One of the critical areas for a young conductor--and this applies
to both the undergraduate planning for a career in music education and
the graduate conducting student with a fair amount of experience
already—is to develop and then improve rehearsal skills.
I’ve written before about rehearsal, here and here,
and even more on my own blog (which can be searched by topic), but
today I’ll look at the use of a keyboard instrument in rehearsal.
There’s the issue of whether you have a rehearsal accompanist (and
how skilled that accompanist is) or, if you don’t, the level of your own
keyboard skills. But the question today, no matter whether you have or
are your own accompanist, is how do you use the keyboard most
effectively in rehearsal? Having excellent keyboard skills (or having an
expert accompanist) can be a temptation as well as an aid—a temptation
to play too much or too often.
In the beginning conducting book
by Eric Ericson and two of his colleagues, Eric writes a chapter on
rehearsing and compares the use of the piano in the rehearsal of a
cappella music with helping a baby to learn to walk: first you give lots
of support; then as the baby becomes more confident you use less and
less support; and finally take away your hands and let the baby walk on
its own.
I often see young conductors continue to play or let the
accompanist play when it's no longer necessary. The basic rule should be
to take away the keyboard as quickly as possible. When
teaching or observing young conductors I often have to remind them: take
the piano away! There are several reasons for this. One is exactly as
in Ericson's example: use only the minimal amount of support so the
choir becomes independent. But there is an equally important
reason--when the piano is playing you simply can't hear as much of what
the choir is doing. You as the conductor need to know . . . does the
choir really know it? Can they find the pitches for the next
section on their own? Is that chord really in tune? The sound of the
piano can blur what's happening and your ability to hear it.
If the choir doesn't need the piano to sing the correct notes, but
I'm worried about them staying in tune--so the choir doesn't begin to
hear, feel (muscle memory), and learn the piece either flat or
sharp--I want the piano to do the bare minimum to help the choir stay at
the correct pitch, meaning using a bass line alone or perhaps a series
of pedal notes that establish the correct pitch. Additionally, if I'm
striving for "just" intonation and purer thirds (see my earlier
intonation series for more information) I want to avoid playing the
piano's tempered thirds, so will play roots or fifths.
I mentioned a cappella singing above, but even with accompanied
music (whether with piano, organ or orchestra), it's valuable to take
the piano away and let the choir sing alone. Not only can you hear them
better, but if they're secure without the accompaniment it'll
be ever so much easier when singing with the piano or orchestra. You can
play the interludes, but drop out whenever the choir comes in.
Another thing for me if I use an accompanist--I don't want the
piano between me and the choir. I will set up with the choir in an arc
with me in the center of the arc (relatively). The the piano (a
grand--this can't work easily with an upright) is to my right and
slightly behind me. It's to my right (not left) so that the accompanist
can easily see my right hand. It's behind me and further to the right
because I don't want the bulk of the piano and its sound coming directly
in front of me and more directly than the sound of the choir.
It also allows me to move closer to the choir freely as well--either to
hear/encourage a particular section or to temporarily get further away
from the sound of the piano. But it's most important so the sound of the
piano doesn't dominate over the sound of the choir.
And here are more observations from Eric Ericson's practice from an earlier post that's part of the intonation series:
First, Eric was a superb pianist with a marvelous, light and "vocal" touch. He almost always played with the una corda ("soft") pedal down and created a transparent, non-percussive sound. Too often I hear either conductors or accompanists pound notes in a way which invites harsh attacks and sound. Never from Eric or his accompanists.
He almost never simply played along with the choir, doubling what they did. Here's what was typical:
- sometimes without the choir singing, he'd simply play (normally from memory) the music (Bach's Der Geisthilft, for example, demonstrating all important parts), saying, "I think it might go like this," giving a very complete idea of rhythm, phrasing, and shape -- the piano can demonstrate beautifully--with the right player!
- as mentioned above, he would often play a pedal (usually in the treble, above the soprano, but also bass lines) to help keep pitch (but without implying tempered intonation)--often "rocking" an octave back and forth to keep the sound going
- in very slow-moving music, he might improvise a melody above the choir in shorter notes, so the choir could hear and feel the pulse
- if the music was harmonically complicated, he would play (as in the first example) something for the choir, but almost never exactly what the choir sang--but a reduction of the harmonic content and shifts so the choir could hear it more easily
- he would also help the choir hear the harmony when it was complicated by playing while they were singing below and above the choir (I remember that in Debussy, for example), but never in the choir's pitch area
- and, of course, much of the time the choir sang a cappella -- he played only when it was necessary to help stay in tune, or to help with one of the musical issues listed above
The piano is a notably "unvocal" instrument and my comments above
about Eric's beautiful and non-percussive approach to the instrument is
incredibly imporant. So often I've heard a conductor or accompanist give
pitches to the choir with a hard, loud, and percussive sound . . . and
then the conductor wonders why the choir doesn't sing beautifully! How
you or your accompanist plays is incredibly important in creating a
beautiful sound or a poor one.
The keyboard in rehearsal is an incredibly helpful tool, but like
all tools, has its place. Make sure you find ways to use it (and even
more importantly, remember when not to use it!) that help the
choir, but neither work against the sound you want nor become a crutch
for the choir that isn't necessary.
Please add your thoughts and suggestions in the comments!
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