Alla breve meter, also commonly known as cut time meter and notated as a C with a line through it means that the counting of the beats in a measure has to be doubled. In other words, instead of 4 beats per measure as in C meter, now we have 2 beats - 2 half notes per measure.
But often in music composed in the Renaissance and early Baroque period (as in the above picture) alla breve has 4 half notes per measure. This makes the counting and playing of such music quite problematic for a simple reason - a modern player uses the counting in quarter notes more often than in half notes. Today's sight-reading piece - Ricercare No. 1 (p. 1) by Costanzo Antegnati (1549-1624) is exactly such composition. Antegnati was an Italian organist, composer and organ builder from the famous family of organ builders who wrote L'Arte organica which is a treatise about Italian organ registration and organ building tradition of the time. In order to facilitate counting, I recommend you do it by first glancing over the score and mentally noting where beat 1, beat 2, beat 3 and beat 4 is. Observe how sometimes one voice migrates from the right hand to the left hand part and vice versa (as in m. 7). Use articulate legato touch because this is early music.
Comments
Yesterday I received this message from John:
Thanks for this article, my favorite dialogue piece is the Grand Choeur Dialogue by Eugene Gigout! It is a wonderful piece, with a contrasting musical conversation between the solo tuba (or trumpet) and the full great organ. I heard Thomas Heywood play this piece live at St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide South Australia in 2013, and it was a stunning performance! He plays it so energetically and skilfully! Many of the organists on YouTube tend to play it quite slowly and it almost sounds like humongous monster dragging itself along, whereas Thomas played it more like two playful lambs frolicking around in the green grass. The sound of the tuba (I think its on 12 inches pressure) was just an incredible experience, it was a sound you could feel, and the reverberation of the cathedral just added to the drama. It was also very impressive to see Thomas playing the double octave pedal line (as you wrote about yesterday), as Thomas has cameras set up so you can see live footage of his feet and hands on a projector screen down the front of the church. It is almost impossible for me to imagine how someone can play this so fast, so precise, so fluently! He truly is a master. Here are my thoughts on this subject: I can feel that many of my subscribers would have similar thoughts when it comes to watching and listening to master organists play. Their skills almost seem supernatural to people who haven't progressed that far yet. Whenever I watch Sietze de Vries improvise, I feel the same thing. However, it's crucial that we watch these videos and listen to recitals in order not to be intimidated by them but to be inspired (I've gotten better at this over the years too). Sure, everyone understands that it takes years to become this level organist and many people choose to believe they don't have that kind of patience to study for so long before they can see the results they want. And yet, organ practice is a journey and every day of this journey brings something exciting, something new, something we can be proud of. To any of my subscriber's who feel intimidated by the performances of master organists: do your skills have increased within the past 6 months? And if the answer is yes, then you know you are on the right track. And what's even more fascinating to me is the understanding that what you will do in the NEXT 6 months from now will dramatically impact your playing level as well. I congratulate John! He's is an amazing action taker. I have no doubt that his upcoming 6 months will show incredible results. Ann wrote to me yesterday: I was delighted to open the sight reading music yesterday and find Bach’s Trio Sonata I. It is fun to read through and will be my next to work with in depth. I am presently working with my coach on the BWV 529 and should finish it in 2-3 weeks. Have you thought of developing a course for the Trio Sonatas? Also, have you thought of courses on the concertos? I am having fun, challenges, and delightful times with your courses. Thank you! While Ann is delighted to find a familiar and interesting piece from my sight-reading menu, I'm even more delighted to know that people ARE taking action and practicing what I share. No matter what your current skill level is, no matter if you can only play one voice at a time - this is great! You can use this material to progress at YOUR pace. For people like Ann who are interested in Trio Sonatas: my Left Hand Training and Two-Part Training from Total Organist program are exclusively based on these gems. Trio Training might come in the future as well. It's amazing to see what kind of difference you can make when you practice a single melodic line at a time. Your fingers will get stronger and stronger, your pedal technique - more precise. And the speed - the speed is a very relative thing - fast tempo is achieved by slow practice. Today's sight-reading piece is the 1st movement (p. 2) of Organ Sonata No.7, Op.25 by Hans Fährmann (1860–1940) - a German composer of Romantic music and organist. Let's be inspired and not intimidated by advanced music. Imagine yourself being a virtuoso! Curiosity and wise practice will do the rest. What do you think? ... then you need to practice Octatonic Mode (among 6 others). That's a mode which has 8 pitches with alternating half steps and whole steps. It can only have 3 dispositions - from C, from C#/Db, and D. After that, it repeats itself. Here's a good exercise for starters.
Can you imagine that a musical composition is like a conversation between several characters - two, three, four or even more? In this case each part would represent a different person and each of them would interact with another in a certain way.
