Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Developing Artistry through Movement in the

Choral Rehearsal

Paul Rardin
Temple University
Texas Choral Directors Association Convention
Tuesday, July 23, 2013, 2:30 p.m. Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
San Antonio, TX
INTRODUCTION
What is a conductor? Three definitions
Conductor as conduit between
Conductor premise:
The printed score is an approximation. There is always music
implied but not notated , and its my job to illuminate that music for
my ensemble.
Conductor goals:
a. Recognize that performance practice musical techniques that are implied
but not notated is an important source of off-the-page music, particularly
with respect to articulation and phrasing.
b. Learn basic principles of performance practice for the historical eras of
whatever music Im conducting.
c. Use singer movement in rehearsal to bring these principles to life in rehearsal
and performance. This movement acts as a living conduit to past practices as
found in scholarly treatises.

Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

PERFORMANCE PRACTICE TOPICS

What are some musical elements that were often implied but not written down in
music from the 15th through the 19th centuries?
List of chapters in Dennis Shrocks Performance Practices of the Classical Era
o Sound
o Tempo
o Articulation and Phrasing
o Metric Accentuation
o Rhythmic Alteration
o Ornamentation
o Expression
REHEARSAL MOVEMENT POSSIBILITIES
Violin bow
o Long bows (for legato)
o All downbows (for marcato)
o Pizzicato (for staccato)
o On-string, detached (for detached but not staccato)
Paint brush
o Long strokes (for legato; grow in size for crescendo, reduce for
diminuendo)
o Press and release (for textual emphasis: strong to weak syllables)
o Dab (for leggiero)
Circle
o Draw circles of changing size on each beat (for phrasing)
Hammer
o Pound imaginary nail (for accents, pesante, marcato)
Bowling balls.ping-pong balls
o Mimic juggling sports balls of various sizes and weights (for articulation)
Miscellaneous
o Fishing rod (for supported diminuendi)
o Lean forward and back (for phrase or text emphasis)
RESOURCES
Schrock, Dennis. Phrasing in Music of the Renaissance. Choral Journal 35:1:
August 1994.
Marvin, Jameson. Perfection and Naturalness: Guides to the Performance of
Renaissance Music. Choral Journal 35:1. August 1994.
Shrock, Dennis. Performance Practices in the Baroque Era. Chicago, IL: GIA
Publications, 2013.
Shrock, Dennis. Performance Practices in the Classical Era. Chicago, IL: GIA
Publications, 2011.
Williamson, Richard. Reawakening the Romantic Spirit: Nineteenth-Century
Sources on Expression. Choral Journal 46:11. May 2006.
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Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

RENAISSANCE
Victoria O quam gloriosum (1572)
Guiding principles: steady tactus , expressive cadences
Conductor Issue: If there are multiple editions of the piece I want to conduct, which one
should I choose?
Choose one with a constant unit of duration (i.e., does not change between 3/4
and 6/8), so that we honor the Renaissance rule of keeping the tactus constant.
All tactus [are] measured and regulated by the length of the first tactus; that is,
that the amount of time occupied by the first tactus be occupied [by] each of the
ones that follow, so that no more time elapses in one than in the other.
Fray Toms de Santa Maria (Libro llamado arte de taer fantasia, 1565)

Conductor Issue: If the printed music shows four quarter notes per bar, should I conduct
quarter notes or half notes?
In general, follow the harmonic rhythm of the piece (if harmony changes
approximately every half note or less, conduct the half note).
If the pace of the dissonances and their resolution occurs basically every half
note, the half note is the tactus of the composition. Likewise, of the pace of
harmony proceeds by whole notes, the whole note is the tactus.
Dennis Shrock, Phrasing in the Music of the Renaissance

Conductor Issue: Should I maintain the same dynamic and tempo throughout?
When the intensity of the music rises and falls through melody, textual meaning,
or (especially) harmony it is necessary to vary dynamics and tempo accordingly.
Sometimes one uses a certain way of proceeding in the composition that cannot
be written down such as to sing piano and forte, and to sing presto and tardo,
moving the measure according to the words to demonstrate the effects of the
passions of the words and of the harmony.
Nicola Vicentino (Lantica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica, 1555)
And the cadence is very necessary in the harmonies, because when there is none,
they lack a necessary and great ornament, both to distinguish the parts as well
as to separate the portions of the text.
Gioseffo Zarlino (Le Istitutioni harmoniche, 1558)
In order for resolution to be felt, tension must precede it. Tension must build to
and relaxation must be a characteristic of all cadences.
Dennis Shrock, Phrasing in the Music of the Renaissance

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Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

Conductor/singer checklist for Renaissance:

Translate text in your score.
Underline strong syllables.
Determine dynamic scheme based on meaning and musical rhetoric (e.g., rising
line of shorter rhythms may call for crescendo and/or accelerando).
Identify cadences, noting which ones are strong (dominant sustained longer) and
which are weak.
Encourage singers to crescendo into dissonances and diminuendo into releases.
(Note: their instinct may be the opposite.)
Possible rehearsal movements
o Phrase circles (smaller circles grow to largest circle at most
dissonant point of cadence)
o Gesture circles (hinted triple-meter figures give internal
bounce and life to rhythmically active music)

CLASSICAL
Haydn Te Deum in C, H. XXIIIc:2 (1800)
Guiding principles: clarity, refinement, elegance
Conductor Issue: In general, how should this music be articulated?
For music that is faster (allegro style) and/or characterized by repeated notes,
separate the notes somewhat.

