Posted by Rick Denney on December 11, 2000 at 13:21:46:
In Reply to: Air and Bourree tempo posted by Rob T on December 09, 2000 at 18:52:53:
See a trend here? The musicality is more important than the tempo.
I heard one player who I admire interrupt the dance (Bouree) to breathe. He did it musically, but it violated my sense of Baroque dance music. I would rather play it at a steady tempo.
And I side with those who play it more slowly. When I played it at solo competition in 1974, I used a tempo of about 72, and a little slower for the Air. The BBb plastic sousaphone I was using didn't have much agility, heh, heh.
Find that tempo at which you can understand the music and sell that understanding. That's the right tempo for you. For the dance, think of people dancing elegantly on their toes. It has a regal touch, but without any sense of heaviness. You'll get heavy in a hurry if you are having to work to get the notes. It should just flow right out of the horn with no apparent effort.
And, as others have said, you can take more liberties with the Air. The emotional impact of this tune is more important than the tempo. Think of the famous organ work, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The Toccata (literally, touch piece, or finger piece) is intended to be expressively played without strict tempo. The Fugue, on the other hand, must go like clockwork. It's the same for the Air and Bouree--the first is an expressive and sad song, and the second a dance. Make sure the emotion is real though, not shmaltzy. After all, this is Baroque music, not Romantic.
Rick "agrees with the advice to listen to a violinist" Denney