Is chamber music dead or a staple diet for all musicians?

When you are thinking about a musical career I don’t think you cross off any aspect of it. Your repertoire will include concertos, sonatas and recital pieces¹. Cellists may well have the goal of becoming a soloist but role models from the past show how you don’t just play with orchestras and piano accompanists as a soloist but you can also play chamber music. Many of the greats like Casals and du Pre have played in chamber ensembles. So it has always been the case that chamber music has been a component of a solo cellist’s repertoire. Everyone benefits from having a diverse repertoire because realistically you won’t have enough engagements to perform as a soloist. So it’s important to have variety in your repertoire and musicianship skills so you can respond to a range of opportunities.  

Young cellists all learn the solo repertoire, including concertos and recital pieces, irrespective of whether they wish to specialise in solo, chamber or orchestral playing. This is because they need to perform concertos, sonatas and shorter recital pieces in order to pass exams and auditions at all levels for a place (Undergraduate/Postgraduate) at a conservatoire. For instance, to audition for a place on the Royal College of Music undergraduate cello course, you need to demonstrate you can play “First movement of a concerto” and “A contrasting piece of your own choice”². Again, for a place on their taught postgraduate course, you need to prepare a “First (or significant) movement from a major concerto from the 19th or 20th century” and a “A contrasting piece of your own choice”³.  You will not need to demonstrate your ability to play chamber music with others or play within an orchestra for these main degree courses. The only other musician you are allowed to have playing with you is just the one accompanist:

“The only people in your audition room will be you, your accompanist and the audition panel.”⁴

The same is true of the Guildhall school of Music, with a few additions. For the undergraduate degree in cello, you again prepare “The 1st movement from a concerto in the standard repertory” and “One contrasting piece of the candidate's own choice.”⁵ In addition, you should prepare a listed study from the Popper High School of Cello Playing. Obviously the solo repertoire is still taught at undergraduate level and seen as an important way to assess proficiency in cello playing because to progress onto their postgraduate degree for Advanced Instrumental Studies, you again need to play “The first movement of a concerto from the standard repertoire with cadenza” and “The first movement of a duo sonata (with piano) written after 1800” in your audition⁶. Indeed, the extra element to prepare here for postgraduate study involves demonstrating you can play without any accompaniment at all: “One movement of unaccompanied Bach”⁷. As far as I can see, there are no chamber music qualifications or degrees at these two conservatoires. If you want to specialise in chamber music, you take an optional module/s eg Guildhall School of Music but this is only if you already have a fair amount of chamber music experience and are part of an ensemble, then you put your ensemble forward for consideration for a postgrad option. Afterwards, auditions for joining an orchestra require performing a concerto as a soloist eg Haydn. So the solo repertoire remains highly relevant, even for those who become orchestral players. It is the solo repertoire that is the staple diet for a cellist, not chamber music. The solo cello repertoire, including concertos, sonatas, recital pieces and unaccompanied pieces are also generally considered to be the best music written for the cello. For the top 10, see:

thttps://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/cello/features/best-cello-pieces/

If a cellist doesn’t learn these, s/he is missing out on the best cello music ever written!

So, just like everyone else, I learnt a core repertoire of concertos and recital pieces eg Waldesruhe (Dvorak), Vocalise (Rachmaninoff), The Swan (Saint Saens), sonatas and unaccompanied pieces eg Bach Suites. The purpose was to perform them with pianists or otherwise. I loved technique be it Sevcik for the violin or Feuillard, Franchomme and Popper for the cello. I was even taught some interestingly difficult exercises made up by Rostropovich. At a young age it was all about technique and performance (including reading the score carefully and interpreting how to play what’s written in it) because these are physical skills that are very demanding so it helps to train your fingers to be capable of complex dexterity. The history and musicology behind the music can be learnt just as easily and better when an adult. I think history does play a part in understanding a piece but it doesn’t warrant a deep study of it at a young age. This can be incorporated as and when relevant later to acquire a deeper appreciation of a piece of music and examine how to play it authentically. This is, however, difficult to ascertain because original first publications of scores did not always reflect the composer’s wishes and some were more vocal than others about how representative the score was of their intentions. There is no one objective source to consult which tells us exactly what the composer wanted. Some composers were more prescriptive compared with others who preferred the instrumentalist to have more freedom of interpretation. There are also many different arrangements which, by definition, do not replicate the original score and vary in how much they take the composer’s possible wishes into consideration eg in expression markings. Some pieces are transposed for a different instrument. While some are transposed for a related instrument eg violin to cello, others are unrelated eg horn to cello. Transposing, especially between unrelated instruments, means the instrument, as well as the musician, will express the music very differently from the instrument for which it was originally written. So when we refer to authentic renditions of a piece, what do we mean? What is and isn’t completely authentic is itself open to interpretation.  

Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting the score and giving it a new, fresh approach. Some may view this as being almost a cross-over style but I think all musicians, classical or not, have made the pieces their own in some way throughout the ages. It’s unavoidable. Much as a writer has their own voice so a musician has theirs. Therefore, the way musicians interpret a piece of music will vary from person to person. Even classical drama eg Shakespeare is often given a contemporary interpretation. We don’t think a contemporary production of a period play is automatically worse simply because it isn’t an historically authentic production. We value the new light it sheds on the play as much as productions which re-enact the original play and the staging of it. Many of ‘the greats’ in the past approached cello pieces in this way eg Casals’ unique interpretation and recording of the Bach Suites. Singers are expected to make songs in their repertoire their own so why shouldn’t instrumentalists? I’m not saying never be authentic but it’s not entirely realistic to be so since we haven’t lived in the composer’s era or often even close to it!

To answer my question, I don’t think chamber music is dead and never has been but neither is it a staple diet for musicians. Many musicians try to be part of a chamber ensemble in the same way as most tennis players play doubles, at some point in their career, not just singles. Is it necessary to play chamber music? No, it isn’t. Just as a few top singles tennis players opt out of doubles it’s perfectly fine for a soloist eg cellist to do likewise and opt out of playing regularly in chamber ensembles and orchestras. They are not less good musicians or tennis players because they haven’t done so. They may well prefer to focus on one specialisation be it singles for a tennis player or as a soloist for a musician. It’s not something everyone wants to do but if they do then their focus may yield unique insights into the solo repertoire. Similarly, top tennis players, especially on the men’s tour, don’t play doubles eg Nadal but he brings something special to the court much as Serena Williams does in the women’s game.

It’s the musician’s choice. Music is a creative process not an academic pursuit so a literal interpretation is not as paramount as expressing an unique voice and providing listeners with an aesthetic experience.   

¹ Based on my comments on Steven Isserlis’s post ‘Some good news, amidst somewhat surreal times?’ 7/3/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1292516914129934&id=191956057519364

² http://www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/auditionrequirements/

 ³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/music/principal_study/strings_harp_and_guitar/auditions/#c405

⁶ ibid

⁷ ibid

What’s the difference between listening and really listening?

One of my earlier cello teachers would constantly say ‘You have to REALLY listen!’ (I use uppercase because she emphasized that word)¹. I’ve spent the rest of my life hearing that phrase in my head and repeating it. I’ve always remembered it despite not fully appreciating what it meant at the time. I thought: I am listening! What more can I do? What’s the difference between listening and really listening? Over the years I’ve come to realise two things. One, there are many ways of listening as a musician, many of which we take for granted. Two, there’s also different levels of intensity and concentration involved when listening to yourself and others.  

I started learning the violin and cello within group classes (3 & 5/6yrs of age respectively). It was fun playing with them as a group. This starts a child on the road to really listening which is of great value in itself and probably the best way to start learning an instrument rather than having individual lessons. In addition, I attended classes at a well-known theatre school from a very early age. So I had already learnt to listen, co-ordinate and co-operate with others whether it be playing classical instruments, singing, dancing, acting, musical theatre or working as a large group when putting on a show. In retrospect, I have come to appreciate the diversity of musical experience I was exposed to as a child which helped me later. It’s similar to sport. If you want to be a professional tennis player it’s a good idea to play other sports too when you’re younger. Likewise, if you want to be a professional musician it helps to participate in a wide range of musical experiences and genres. So, for me, working with others, including musically, comes naturally.