They would imitate one another, they would argue, they would present contrasting ideas etc. In musical terms, we would think about creating dialogues and duets. In a dialogue, two or more parts would play in alternation - one part would play rhythmically more active material, while another holds a longer note or plays something in a slower note values. Then they switch roles. In a duet, two parts would play together, mostly in similar rhythms using sweet sounding intervals of the thirds and the sixths. In a dialogue, suspensions when two parts form a dissonant interval of the second, fourth, seventh or ninth followed by the step-wise resolution to the consonant third, sixth, or octave are also very popular. Today's sight-reading piece is Trio Sonata No. 1 in Eb Major, BWV 525 Part I (p. 2-5) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). In this case, there are 3 characters at play here - two in the the treble clef and one in the bass clef. When you sight-read this piece today, don't feel pressured to play all parts together right away. If you don't feel comfortable with the trio texture, play separate parts. You will notice that each part is so musical and complete that they sound like separate musical compositions. Remember to keep your fingers and feet in contact with the pedalboard whenever possible, play with articulate legato touch, and don't use heels in the bass part. Do organists have to practice playing scales in double octaves? Isn't this the training that pianists do? Isn't the texture with parallel octaves generally suitable more for the piano than the organ?
The thing is that although training in parallel double octaves certainly comes from the piano background, we have to remember the origins of the modern legato school of playing the organ. That would be piano. Often organists who didn't have systematic training on the piano before they take up organ studies, when they see pieces like Prelude and Fugue on BACH by Franz Liszt or chorale fantasias by Max Reger (among many other works composed after 1850s), they recoil in fear - these octaves seem pretty scary. Today's sight-reading piece is an excellent example of this technique. This is the March, Op. 7, No. 1 (p. 1) by Augustin Barié (1883-1915), a blind French composer and organist. Barié was a student of Vierne and Guilmant who sadly died at the young age of 31 of a brain hemorrhage. Even if you are not a virtuoso on the organ or piano, I encourage you not to fear this piece (or any other piece for that matter). So often we shun ourselves from great works because we think we are not ready to play them. Yes, we may not be ready to perform them yet. But there's a huge benefit in sight-reading difficult music, too. Of course, you have to be conscious that the result will be extremely slow tempo and thinner texture, perhaps separate parts. Remember that we don't change the exercise, we change the scaling. One more thing: have you noticed that the best modern organ method books feature special exercises taken from the real organ compositions? Incidentally, pedal part will serve for this purpose, too because of double octaves and passages in the high range of the pedalboard. Have you tried placing the hymn tune with the pedal reed stops while playing soprano, alto and the bass on the manual? It's sounds and feels pretty spectacular. If you're not used to this disposition, it's not very easy to perform a hymn setting in this manner right away but it's certainly worth your attention.
Here's how Pierre Attaingnant (ca. 1494-1551/52) did it in his Kyrie (p. 1) from the Mass "Kyrie Fons" (1531). Of course, this setting is more like hymn verset for three parts rather than a hymn harmonization but the principle is still the same. Here are the steps to follow: 1. Take a hymn harmonization of your choice from any hymnal and practice the soprano part (the hymn tune) one octave lower with the pedals. This will be your new tenor part. 2. Play the alto as written in the right hand part. 3. Play the tenor part one octave higher with the right hand making it your new soprano part (completely different melody will sound in the top voice). 4. Play the bass line of the hymn harmonization with the left hand. 5. Play your new soprano and alto combined. 6. Play the new soprano and the new tenor combined. 7. Play the new soprano and the bass parts together. 8. Play the alto and the new tenor parts together. 9. Play the alto and the bass parts together. 10. Play the new tenor and the bass parts together. 11. Play the new soprano, alto, and the new tenor combined. 12. Play the new soprano, alto, and the bass parts together. 13. Play the new soprano, the new tenor, and the bass parts together. 14. Play the alto, the new tenor, and the bass parts combined. 15. Play the final arrangement of all four parts together. The good news is that by practicing so systematically you won't feel any pain. Every step will be just a little more difficult than the previous one and you will be amazed at how colorful the step 15 sounds once you're ready. Play the hymn tune with the Trompette 8' (and 4') and the rest of the parts on the 16' based Principal Chorus with mixtures. If you don't have these stops on your organ, don't worry - take some other 8' stop in the pedals which would sound louder than the manual part. Are you up to it? If so, go practice and share your experience in the comments. How did composers create smooth modulations in a piece? By smooth I mean that when you play it, it sounds very natural, without any sudden and unexpected key changes to remote keys?
