Re: Preparing new works


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Posted by Sean Chisham on June 23, 2003 at 12:19:56:

In Reply to: Preparing new works posted by Tony Z. on June 23, 2003 at 11:58:15:

For the first several months that I was working on the John Williams Tuba Concerto I made a point not to listen to any recordings. I always felt that my ideas with the Vaughan Williams had been tainted by the Fletcher recording. Not that the Fletcher recording is bad. I just feel that it had too much of an influence on how I hear it.

With the John Williams I turned on the metronome well below tempo and started to practice it a page at a time. Spent maybe a week or two on each page getting past the technical and interval difficulties first. Once the first page was under my fingers I went to the next page. This continued for several weeks until I could play through most of it at tempo with few technical flaws. With the ability to push through the music without the distractions of technical misses I was able to search out the music. For me, I like to pic out a few bars here and a few bars there to explore instead of starting at the top of each phrase. Reason for this is because it gives me fresh ways of hearing what is going on. Perhaps the end of the phrase has more important ideas. This is also a good time to really start to focus on the contrast in the tune. Finding those contrasts is what makes it interesting.

Throughout the whole endeavor though I like to constantly use a metronome to help keep things honest. Only with a metronome will I ensure that I am not overpreparing some sections while neglecting others.

After the initial technical hurdles were overcome and shortly into the music exploration I will begin refering to the score/piano part more frequently. Seeing how my part is complimented by the other instrument allows for even more ideas. When there are sections with trading off I know that, in general, I may have less room for rubato while when I am being accompanied instead I have more freedom. Refering to the score also lets me see when I am instead the accompanying voice. Afterall, even in solos the soloist is not always the soloist.

When I know that I am finally ready is when I can run the meteronome at performance tempo and be able to play the musical ideas I developed without any struggling with the technique involved for the music.

For me it takes about 2-4 weeks to be capable of performing a piece in public. Takes about 3-5 months to work up a challenging solo to a level which I am proud of. Takes about 1 year or so before I really feel like I own the piece.

sean



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