Really listening to your playing as well as the musicians around you is not a skill that is unique to playing with an orchestra or playing chamber music. All musicians in every genre need to develop these various musicianship skills. For instance, it makes no sense for a singer to go off on their own tangent leaving musicians to keep up as best they can. That would be a cacophony. Take a pop star, such as, Celine Dion. She is a solo singer but, nevertheless, has backing singers and a band. All of them have to co-ordinate and synchronize otherwise no-one will come to the concerts! There are often certain chords or drum beats that cue the singer to land certain notes and if this isn’t timed absolutely correctly then the song falls apart. Equally, Celine can’t just speed up in the middle of a song when she feels like it because it would confuse her backing singers and band and they’ll end up out of sync with her. Unhappy backers, unhappy band and one unhappy audience who couldn’t sing along to their favourite song.

It’s the same with classical musicians. The soloist is important but not to the extent that the conductor and orchestra are left to fend for themselves while s/he plays the concerto as s/he hears it in her head without paying any attention to the musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra. As for conductors, I don’t think paying attention to a conductor or choir leader should replace being sensitive to what’s going on around you musically. Conductors or choir leaders add something different to the mix. For instance, they give cues to improve anticipation, timing, and help a large group of musicians or singers gel together with ease. They impart musical ideas and feedback as and when needed.

Listening to yourself helps you maintain perfect pitch and intonation as well as a good tonal quality. It also trains you to have an ear for simultaneously listening to yourself and others with whom you are making music as well as how your combined efforts blend together musically and aesthetically. In addition, you have to be quick enough to adapt and adjust to the musicians around you and the conductor/leader in a matter of milliseconds to keep a balance between pre-prepared interpretation and an element of spontaneity within the musical interactions. So, for instance, in a concerto, it’s a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. It’s always a matter of knowing when to, figuratively speaking, talk and when to listen. If the two (soloist, orchestra) don’t do this and talk over each other it ceases to be a musical conversation, loses meaning and becomes a mess. The same applies to singing or playing a musical instrument accompanied by a pianist. When playing my cello repertoire with my cello teacher accompanying me on the piano, I found myself listening to what I was playing as well as what she was playing as an accompaniment and remembering to complement her to create a harmonious sound. This skill also translated well when singing pop and musical theatre songs with my singing teachers accompanying me and/or us singing as a group.

So to return to my two points at the beginning. What you take for granted is the variety of ways you listen as a musician:

1)      You listen to your playing/singing but not in a general way which merely results in you hearing yourself. You train your ear to pick up the slightest changes of pitch and tonal quality and learn how to make constant tiny adjustments to maintain consistency and perfection. Nobody achieves 100% perfection but we all have to strive for it to provide the best possible experience for the listener/audience.

Furthermore, different genres have different pitches. Classical music has the highest pitch, making its standard pitch slightly sharper than the norm. Some pop singers, especially divas, use a more classical pitch while most others’ pitch is slightly flatter to varying degrees. Musical theatre singers are mostly around the norm in pitch although those with some classical background may be closer to a classical pitch. Country and folk singers generally have a flatter pitch but there are exceptions such as Dolly Parton. Some genres have their own scale. For instance, the blues scale flattens the 3^rd, 7^th and sometimes 5^th even though it is a major scale. In classical music, minor scales characteristically have a flattened/minor sound so composers use this scale to write music in a minor key to depict sad emotions as opposed to major scales and keys which are typically seen as conveying happiness. Musicians nearly always choose one pitch and sing or play everything according to it.

I sing and play the cello (and other instruments) according to classical pitch, partly because that was how I was taught as a child and partly for technical reasons, such as it keeps you more reliably in tune. However, when making music with others, especially when singing with others, it is very useful to be aware of their type of pitch and adjust accordingly so you blend with them and avoid pitch clashes. This is part of what my cello teacher meant by REALLY listening: develop your listening skills so you pick up on small details and not just the general picture.  

