The art of auditioning
(2020)
author(s): Janet Krause
published in: KC Research Portal
ABSTRACT
Main subject: Violin
Research Supervisors: Kathryn Cok
Martine van der Loo
Title of Research: The Art of Auditioning
Research Question: What aspects should be considered in preparation for a successful violin audition?
Summary of Results:
An orchestral audition, and specifically to this paper, a violin audition, is possibly the least musically satisfying experience of one’s life. However, it is a necessary part of the path leading to a fulfilling life as an orchestral musician. The preparation for an audition certainly has specific aspects which need to be considered. This paper discusses these aspects, based in large part on my experiences as a Principal in The Hague Philharmonic and as a committee member at auditions for many years. As a violin and chamber music teacher as well as the teacher of the orchestral classes at the conservatoires in The Hague and Amsterdam, I have collected a wealth of experience training students to be successful at auditions. Besides the aspects of how to apply for an orchestral audition, which repertoire needs to be prepared, (including many orchestral excerpts which I have bowed and provided with fingerings myself), how to prepare effectively and what to expect on the actual audition day, there is a large section devoted to the research I have performed concerning mental and physical preparation. Developing mental skills to withstand the stress associated with auditions is an important part of audition preparation. Finally, I have researched, by means of a series of questions online and live and Skype interviews, how experts and candidates experience auditions. This has put me in contact with leaders of orchestras from around the world. How the two groups have responded to similar questions has put me in the position to draw some conclusions as to what committees expect at auditions and how this differs from the candidates’ viewpoints. In analyzing this research, and recognizing similarities in what I written from my own research and personal experience, I am able to draw some conclusions and make recommendations about how candidates could prepare better and be more successful at auditions.
Biography:
Janet Krause is Principal Second Violinist in The Hague Philharmonic and also a violin, chamber music and orchestral studies teacher at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. She is also teaching orchestral studies at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam. Born in Canada, she completed her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Toronto, having studied with Lorand Fenyves. Moving to the Netherlands, she completed her solo-diploma at the Conservatory in Amsterdam, studying with Davina van Wely. She was a member of the Salzburger Solisten for many years and. primarius of the Dufy Quartet. Presently she is also Principal of the Solistes Européens in Luxembourg.
Creating open form scores for improvising musicians
(2019)
author(s): Cynthie van Eijden
published in: KC Research Portal
Abstract
This research aims to explore and develop an updated approach to "open form" in music. "Open form" is traditionally referred to as "aleatoric music": a score is provided but the composer has left some choices open. The term "aleatoric" music implies that chance determines how to fill the open spaces. The renewed approach in this research however aims to provide a score in which a performer as an improviser or co-composer is invited to shape the music according to his own opinion. The score provides a plan and context for improvised content and, in doing so, invites the performer to co-create the piece.
The research developed in three phases. In the first phase, improvisation was used as a learning tool in music theory classes. Different approaches to improvisation were studied and practiced. In the second phase, one group of musicians evolved from an improvisation course and went on a tour of five concerts. For them an open form score was created in order to provide context to the improvisations of the musicians. This composition is called View from a high mountain, a composition in six parts that allows improvisation at several moments. In the third phase, findings from the outcome and performance of View from a high mountain caused a renewal of the approach in the classroom. Through this renewal the boundary between education and musical production became a thinner line that allowed several cross-overs. Instead of a handbook containing a method or exercises or a new open form score The Improvisation Tree was created. The Improvisation Tree is a model that can be used as a help for creating, analyzing, categorizing and comparing open form scores.
Historically Inspired Improvisation - Improvising on basis of 19th-century music making
(2019)
author(s): Bert Mooiman
published in: KC Research Portal
The average modern classical musician, the performer of music from the common practice era, tends to perform from scores only, and to treat a score like a text that should be converted into sound as precisely as possible. This is usually a one way process: without a score there will be no music. As a result of this attitude the musical languages of the common practice period have become dead languages, more or less like Latin and Ancient Greek, which are (with very few exceptions) no longer spoken actively but only translated into modern languages. More and more musicians become aware of the artistic limitations of this approach. In order to become, like musicians from the past, creative performers who are able to enter into a living relationship with the music, learning how to improvise seems to be a valuable means.
The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (The Netherlands) invests in ‘classical’ improvisation. An environment has been created which fosters the idea that improvisation is important for classical musicians, and a lot of experience has been gathered in teaching improvisation to those students.
But what precisely do we mean with the word improvisation? And how exactly do we argue that improvisation is important for the new generations of conservatoire students? Improvisation by classical musicians is often referred to as ‘classical improvisation’ or ‘improvisation in a classical style’. These terms are not without problems, though. I would like to propose the notion of ‘historically inspired improvisation’ instead, indicating improvisation which uses thorough knowledge about music making in the past as a source of inspiration. ‘H.I.I.’ doesn’t necessarily aim for style imitations; rather, it works the other way around: integrating what we can use from historical music practices into our own creative music making. In this way, improvisation has the potential to fertilize all our ‘musicking’ (Chr. Small) – even when we play from scores.
