Posted by Joe S. on July 13, 2000 at 23:30:10:
In Reply to: All State Etude posted by Doug on July 12, 2000 at 20:52:58:
A lesson for you, Doug...
PREFACE: I personally believe that if one hears the chord progressions in a piece, there is far less likelihood of missing notes. As a "classic guitarist turned tuba player", this is the way that I hear things, and I believe it to be extremely helpful. I will review the chord progressions, line-by-line, in exercise #21, and I would like for you to get a pianist friend who can play simple chord progressions to make you a series of metronomically perfect chordal "accompaniment" tapes in several tempos from "dead - dead slow" all the way up to the All State audition tempo. The chord progressions are actually just a bit more complex than the ones I am giving you...There are time and space restrictions here. If your pianist is very clever and can "find" all of the "passing" chords, so much the better.
YOUR PIANIST'S ACCOMPANIMENT:
LINE 1: 2 measures of Eb major / 1 measure of Bb dominant 7th / 1 measure of Eb major
LINE 2: 3 measures of Bb dominant 7th / 1 measure of Eb major
LINE 3: 1 measure of C minor / 1 measures of B diminished seventh / 1 measure of G dominant 7th / 1 measure of C minor
LINE 4: 3 measures of Bb dominant 7th / 1 measure of Eb major
LINE 5: 1 measure of C minor / 1 measure of G dominant 7th / 1 measure of C minor / 1 measure of G dominant 7th
LINE 6: 3 measures of Bb dominant 7th / 1 measure of Eb major
LINE 7: 1 1/2 measures of G dominant 7th / 2 1/2 measures of B diminished 7th (almost the same chord)
LINE 8: 1 measure of B dimimished 7th / 1 measure of A diminished 7th / 1 measure of Eb minor / 1 measure of Bb dominant 7th
LINE 9: *just like LINE 1
LINE 10: Basically, 3 measures of Bb dominant 7th / 1 measure of Eb major
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(The piece starts out in Eb major, goes back and forth from Eb major to C minor, and ends in Eb major.)
SPECIAL TIPS FOR YOU:
The use of a metronome from Day #1 to "D"-day is VITAL. You MUST begin dead-dead slow to completely understand cognitively and physically execute and feel perfectly the melody and rhythms. Once this has been accomplished you will begin to bring "style" to your performance, which is ALSO absolutely essential for a winning audition. "Style" may also come on naturally with the understanding of this piece.
The syncopations (offbeats) in the first measures of each line must occur EXACTLY on the upbeats. If your metronome SUBDIVIDES beats, this will help greatly on syncopation.
The sixteenth note figures MUST start PRECISELY on upbeats and you must NOT hurry them. A perfect transition from sixteenth notes (dividing beats into four EQUAL parts) to triplets (dividing beats into three EQUAL parts) is the main purpose of this etude. You MUST demonstrate understanding of this and the ability to execute this rhythmic "trick" with style and grace. You must not play the triplet notes slower than your established tempo. The incorrect trend will be to play the sixteenth notes too quickly and the triplet notes too slowly. Do not allow this to happen.
In the final measures of several of the lines, there is a quarter note tied to a sixteenth note and then three more sixteenth notes. You MUST be ready to MOVE on that #2 sixteenth note. Probably, you should convert the tied over sixteenth "note" into a sixteenth "rest" to give yourself some mental "jumping off room" to execute the other three sixteenth notes at the precise points in time that they are supposed to occur.
Watch out for the Ab in the second measure of LINE 3 (after the B natural). There are also some high Ab's which occur in the second and third measures of LINE 7 (NOT A naturals, like I have painfully heard many times).
Watch out for the Bb-to-F skip in the second measure of LINE 6. It looks simple, but that skip does not sound the way that one expects the melody to go there.
Watch the rhythm in the third measure of LINE 8 and WAIT until the correct time to play the last three eighth notes in that measure. Also in LINE 8, the phrasing is quite different from all of the other lines. I suggest that you breathe after the third note of the third measure.
If you have huge lungs, you may impress the judge at your All State tryouts by playing each line with ONE breath, instead of two (as indicated).
**********
Now, Canary, I will be watching the mails for your tape...
Joe Sellmansberger
c/o Mid-South Music (since 1979)
3589 Summer Avenue
Memphis, TN 38122