2)      Pitch isn’t the only aspect of music you need to attune your ear to in order to have musical awareness. Other aspects include tempo, rhythm, rests, when and how others are beginning and ending notes, their colouring, timbre and volume. All this takes a huge amount of concentration and intensity. This is the difference between listening and REALLY listening. You cease to listen to music like a non-musician who can relax and let the music wash over them. For the musician, it’s a matter of combining all these different types of listening with heightened awareness and concentration and being attentive to the minutest details in sound production. It’s not a passive process but a constant, active process of analytical, critical listening.

¹Based on my comment on facebook in response to Steven Isserlis’s post: ‘All the World’s a (chamber music) stage…’ 28/06/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1417096905005267&id=191956057519364

Minor composers?

I am keen to bring to light lesser-known philosophers or even those hardly known at all. So similarly, I am interested in lesser-known and lesser-performed composers¹, especially from the classical and romantic periods. I search 2^nd hand shops and sometimes discover a gem or two of these so-called lesser-known composers. I’ve recently learnt about and listened to Raff², Rejcha³, Onslow⁴, Hummel⁵ and really liked all of them. Rejcha’s cello concerto in D major⁶ sounded very Boccherini-like so I’d love to learn that one. My favourite though was Raff’s Cello Concerto no 1 in D minor op. 193⁷. I was interested that Raff set up special classes for women composers! He also employed Clara Schumannn as a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory. Hummel was Slovak and there’s a museum⁸ in his birth place Bratislava dedicated to him.

To be honest, I’m not sure I see these minor composers as minor or their music as not great. I think it’s exciting to discover forgotten music! There’s something special in bringing forgotten/lesser- known philosophers or composers back to life again so they can be appreciated once more! Often when scanning a programme I check for new cello sonatas, or concertos that I might wish to learn or have learnt but don’t feature on concert programmes very much. I learnt Breval’s Sonata no 1 in C but don’t remember ever hearing it live at a concert. I was about 8 yrs old when I learnt it and I always loved playing the opening chords to it with gusto!

One needs to give an unheard piece a little more thought when interpreting it because it will influence the audience’s attitude towards it and the composer. The last thing a performer wants to do is put people off a newly discovered composer. I know I’m influenced by a performance. If it’s tedious I may not bother to learn the piece which is stupid but it happens. However, one of the ways to learn to love a piece one doesn’t connect with immediately is to research the background to it, the era, the composer, listen to it, study the score closely, feel your way into the emotions in the piece and if you know other musicians who are keen to learn new stuff or even know the piece talk to them about it, perform it to friends etc really try to get ‘into it’. You never know, you might love it in the end!

¹ Steven Isserlis ‘In praise of those who need it’ (03/04/2017) facebook, available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1322121787836113&id=191956057519364

²for more information about Raff, see: http://raff.org/intro.htm

³for more information about Rejcha, see:

 http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Anton-Reicha/Composer/9990-1

⁴for more information about Onslow, see:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/onslow.php

Onslow’s cello sonata in C-minor No.2, Op.16 (1819), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuRh4-CCUs

⁵for more information about Hummel, see:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Johann-Nepomuk-Hummel/Composer/5667-1  

Hummel’s Variazioni alla Monferrina, Op. 54, for cello and piano available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEuGHBt6U4k (part 1 of 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3U0gOJNf4Y (part 2 of 2)

⁶Rejcha, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D major available to listen to at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aPpyG6GYdM

⁷ Raff’s cello concerto no1, available to listen to at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_XtUs_E6Q

⁸For a video about the Hummel museum and to listen to Hummel’s Trio for 2 Violas and Cello in G major, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdhW8UYqdw

The importance of slurs in a piece of music and the difficulty of deciphering original scores and manuscripts

I have learnt some of the Bach Suites and have performed Suite 1 Prelude in public. The issue of¹ how to create dance-like sound is a difficult one especially if there are slurs of 3-4 notes. The edition I use is the Barenreiter. (For the violin I have an edition of Bach’s 6 Sonatas & Partitas which I absolutely love because it includes facsimile of the autograph manuscript).  At the back of my cello suites edition that I use I have notes on the score (in German) that tell me things about the Anna Magdalena’s score amongst other things. Under notes on Suite V Sarabande I think it states how certain bars look in the Anna Magdalena score and the lute version of the score. So, in Anna’s version, when there are 4 quavers together they have a clear (deutlich) slur (bindebogen) over them in bars 1, 5, 6, 7, 16, 20 and in the lute version in bars 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18 a group of 4 quavers together have a slur on the last 3 but not over the first note.