In my essay, a recorded student improvisation will be taken as a starting point. I will analyse and comment upon this recording, developing the idea of musical ‘loci communes’ which enables us to connect improvisation with the interpretation of a score. It is interesting to compare such insights with original treatises on improvisation, especially Carl Czerny’s Anleitung zum Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte (1829). Czerny turns out to presume skills that are no longer self-evident to musicians of today, while on the other hand issues which are nowadays important are not addressed in his text at all. Drawing upon the theory of loci communes, I will work out an example of how I think Czerny’s book can still be a valuable source of inspiration today.
In search of new dimensions: pieces for electronically processed double bass.
(2019)
author(s): Julián Sarmiento Escobar
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
Name: Julián Sarmiento
Main Subject: Classical Double Bass
Research Supervisor: Karst de Jong
Title of Research: In search of new dimensions: Pieces for electronically enhanced Double Bass
Research Question: How can I develop an artistic product, which includes the electronically enhanced double bass and allows me to interact with topics relevant to today?
Summary of Results:
Since the start of this project, the goal was to discover and explore the paths of creative processes. On the road, I found a lot of overwhelming challenges that showed me how complicated it is to create a coherent, relevant and interesting artistic product. However, I learned that making decisions at the right moment opens the door to a huge amount of other possibilities.
A group of short pieces was created. They are based on field recordings of songs and chants of the Original Indigenous Peoples of Colombia, done by León Cobo. These pieces have been created together with Mári Máko and they are our views on specific sound aspects of these recordings, and also the result of a research in how to electronically enhance the Double Bass.
I believe that the exploration of this material can raise the awareness of the music and original practices that took place in Colombia before the Hispanic colonization.
Biography:
Julián Sarmiento was born in Bogotá, Colombia. He studied double bass in Bogota for several years and in 2010 he entered the Colombia National Symphony. In 2012 he moved to the Netherlands, where he is currently in his last year of his Master's degree at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, studying with Jean-Paul Everts. At the same time he became an academist in the Residentie Orkest in The Hague and also plays regularly with Het Ballet Orkest in Amsterdam.
One of Julián's most important activities is in the field of contemporary or modern music. In Colombia, he played in the Als Eco Ensemble, nationally one of the most important ensembles of modern music. In The Netherlands, he is regularly invited to play in the Insomnio Ensemble. Since 2015, is a member of the ensemble But What About.
Interpreting pedal indications in R.Schumann’s Kreisleriana, op.16
(2019)
author(s): Gabriele Zemaityte
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
This research paper will tackle the difficulty of interpreting pedalling notations in R. Schumann’s piano works of period 1829-1838, with main focus on Kreisleriana op.16. Was Schumann being consistent with the way he notated pedal? Should the pedal markings be executed literally or were they used in order to indicate other musical aspects? What were the different methods of applying the pedal in Schumann’s works? With main focus being Kreisleriana, op.16, references will also be taken from other works of the same decade, such as Papillon, op.2 and Davidsbuendlertaenze, op.6 as they provide great examples of Schumann’s tendencies in pedalling notation.
Berio violin duets - an introduction
(2019)
author(s): Joseph Puglia
published in: KC Research Portal
The 34 Duetti of Luciano Berio were inspired by the 44 Duos of Bartók. Just as Bartók intended to introduce young musicians to his style, so did Berio attempt the same. Berio's focus however, was on finding a more modern set of techniques and colors that the violin could create, and he used these pieces for children to illustrate his own ideas of theater and dramaturgy in music. Because his ideas of theater consist of putting two completely different ideas together to make a third reality, the 1st and 2nd violin parts in his duets often sound as if they are in totally different worlds – with different dynamics, tone colors, and sometimes even tempi. This results in a novel approach to chamber music in which each partner is equal, but also very independent of the other. A beginning student can therefore contribute just as much musical value to a piece (indeed, sometimes much more) than a seasoned professional. Since Berio doesn't specify the level or age that the student needs to be in order to play these pieces, this allows for a lot of freedom in the choice of performers. The same piece can sound totally different if performed by two professionals, two young students, or one young student and one professional.
Additionally, each duet is dedicated to a friend, musician, or person that Berio admired, and can be likened to a musical portrait. Berio said that the pieces were inspired by the “fragile thread of daily occasions” and therefore the pieces are not true portraits, but sometimes illustrations of an event which happened, a shared history between Berio and the dedicatee, or as in the case of Stravinsky, Bartók, or Boulez, an homage to a piece composed by that composer.
Finally, the Duetti serve not only to introduce young musicians to Berio's style, but the full performance of the 34 duets is also a great introduction of 20th century musical concepts to audiences. Since each duet is very short, there is much variety in a performance of the works, and since each duet focuses on one or two 20th century techniques while still staying in a very familiar tonal world, audiences can be challenged while still maintaining a handhold on familiar territory.
, Kathryn Cok