|
[Read in Browser]
|
Dear Friends,
This past week, I've been revisiting Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - my husband and I will be seeing a production of it in London later this month, and I wanted to prepare by taking the time to re-read it. To that end, we invited eight friends over for a table read of the play - which was exactly the sort of nerdy "night in" you might imagine, where we divvied up the roles and read through the play together. Our "performance" was enhanced by a few homemade props and plenty of wine to loosen things up. Despite some initial trepidation, everyone managed to overcome their "stage fright" and leaned into the experience, hamming it up when called for and savoring Shakespeare's language, even if we didn't understand every word!
As we sat around the table reading the script (downloaded from Project Gutenberg) on our tablets, phones, and laptops, I couldn’t help but think of Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream. He wrote the overture in 1826 (when he was just 17!) after reading a German translation of the play, and then in 1842 he wrote incidental music for a production of the play.
To our modern ears, Mendelssohn’s music already sounds "historic" - lush, romantic, unquestionably from a past era. And yet, to him, Shakespeare’s world also felt in the distant past. So much has changed between 1826 and now: the invention of electricity, cars, air travel, the internet, to list just a few obvious things; and yet, in 1826 Berlin, Mendelssohn was setting music to the very same text we were reading in our dining room in 2024 Indianapolis.
For that matter, this single Shakespeare play, with its mix-ups, mistaken identities, and thwarted love, has inspired so much art: Mendelssohn’s music, Britten’s opera, countless paintings, Balanchine’s ballet, films, novels, and more. It’s incredible to realize that through these artworks- be it music, dance, literature, or visual art - we are in conversation with other centuries and generations. Despite the changes in technology and culture over the centuries, the humor that made us laugh during our table read is the same humor that Shakespeare’s audience must have enjoyed, and the same silly situations we still laugh at today in movies or viral videos.
It’s a reminder of how timeless art connects us. We’re all part of a larger, ongoing dialogue: finding humor in the same situations, shaking our heads over the same stories, and always exploring new ways to reinterpret them for the next audience.
And so, my question for you this week is: what’s a work of art that you’ve returned to over and over again, finding something new and relevant each time?
👋 Have a great week! Happy practicing! 🎹
-Kate
|
|
|
|
This Week's Practice Tip: Mastering Hand Positions ✋
I was recently teaching a student Chopin’s Revolutionary Etude, and we hit a familiar roadblock: the long, relentless runs of sixteenth notes in the left hand. My student could manage it at a moderate tempo, but when he tried to play faster, his hand got very tight and the passage fell apart - it was uneven, tiring, and frustrating.
To address this, we talked about a new way of approaching the passage: break it down into hand positions. Instead of focusing on each individual note in the sixteenth-note passagework or thinking metrically in groups of four, we looked at where the hand shifts position and practiced moving the hand quickly and efficiently to each new place.
After we worked like that for a while, the passage began to come together. Once my student started shifting smoothly from one hand position to the next, the passage became much easier for him.
This Week’s Exercise
- Label the Hand Positions: Mark the shifts in hand position in your score. A shift in hand position occurs when you pick up your hand and move it to a new part of the keyboard. Often passing over the thumb requires a hand position change. You can put boxes around groups of notes that belong to one hand position, or use any system that’s clear to you. I usually mark hand position shifts using vertical lines.
- Silent Placement: Without playing a sound, practice placing your hand into each marked position, with the fingers over each note in that particular hand shape. Move silently between positions as efficiently and accurately as possible, focusing on aligning your fingers to the keys.
- Play, Then Move: Play the notes in one hand position and then silently and quickly move into the next hand position without playing. Go back and forth between these two repeatedly until you move directly into the silent position without hesitation.
- Combine groups: Start by connecting two hand positions at a time. Gradually add more, until you can play the entire passage evenly and in time.
Breaking things down like this allows you to focus on the “glue” that holds the notes together: the smooth transitions between hand positions. It’s a small shift in mindset that can make a revolutionary difference! 😜
For more on this concept, check out this video I made on identifying hand position changes.
|
|
|
|
My most recent YouTube video was inspired by a viewer who emailed me asking for strategies on looking ahead in the music. I break down what looking ahead means, why it’s so important, and give some specific strategies to try. If you’ve ever struggled with hesitations in your playing, this video will help you practice looking ahead! Click here to watch the video.
|
|
|
|
Quote of the Week
“It's probable that in the artistic hierarchy, birds are the greatest musicians existing on our planet.”
- Olivier Messiaen (his birthday is celebrated this week: December 10, 1908)
|
|
Did someone forward this email to you? Join the mailing list here
Copyright 2024 Kate Boyd, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed up for Notes From The Piano Prof, a weekly newsletter.
|