A question that crossed my mind was: How does the slurring work in Bach’s lute version of the Sarabande because while looking at a website showing Bach’s autograph of it, it looks to me as though he tends not to include the first note in a bunch of quavers in the slur irrespective of whether it is a high note or a low note? The Barenreiter edition mentions in its notes that the lute version has bars in the Sarabande which leave the first note of a group of quavers un-slurred and then slurring the next 3 quavers in the group, as mentioned above, although this doesn’t include their thoughts on bar 5.       

However, it did occur to me that dances in those days were slower so the slurred notes are not such a problem because the overall tempo was sedate and slow. I think perhaps slurs suit the shape of the choreography. Watching this video² demonstrates the dance steps used for a sarabande and how it fits with the music. I think it shows that slurs can fit well with the dance and still maintain the beat. A slur on a lute would also come across very differently to listeners from a slur on the cello. Slurs are especially tricky here because lute notation, especially in early scores, is different from cello notation so can be misread by non-lute players. For instance, a slur may be written more minimally to keep the tablature style of score neater because, in the Baroque era, there was a preference for the visually pleasing rather than being strict about writing down every instruction with precision so the notation left it up to the lute player to assume correctly what was implied.  So, are there any implied slurs we should be thinking about as cellists when playing this suite?³ 

You may have already read Cardin’s article⁴ but it definitely was an exciting find for me because it relates to my research paper on the Philosophy of Music, ‘When is a Piece of Music the Identical Piece? Subtitle: The Problem of Identity in Music and Performance’⁵:

Abstract: It is difficult to be certain how composers felt their pieces should sound in performance. Nevertheless, this is desirable background knowledge for musicians aiming at an authentic interpretation. It is even problematic to analyse the composer’s intention behind the music when recordings of a composer playing their own piece of music is available to listen to (or see him/her perform it on video) because there can be differences in approach between recordings taken several years apart. For example, Kreisler composed Liebesleid and there are at least two recordings of him playing it (1930 and 1942) but he does not play and express it identically each time. This discrepancy between the different ways Kreisler plays this piece raises, I think, questions about identity and interpretation in music. In this paper, I shall attempt to explore the following research questions. When and why is a piece of music the same piece across many different interpretations and performances? Could analysing pieces of music in terms of types and tokens help to track the identity of a musical work over different editions of scores, performances and interpretations? Is it the same piece if it is one and the same piece that the composer had in his/her mind? Is the music the composer has/had in their mind always completely identical to each instance of it being performed and how easy is it to replicate what the composer had in mind when performed by others across time? Even if we say a piece’s identity is what is written in the score, what if different editions are heavily edited so the piece is somewhat different or if a performer changes the mood of the piece or adds additional grace notes or improvisations? Could a piece change its identity under certain conditions and cease to be the same piece?

¹ Steven Isserlis on Urtext editions, (10/05/2017) available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1366092960105662&id=191956057519364

² ‘Basic Steps for a Sarabande’ from www.dancilla.com, available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=judV76gLib0

³ For further information about slurs in the baroque era, see:

http://www.slweiss.de/London_unv/an_6Appendix_3.pdf

⁴ Cardin, M., (2001) ‘The slur concept in the late Baroque lute Tablatures’, in The London Manuscript unveiled - 6. Appendix 3, The slur concept, available at:

http://www.slweiss.de/London_unv/an_6Appendix_3.pdf

⁵ available and downloadable on my academia.edu site:

https://www.academia.edu/32731874/Abstract_Paper_Title_When_Is_a_Piece_of_Music_the_Identical_Piece_Subtitle_The_Problem_of_Identity_in_Music_and_Performance

The importance of cello fingering decisions

Steven Isserlis raised a very important point about choice of fingering which is central to learning/practising/performing a piece of music! The focus of his post¹ was the Dvorak cello concerto, especially a sequence of three slurred eighth-notes (E, D, B) at the beginning of the 2^nd subject in D.

