Hot answers tagged classical-music
11
There may be a small amount of "performance practice fad" about that, but for the most part it does serve a purpose.
Breath is used in many styles of music as a cue. If you think about wind instrument players, for example, every phrase is preceded by a breath, and experienced players will take that breath in rhythm. As a rhythmic gesture, it can be used to ...
7
The melody (right hand) should be played in time. Don't shift it to try to match something temporally funky in the accompaniment (left hand).
The broken chords should be played so that the last note of the chord occurs in time with the melody. The lower notes should come just ahead of the beat. The reason for this is that the higher notes in the chord will ...
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To answer your question head on, an experienced teacher will listen to the student's voice for all the qualities you mentioned: "range, tessitura, and voice color". The teacher will then mentally compare those qualities to other singers that they know. They will also be comparing that voice to the kinds of voices they are used to hearing in various roles. In ...
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The basic idea of the style is that it's in 3/4 time (or other triple meter), with accents on beats TWO and THREE.
The accents are what makes it feel unbalanced. You are probably used to waltz style, where the accents are on ONE and THREE. As such, it may be easy to mistake beat 3 of a mazurka for beat 1 of a waltz, since those accents are in the same place ...
6
There are three different things here: the sonata(-allegro) form, the (multi-movement) sonata form, and the title sonata.
The sonata(-allegro) form is a form of one movement. It's usually fast (hence the allegro) and the big structure is ABA, where the first A is called exposition, B is development, and the second A is recapitulation. Sometimes there's a ...
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Many classical composers frequently used this method that you stated. Bach wrote over 1120 pieces. Naming 1120 pieces, each with a unique name can be hard. Some were named for where they were performed e.g. the Brandenburg Concertos. It was also common for a composer to number his pieces of the same format. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is also known as Serenade ...
4
There is a recording listed in Allmusic.com that lists Rostropovich as the composer and performer of his Humoresque for Cello and Piano, Op 5:
feat. artist: Mstislav Rostropovich
Label: Brilliant
Rovi ID: MQ0000908851
Rovi Work ID: MC0002507948
AMG ID: F 1686750
AMG Work ID: C 380960
Work Title: Humoresque for cello & piano, Op. 5
...
4
These are in fact all different. The D and G and bars 6 and 8 are in square brackets by the editor to indicate that they should be re-attacked, since the preceding note is the same. Bar 8 is not a trill. It should be played as two eighth notes G and F. Bar 12 is a normal trill where its first note (F#) was not the last one played, so no need to indicate it ...
4
By "Classical", I assume you mean "not pop music" rather than the historical Classical Period specifically. The examples you gave weren't actually Classical composers (J.S. Bach was a Baroque composer; Chopin was Romantic).
In Bach's case, his music was always very functional - it almost always served a purpose. As such, it made sense to give functional ...
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It can be used for communication, as already pointed out - and this certainly seems to be the most cited explanation when you query that of a musician who seems to be doing it excessively! Showing emotion is also a common reason given, that it somehow brings out more authenticity and heartfelt contrast in the piece.
However:
What is up with that? Is ...
3
How did the piano as an instrument evolve construction wise? Firstly, higher degree of accuracy in tools allowed for high quality instruments. You could put higher tensions without destroying the frame, etc etc. They also expanded the size of the keyboard and there were a ton of things done with tuning (an excellent intro to such things being "How Equal ...
3
Are you familiar with the concepts of "early music" and "historically-informed performance"?
General background rather than a specific answer: I'm not a keyboardist or instrumentalist, but I work as a volunteer business person with a Baroque orchestra composed of career specialists in early music and historically-informed performance. All I can say is that ...
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All I can say is that the more recent the music is, the less scholarly work has been done to study it. This goes along with the timeless principle that "theory follows practice."
But music theory is music theory, and yes, you can study any piece of Western pop music and analyze it according to the established principles of Western functional harmony and ...
3
The purpose of adding so much information is to insure the reader knows which work is in question.
To make up a case, say we start with a Chopin Waltz. We could name the key - Eb, for example - but there could be more than one Waltz in Eb. To narrow it down, we might provide an opus number (when it was composed) or a date in the case of some more recent ...
2
The basis for note duration is strictly in the context of the piece regardless of any other influences. The time a note is played is relative to the notes preceding it and following it, and if the note is a part of chord etc. The context will determine the physiological influences. There are no rules regarding how long or short a note is to be played other ...
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The evolution of the concerto form (for all instruments) follows the evolution of the musical forms in general. For example, the Classical period favored structure, intellectualism, rationalism, and economy of means; the Romantic period, which closely followed the Classical period, is the direct antithesis and reaction to the relative constraints of the ...
2
The first thing to consider is, whatever the goals you set, you will get there faster if you play with an ensemble and with an audience.
Playing with other people (preferably better than you, which, given your lack of experience so far, should be easy) gives you a measure against which you can measure yourself, and a set of people who can (hopefully in ...
1
These recommendations assume that it took you between 2 and 6 months to learn each of the pieces you've mentioned. You're definitely already in the intermediate stage and should be congratulated on your progress!
Baroque:
Try a selection from one of the suites by Handel. Maybe the Allemande, Allegro or Aria from the Suite in G major HWV 441, or the ...
1
I think the biggest evolution of the piano concerto came through Beethoven's attempts to make the structure of the piano concerto more "tightly bound," particularly through the linking of the last two movements in the "Emperor" Concerto. He was also responsible for the evolution of piano as prima inter pares (first among equals) with the orchestra to the ...
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It is inadvisable to lump together pieces of music with other pieces merely because they are on an exam syllabus together. Music isn't grades. Some music is used to test one's progress in learning fingerings in small exams called grades. The piano solo part to Beethoven's piano concerto no 5 is not defined by its grade standard and cannot be played by ...
1
A simple answer is: because it works; it helps to reduce the number of matching pieces and there is a good chance, that it is unique then. For example Schubert: if you select "c major", just two symphonies remain, therefore a "little" or "great" is usually added. One easily recognises, that this naming is only possible at later times. The names came seldom ...
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