All the notes in execution, whether ornamented or not, are partly in hold and
partly in silence; which means that they all have a certain length of sound and a
certain length of silence, which united make the whole value of the note.
Bdos de Celles, organ treatise (1766), Part 4, Chapter 4, Section 2
For music that is slower (cantabile style), connect the notes.
In performance it is important to distinguish between cantabile and allegro
music. In cantabile passages, the transition from one note to the next must be
made so perfectly that no interval of silence is perceptible between them; in
allegro passages, on the other hand, the notes should be somewhat detached.
Trk, clavier treatise (1789), Rules for bowing

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Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

Conductor Issue: How should individual, sustained notes be sung and played?
The classical era favored elegance, clarity, and smoothness. Singers and players
were encouraged to begin a pitch softly, add a smooth crescendo, and conclude
with an equally smooth diminuendo. This technique was known as messa di voce
(literally the placing of the voice), and is considered one of the most important
musical devices in both the Baroque and the Classical eras.
Every tone, even the strongest attack, has a small, even if barely audible, softness
at the beginning of the stroke; for it would otherwise note be a tone but only an
unpleasant and intelligible noise. The same softness must be heard also at the end
of each stroke.
L. Mozart, violin treatise (1756), Chapter 5 How, by skillful control of the Bow,
one should seek to produce a good tone on a violin and bring it forth in the
proper manner

Conductor Issue: How should I shape/phrase this music?

Guiding principles here include metric accentuation (notes on strong beats of
measure are louder and/or held longer) and text emphasis (accented syllables tend
to have more emphasis than unaccented syllables).
There are in every type of meter good and bad beats. That which is termed
good is longer intrinsically and is a beat capable of concluding a caesura or
section or cadence in the music. A beat which is termed bad is shorter
intrinsically and is not capable of concluding a caesura in the usual manner
Marpurg, clavier treatise (1755), Chapter 5 Concerning Meter

Conductor/singer checklist for Classical

Translate text in your score.
Underline strong syllables.
Determine the tempo and character of the composition and decide which
articulation pattern fits best for each section.
Identify individual, sustained pitches that might be candidates for messa di voce.
Possible rehearsal movements
Violin bow (all articulations)
Bowling ballsping-pong balls (articulation)
Paint brush (phrasing, emphasizing strong syllables)

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Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

ROMANTIC
Brahms O schne Nacht, Op. 92 No. 1 (1877)
Guiding principles: expression, flexibility, contrast
Conductor Issue: How do I know which notes in a melody should be emphasized?
Treatises in the nineteenth century list dozens of guidelines here, most important
of which are those notes that are highest in a phrase (tonic accent), longest in a
phrase (agogic accent), bearing word emphasis, or exceptional notes, such as
those foreign to a key, approached by leap, or appearing after a rest
A high note rising by a wide interval must be accented.
Mathis Lussy, Trait de lexpression musicale (1874)
Now it is precisely these unexpected, irregular, exceptional, and, as it were, illogical
notes which more especially have the faculty of impressing the feelings. They are the
notes that engender expression, because they are the elements of stimulus, movement,
force, fire, and contrast.
Lussy (1874)
In vocal music strength and sonority mustbe made subordinate to the sense of the
words.
Lussy (1874)
Not all accents are equal or identical. Phrase accents override metrical accents, and
expressive accents override phrase accents.
Richard Williamson, citing treatises by Lussy, Carl Czerny, Manuel Garcia, Hugo
Riemann, and Alfred John Goodrich

Conductor Issue: At which points should the performer add a crescendo or diminuendo?
Again, many rules are cited. In general, apply a crescendo for:
repeated notes
ascending lines
notes approaching downbeats
notes approaching unexpected changes in harmony
harmonic motion away from tonic.
Apply a diminuendo for:
descending lines
notes following downbeats
harmonic motion toward tonic (such as at a cadence)

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Circles, Brush Strokes, and Downbows

Paul Rardin TCDA

[Crescendo for ascending and diminuendo for descending is] the most universal
of all rules pertaining to performance.
Hugo Riemann, Katechismus des Klavierspiels (1874)
Unexpected changes of harmony, especially interrupted [deceptive]
cadencesmust be prepared at least by a slight crescendo.
Riemann (1874)

Conductor issue: How and when should the tempo vary?

Tempo occasionally follows dynamics in situations given above: an increase in
dynamics often accompanies an increase in tempo.
Tempo should speed up for:
motion away from tonic
exceptional syncopated phrases and passages
Tempo should slow down for:
return of a principal subject
motion toward tonic (such as at a cadence)
when a composer marks espressivo
(Rules above documented from Lussy by Williamson.)
Conductor/singer checklist for Romantic:
Translate text in your score.
Underline strong syllables.
Analyze the piece for form, particularly with respect to harmony (note major
cadences, deceptive cadences, harmonic motion away from tonic) and melody
(note major themes and whether/when they return, high points of melody).
Possible rehearsal movements
Circles (for long phrases)
Paint brush (phrasing, emphasizing expressive notes)
THE WELL-MARKED SCORE AND PARTS
Mark choral and instrumental parts in advance to save rehearsal time
Perhaps link the marked score with corresponding rehearsal movement
o Student sees staccato and plays pizzicato without instruction

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