First, I sang the notes to get a feel for the passage in question then reached for my score for more detail. I sat and worked through that section ie from B as first note with p, piu tranquillo under it 3 ½ bars before the A, which is the first note in the theme, through to the start of the tenor clef 6 bars ahead to put the 3 notes into context. I wrote down every possible fingering combination and I played my air cello working out the feel of these various possible fingerings before sitting down with my actual cello and playing the passage including the next six bars to see which fingering would, to my mind, preserve the legato and beauty of this second subject in Dvorak’s cello concerto. I took into consideration the problems you raised about accenting or causing a glissando if opting for staying on the A string. Here are my thoughts:

My favourite option is to stay on A string and do F# on 3^rd finger 4^th position, shift to 4^th finger on E, 2^nd finger on D then stretch back/minor shift to B on 1^st finger then D with 4^th finger etc.

Why? 1) Generally speaking, it is technically better to incrementally inch your way up and down the cello like a crab when staying on the same string than create larger distance shifts (unless you want a large shift for dramatic effect under certain conditions). 2) I found this fingering was the most reliable way to consistently achieve legato with no audible shifting or accent sounds between notes. This is the sequence of fingering you worried produces an accent on the E. When playing it I discovered that this doesn’t happen if you don’t think of it as a shift as such but instead, I take this mental/technical approach:

Start on a short up bow close to the frog of the bow for the A then long, free flowing down bow on the F# with a soft bowing hand/wrist and warm vibrato with left hand. Then, just before moving to the E, fractionally stop left hand vibrato and mentally picture where your 1^st finger is naturally hovering above the E so that the shift for the left hand becomes like a mid-air finger substitution between the 1^st finger hovering over E and the 4th finger shifting to the E. Aim for the E (with the 4^th finger) while shifting/substituting very swiftly, in that split second you lighten and change bow to play E on an up bow (and the following 2 notes). This way you avoid the unintended accent on the E and the glissando between E and D isn’t a problem since your 2^nd finger is already in position to play the D. Then the B is achieved smoothly too by turning the slight shift back into a stretch with the 1^st finger to lessen the shift so there’s no audible movement here either. This way, all the notes are even, there’s no audible break in the legato and the shape of the theme stays intact.

The other options I experimented with and decided against:

E with 1^st finger 4^th position and shift back to 4^th finger first position: I didn’t find I ended up with a glissando. I think that’s because I avoid this by speeding up my left hand shift while lightening the bow. However, much as it is quite easy to find the notes intuitively with less practice because it’s just 4^th position to 1^st position, I found it can produce inconsistency of execution in that at times, you can hear a slight thud as you land on the 4^th finger D if you don’t time your fast shift with lightening the bow perfectly. So in terms of preparing it for a performance, it’ll take more practice (shift/bow exercises).  

Crossing to the D string:

This, I find, is the scariest option because 1) it’s easy to miss that note on D and 2) it can cause tension in the left hand, it feels stiff and you can’t move and vibrato freely and it’s easy to cause a break in the sound while shifting across and up while changing string. So I’d find it harder to keep the legato and theme smooth and natural. I feel it is prone to erratic results eg accidental glissando, break in legato, break in sound while jumping over to it, missing note etc so requires more practice and is more nerve-racking to perform. Therefore I’d discount it on those grounds. It also sounds more muted and less clear and bright than the A string which is a shame for such a tuneful passage. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the easiest/most reliable way to locate a note which is also an harmonic note, as this D is, is by flicking my hand up to play it as a harmonic either for the whole note or momentarily to check I’ve landed it before pressing down and vibrating. It also gives me the option of discreetly correcting the note before pressing down on it which gives the illusion of getting it right every time even when you haven’t! Also, it avoids glissando and is easier to keep legato than shifting and immediately pressing down. 

