Klarinet Archive - Posting 000177.txt from 1997/06
From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Improvisation (3): ATTN: Dan Leeson
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 01:13:39 -0400
> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.17
> Subj: Re: Improvisation (3): ATTN: Dan Leeson
> Well, actually the first article I read on the subject was your article
> on OCR. This rather surprised me: people improvise on Mozart? So I
> looked into the subject a little further by reading about Mozart
> himself, and about his time period. As it turned out, improvisation was
> very common in the period, and it's exclusion is a lot more
> unbelieveable than its inclusion. Then, I went to the local symphony
> concert and heard the concert played. The soloist, who happens to be a
> dear friend and a masterful player, hit every note on the page, but
> there was no spontaneity, no improvisation. Since I have begun to look
> at the concerto, in a rather informal matter, I thought that to make it
> truly "Mozart" I should improvise, and that through playing the piece I
> could perhaps learn some improvisational skills that would be applicable
> in other areas of my playing.
>
> To be honest, I have not really sat down and discussed this with my
> teacher because I have been focusing on other things, such as Copland,
> Poulenc, and Bass Clarinet, and Mozart has taken the back burner.
> However, after doing some research on the subject it interested me, and
> I wondered what others thought of it, if they have applied it, and some
> suggestions and how to apply it and how to get started...
>
> I suppose I will put the ball back in your court for now, is there
> anything else I might consider or tell you?
>
> Craig
Now you have answered all the basic questions. The first thing to
do is to get a copy of the score of the Mozart piano concerto, K. 453.
If you are going to ornament, it is valuable to see exactly how
Mozart ornamented. And your objective here is to memorize a lot
of the various ornaments that he used. The first thing to think
about is what he did in terms of pickups.
Examine measure 1 of movement 1. A theme is heard.
Now examine m. 75 of movement 1. The same theme is heard, this
time played by the soloist. But there is an important difference.
Mozart begins the theme with 11 pickup notes that start in m. 74.
Now consider the concerto, K. 622. Almost exactly the same thing
happens.
Measure 1, movement 1, the main theme is heard.
Later, the clarinet enters with exactly the same theme.
Give me your opinion of using the pickup notes to the clarinet's
first entrance in exactly the same way that Mozart did for the
concerto, K. 453. Do you think that these pickup notes that
work so nicely for the piano also work for the clarinet concerto?
Now you have your basic method of operation. You are going to
listen to every single piano concerto that Mozart wrote,
examining them only for how he handles pickups.
And when you get done with that, you start again to see how
he ornamented intervals of a second, a third, a fourth, etc.
Then you examine the clarinet concerto looking for intervals
of a second, a third, a fourth, and you try and figure out if
any of the ornaments that Mozart used are applicable to K. 622
in the analagous passages. In effect, you are learning how
to travel from note a to note b using devices that Mozart thought
were good enough to travel from note a to note b.
There are two reasons for doing this:
1) you cannot do an unMozartean ornament if you
borrowed it only from Mozart's compositions.
2) you will build up a repertoire of various
ornaments and how they are used under all
circumstances.
After one or two years of doing this, you will finally get the
hang of it and you won't need the repertoire that Mozart
supplys to you because it will have become ingrained in you
as a consequence of doing what I suggest here.
Two rules:
1) less is more; you are not there to get in the way
of Mozart's music at every possible occasion; be
conservative.
2) the invitation to ornament is greater is slow movements
than in fast movements.
Remember: two years of nothing but stealing ornaments from Mozart
before you branch out on your own.
But when you take a master class from someone, you better ask that
person if s/he would object to you ornamenting before you do it.
If that person objects, back off. There will be a great deal of
hostility to your action. Ignore it.
And be a very serious critic of yourself. You can ruin a performance
of a Mozart work with wrong or overdone ornaments.
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================