The best way to do it is by choosing keys which have the same number of accidentals (parallel major and parallel minor keys) or they have plus or minus one accidental. For example, if you are in the key of D minor, going back and forth from D minor to F major is very natural. Also modulating from D minor or F major to G minor works fine, too. Today I would like to share with you my chordal analysis of the Prelude in D minor by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), late Romantic Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses and motets who also worked as an organist in his late twenties. As you sight-read this piece today, pay attention to how the modulations are constructed. In my analysis, you will see chords in Roman numerals (without the notation of suspensions). Before the modulation happens, there is a common chord, for example, I=III which means that in the old key this chord is build on the 1st scale degree (tonic), and in the new key, it's the chord of the 3rd scale degree (mediant). Notice how after the common chord the modulating chord has to be dissonant - a seventh chord of some sort or its inversion - most commonly ii7 (or inversion) or V7 (or inversion). If you want, you can use this chordal analysis to transpose this Prelude into C minor or E minor. Even better, you can create your own prelude based on these chord progressions. In this piece, Bruckner only uses D minor, F major, and G minor keys but you can easily expand it by experimenting with C major, A minor, and Bb major for even more colors. Peter Jones: The first and most important thing to arrange before even starting your organ practice is ... a practice organ! And if you can have one at home, how much better it will be for your progress. Home practice organs are not cheap, but you only buy them once, unlike a new car (which costs about the same) and they don't deteriorate over your lifetime. If you are serious about learning to play the organ, you must buy a home practice-organ as soon as possible, and it must be one with PIPES and not some awful simulator. This small organ was built for a client about 20 years ago. The cost has been forgotten long ago, but the benefit to his playing is on-going. (And it's so much warmer in the winter, when you can just step into the next room to continue your playing!) Would you expect a violinist or a pianist to make much progress, if their instrument was kept in another building miles away? Face up to the fact that you need a practice-organ more than the next new car, more than the next holiday, more than the expensive wedding, and DO something about it. When I wrote recently about sight-reading Intonation Primi Toni by Andrea Gabrieli, I've received a request to create an example of a few lines of music with Italian Paired Fingering on the score for beginners. In order to help such organists, I thought I would share with you today my version of this Intonation with fingering. I hope your fingers and your patience last until the end of the page...
That would be sweet sounding thirds (and their inversions - sixths). They form the foundation of any musical composition created between ca. 1400-1900. Thirds can be the resolution after dissonant suspensions (4-3), they can be used in parallel motion upward and downward, in canon, or even in contrary motion between the parts of two hands.
Today we'll try to sight-read Prelude (p. 4-5) from the Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op. 1, No. 1 (ca. 1905) by Moritz Brosig (1815-1887), little known late Romantic German composer and organist. This Prelude consists of strings of major and minor thirds in parallel and contrary motion. Here's how the Prelude is constructed in terms of this interval: (1-1-2 to 1-1-3) Parallel thirds in the right hand part (1-2-1 to 1-2-2) Parallel thirds in the right hand part (1-2-3) Parallel tenths (a third plus an octave) between the left hand and the pedals (1-3-1 to 1-3-2) Thirds in contrary motion between two hands (1-4-3) Parallel thirds in the right hand part (2-1-2) Left hand and pedals form canon in parallel tenths (2-1-3) Parallel tenths between the hands (2-2-1) Parallel tenths between the hands and the pedals (2-2-3) Thirds and tenths in contrary motion between the hands and pedals (2-3-1) Thirds and tenths in contrary motion between the hands and pedals (2-3-2 to 2-3-3) Parallel sixths in the right hand part (2-4-1) Thirds and tenths in contrary motion between the hands and pedals (2-4-2 to 2-4-3) Parallel tenths between the hands Try to play this Prelude legato paying attention to the phrasing. For your convenience some fingering and pedaling are written in by the editor. Keep the fingers and the feet in contact with the keyboards and pedalboard whenever possible. The purpose of the beginning of any tonal organ composition is to establish the mode. This is understandable, because composers didn't want their performers and listeners to wonder whether the key or mode of this piece was major or minor, in C, in D, in E, in F or some other.
One way to do this is by creating an opening sentence with a clear cadence in the original key using all three main chordal functions - tonic, dominant, and subdominant, their inversions, and related chords. For example, T-II42-D65-T or T-S64-T-D56-T or T-T6-S-S6-D-D42-T6 etc. Another way to establish the mode is to play a long tonic chord and emphasize chordal notes in the passages with runs in sixteenth notes. For example, in the mode of D minor, the notes of the tonic chord are D-F-A. Therefore, while one hand holds the tonic chord, the other plays the passages and the most frequently heard notes (at least on stronger beats) are D, F, and A. Today's sight-reading piece is Versus I Primi Toni (p. 1) by Abraham van den Kerckhoven (ca.1618-1701) who was a Flemish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His numerous short versets and several lengthy pieces in contrapuntal manner have survived to this day. In this verset, the long-held tonic chord lasts 7.5 measures. Later, while looking at the bass line, we can distinguish the following chords: D6-T-S-VII-III-D-S-T64-VI-S6-T64-D-T6-VII6-T. Interestingly, at the very end there is a 4-3 suspension (counting the interval between the tenor and bass) but if you count the interval between the tenor and soprano, you get 7th-8th. Normally, 7th resolves to 6th. Therefore, it is very rare to see a final tonic chord with double third - usually we double the root of the chord in such case. I hope you will notice these harmonic details while you play this verset. PS Total Organist End of Summer Sale ends tonight. If you haven't done so, start the new season and transform your organist skills by joining other members in the most comprehensive organ training program online. |
DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.Thank you!You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|