These are just my thoughts on the way I’d go about it. Just a mixture of personal preference and the way I was taught to approach pieces. This is just the kind of stuff I get passionate about. I can spend all day just thinking about those 3 notes, working on them in context, playing them until I know the section off by heart and feel it’s going in the right direction (to be honest, I looked at the bar mentioned and then could play the rest through hearing it in my head without looking at the music). To my mind, all musicians should ideally work in this way on every bar of all their pieces ie work through all the options and repeat/internalise their preferred option until it feels second-nature. I know it takes time but if you love music and playing your instrument then you don’t notice. I love paying attention to detail and taking my time over a piece of music and probing deeply into the practical, technical playing dilemmas as well as the meaning, feel of the music and the composer’s mind/intention. The listener is key. As a performer you want to convey the feeling of the piece, connect emotionally and give them the best possible experience of the piece. Engendering an interest/passion for so-called boring technical details, I think, can enhance the enjoyment of listening to classical music performances live because you focus harder on the instrumentalist when you are more knowledgeable. Hence, I feel strongly that musical instruments and classical music should be taught in schools. Children and teenagers should be taken to concerts and their tickets should be substantially discounted or even free otherwise they are prohibitively expensive for families. This would encourage the next generation to like and attend concerts and take their children to concerts and so on.

¹Steven Isserlis ‘the emotion is in the detail’ (02/02/2017) facebook post, available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1261992437182382&id=191956057519364

Dvorak's quasi portamento in his B minor Concerto

I found a fascinating question about Dvorak’s B minor Concerto on Steven Isserlis’s facebook (13/01/2017)¹ which gave me food for thought. His questions were: What did Dvorak mean when he wrote ‘quasi portamento’ as a marking at bar 166 of the 1st movement of his B minor concerto? Why does he write ‘quasi’ and should we read it as portamento literally or as something more akin to 'portato'?

My response was as follows:

I think if Dvorak meant ‘portato’ he would have written it in as such, besides, the markings would be different ie there would be dots under slurs and Dvorak didn’t put these into his score. So, my view is that Dvorak meant ‘portamento’ (sliding between notes, literally in Italian it means carrying so you get the idea of carrying one note into the other). If we take the word ‘quasi’ to mean ‘like, as though’ then he may have written this in to avoid players taking the sliding/gliding aspect of ‘portamento’ literally and playing it too glissando-like! In my score (Simrock, Elite edition 594) the word ‘cantabile’ appears before the words ‘quasi portamento’. This gives us a feel as to how Dvorak would like us to play this bar. So, this bar should be played as though it is being sung due to the ‘cantabile’ and, more specifically given the addition of ‘quasi portamento’, smoothly, effortlessly gliding between the notes much as I would when I sing it but without exaggerating it. Perhaps Dvorak wants to avoid the tendency some instrumentalists have of having an audible bow change or catch in their sound between notes which interrupts the flow of the phrases and reduces the expressive, singing quality of the cello.  It’s ‘mf’ so it’s neither quiet nor loud but wants to be heard especially since the notes coming up decrescendo to a ‘pp’ without fading into being inaudible. The ‘pp’ is played ‘dolce’ so the ‘quasi portamento’ will need to be played in a way that will naturally lead the ear and mood into the sweetness/tenderness of the dolce and so not shock the listener into a sudden quietness and sensitivity. This is also why Dvorak could not have meant ‘portato’, it wouldn’t work in my opinion, because it will cause too sudden a change from the stronger, more accentuated mood of a ‘portato’ which won’t lead smoothly into a ‘pp dolce’.  Also, there are two triplets in this bar which inform us of the time and rhythm of bar 166, perhaps indicating a lightness of touch to the notes.

¹available at: https://www.facebook.com/Steven-Isserlis-191956057519364/

Is cello technique useful or is it an unnecessary chore?

