t have a metronome or metronome app with a subdivision function, I recommend investing in one that does.  I prefer my BOSS Dr. Beat that’s now almost 30 years old, but there should be several free metronome apps that will do the job.

The final trick for today is to set realistic goals for yourself.  As with the first trick where the entire passage doesn’t have to be practiced at once, the performance tempo for any part of that passage doesn’t have to be reached in one practice session.  Reasonable goals for each section may only be five to ten bpm for a practice session.  It may be less, especially as the performance tempo is approached.  As much as we might wish otherwise, progress does not occur in a straight line.  Find the pace that works for you and also understand that it will change as you advance musically.

I hope you’ve found this post useful.  Check back here next week for three more Metronome March tricks.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and click the follow button for notifications about more information on practice techniques and other musical topics.  Play On!