NEPTA Minutes - October 24, 2011

Gail Berenson - From Bach to Bartok and Beyond: Collaboration of Physical Gestures and Sound Concepts in the Teaching of Style

Trying to encapsulate Gail Berenson's generous presentation in a brief report is like trying to collect a lake in a teacup. She spoke fast (but always clearly), and covered a tremendous amount of material using a giant slide screen and her own splendid demonstrations at the piano. There is no way I can convey all, or even the better part, of what happened on Monday morning. WHO KNEW about this extraordinary woman?!

Following is her extensive hand-out, then some elaborations from notes I took.

Aim for a healthy technique, comfortable and relaxed. Keep hand small.   Drop hand at side (it arches naturally), then place on keyboard. Never twist: line up hand and arm and body. In arpeggios throw hand to next octave - do not twist to get thumb under. The transfer of weight from finger to finger is the same as the transfer of weight from foot to foot when walking. (If hand is small, revoice, break chords, eliminate notes). As soon as you hear a sound from a key, your work is done because no change can be made, so release effort instantaneously. Roll hand from side to side, keeping fingers touching keys. Practice on wood.

There must be no static line. Sense of movement toward or away- from must be continuous. Decide: Are transitions sudden or prepared?

Under basic use of pedal add: flutter

Baroque: Watch editions, especially from Baroque through Haydn. Two guides GB mentioned as bibles: Jane Magrath and Maurice Hinson. Also good collections: Celebrate Series from Harris Publishing Company, Masterpieces by Jane Magrath, Classics Alive!, Spirit Series by Nancy Bachus, Encore by Magrath.

When teaching elementary repertoire, use musical clues: programmatic title, dynamics given, major or minor, articulations.

Good book on ornamentation:   Watts/Bigler published by Alfred.

Look at a fugue away from piano. Make a working copy, mark all subjects (beginning and end), all episodes (try playing them at a lower dynamic) and all cadences with their keys.

To detach long note values, use forearm, with elbows as fulcrum. For articulated legato (short notes) use high arch and choose whether to play on finger tip or finger pad for sound differentiation. Play the main melodic thread from beginning to end. Practice in phrases, cadence to cadence. Skips are detached; step-wise notes are attached. Detached notes are longer when tempo is slower. Keep fingers on surface of the key. Use weight transfer rather than high fingers.

GB uses pedal to warm the sound (Bb minor Prelude Bk I) and to connect when you can't reach.

Tempo Tables show vast differences of well-known performers and thus free you up as to tempo choice.

Classical: The pedal is a big deal in classical; in general, don't accumulate sound. Use finger pedaling. Remember: fewer pulses make a longer line. For early repertoire: Hinson's Dances of Beethoven (before sonatinas). Attention to anacrusis, metacrusis and crusis. The anacrusis is very important and often needs to be shown as much as the crusis. For the two-note slur, listen to the decay level of the first note and play the second at that level. The student doesn't have to know the name of the augmented 6th chord, but he or she should know that it's really special. It can't be played like any old V chord.

Romantic: Under teaching objectives add: Play melodies in octaves. Rubato "should be classy not cheap". Wider dynamic range must never be harsh.   Remember the evolution of the piano! Read Nancy Bachus. Emotion must be projected. Use Mendelssohn Op.19 #4 for voicing: play all, but don't let the non-melodic have much sound (except show bass line); Chopin E minor Prelude - weight in RH, use finger pads. Never eliminate arch, whether playing with curved hand or flat.

Impressionistic: The pedal is the most crucial element. Debussy Reverie is good for teaching the pedal in this period. Pedal before you play: that releases all the dampers and gives resonance to the first note or notes. In Dr. Gradus use higher arch, roll the hand in circles. Think across bar lines and across beams. The wrist leads the way (her first and only use of the word "wrist"). In Sunken Cathedral you can catch a low note with the pedal and then change the pedal really quickly without losing that low note. The sostenuto pedal was not used by Debussy.

Contemporary: Add to teaching objectives: Experiment with direct pedaling to accentuate rhythm. Accents from loud to soft are sff, sf, ^, > in that order.

By this time, GB was past 12 noon, going as fast as she could. She recommended Benjamin Suchoff's Guide to Bartok's Mikrokosmos; also, the second Bulgarian Dance of Bartok, the Peacherine Rag for direct pedal (i.e., not syncopated pedal) and Ginastera's Tribute to Roberto Garcia Morillo.

Very good little exercise: 5 up and down in major, then minor, chromatic, whole tone, through all keys.

Get a copy of Gail Berenson's handout. 

Submitted by Jean Alderman