Is it helpful to learn how to draw a completely even bow close to the bridge¹? A benefit can be that it may instil more consistency and control with a fuller, richer sound. I’ve been taught this exercise but it wasn’t so that I then play all the notes in the same way in my pieces! It’s meant to be one of many different bowing exercises (not as a playing style in itself) so, when it comes to bringing phrases to life in pieces, this bowing technique is then combined with other ways of bowing to create the variety of phrasing and expressiveness needed. The purpose of developing physical skills is to enhance your musical aims. One way my tutor ensured this happened was to set me a demanding piece, then before beginning it and during learning the piece, I was taught exercises which developed the relevant, necessary techniques for playing it well and musically. In addition, if difficulties arose within the piece then an exercise would be added to overcome it eg Goltermann can give you a thumb injury if the bowing is not completely proficient so extra tips and adjustments needed to be made. This also meant that I could play the piece more confidently and feel relaxed, physically and psychologically, as a result of the new-found ability and bowing control. So I’d add that, in addition to the main goal of musical aims, other benefits that come with technique is feeling more relaxed, confident about playing/performing difficult pieces as well as injury prevention which not only makes you a more physically relaxed, healthier cellist, it also means you can practise for longer when you need to without side-effects. Hence, I’m a fan of technique. However, I think learning technique shouldn’t be a chore otherwise it’ll put the student off not only learning technique but also the cello! Not to mention if you spend all day repeating the identical exercise, you’ll just end up with repetitive strain injury! Tension, both physical and psychological, is the enemy of good cello playing and creates further tension producing fear of performing which is one of the root causes of stage fright/nerves. It’s also ignoring all the important musical and physical work you can do away from your instrument eg thinking through the score, learning about the piece/composer/era, physical exercise to make you stronger, exploring different expressive options and looking through the full score rather than just your own part (which I have to admit I wasn’t taught to do by my tutors so it’s something I’m only discovering for myself in recent years).

I’m sure students don’t like technique because it seems boring compared to playing a piece and is often seen as difficult to master. It’s the task of the tutor to show its relevance and not overwhelm the student with too much technique all at once eg the Rostropovich exercise I was given wasn’t long but was fun even though it wasn’t an easy exercise because it was both physically and mentally demanding - a co-ordination brain-bender!

Every good teacher should educate/train the student in such a way that they can carry on without them because they have all the skills they need for the job. Students should be able to go beyond their teacher(s), strike out on their own, come out with different ideas and s/he/they should be pleased and proud of them when they do.

As for practising hard, I think we should practise hard, even when young! I did 3 hours a day on the cello when very young and I enjoyed it but it was physically hard at that age. So I invented a way to bandage my fingertips (as injury and pain prevention) to be able to regularly play long hours but my mother cut it back to 2hrs a day so I wouldn’t have to do that. It made it more manageable although I did find it a bit of a tight squeeze for getting everything I wanted to get done per day before my next lesson. Within those hours I did scales, arpeggios, technique then an easy-ish piece as a repertoire warm up and then studied/played one of my pieces in detail paying close attention to playing correct notes, tonal quality, composer markings, structure of piece, phrasing, bowing, checking for left hand tension and correct positioning of arm, posture, expressiveness, emotion etc. until I knew it like the back of my hand, and could start playing it at any point in the score and could express myself through the music with ease. However, when you are very young you need a parent to help you check that you are doing all the right things. Later you can use a mirror to check posture, arm positioning and so on. Your cello, voice, is an extension of yourself so eg the bow is part of your arm not separate from it so to speak. Your cello is also your friend, don’t go into battle with it! My cello used to stand next to my bed so it was there as part of my life right from the age of 5yrs 11 months, not something I left neglected in a corner and had to force myself to play/practise. Well, the famous tennis player Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario apparently used to sleep next to her racquet which was tucked up in bed with her (or at least that’s what I heard!) so it’s not that weird to have my cello next to my bed! At least it’s not in my bed!

¹see Steven Isserlis’s facebook post (11^th April 2017) ‘Technique?’ available at:

https://www.facebook.com/Steven-Isserlis-191956057519364/ )