An Exploration of the French and American Schools of Classical Saxophone Sarah E
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The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors Honors Research Projects College Fall 2015 An Exploration of the French and American Schools of Classical Saxophone Sarah E. Miracle The University of Akron, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects Part of the Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Performance Commons, and the Music Practice Commons Recommended Citation Miracle, Sarah E., "An Exploration of the French and American Schools of Classical Saxophone" (2015). Honors Research Projects. 206. http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/206 This Honors Research Project is brought to you for free and open access by The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors College at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Research Projects by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Miracle 1 An Exploration of the French and American Schools of Classical Saxophone Sarah Miracle Senior Honors Project in Music The University of Akron Miracle 2 Abstract This project is an exploration of the relatively short history of the classical saxophone genre. It will focus mainly on the styles created by Marcel Mule, the second professor of saxophone at the Paris Conservatory, and Larry Teal, the first full-time professor of saxophone in America. Mule and Teal’s contrasting ideas of playing and teaching created distinct French and American schools of classical saxophone playing. This project explores the similarities and differences between these two schools of thought, and places them each in historical and cultural contexts. In addition, it traces the subsequent lineage of prominent saxophone performers and pedagogues, and looks for evidence that the French and American schools can still be detected in today’s prominent saxophonists. Miracle 3 The Life and Legacy of Marcel Mule The world of classical saxophone as we know it today cannot be separated from the legacy of its founding father, Marcel Mule. From developing a characteristic tone quality and the use of classical vibrato, to establishing the standard saxophone quartet and much of the saxophone solo repertoire, Mule had a tremendous impact on the growth of the saxophone as a respected classical instrument. In addition, his warmth and integrity as a person, coupled with his consummate artistry and meticulous pedagogical methods, allowed him to have a profound impact on countless saxophonists around the world. In the words of one of his students, Daniel Deffayet, “Let all classical saxophonists never forget that, thanks to Marcel Mule, they are today considered true musicians” (Rousseau, viii). Mule was born on June 24, 1901 in a small town in Normandy. His father was the conductor of a small community band, and encouraged young Mule to begin learning saxophone, violin, and piano at age seven. Although his father supported his musical studies and was impressed by his rapid improvement, he strongly discouraged Mule from the dangerous and unstable reality of a career in music, setting him up instead for a future as a schoolteacher. As a result, Mule attended an advanced elementary school and took his studies very seriously. At age 16, he enrolled in the Ecole Normale of Evreux, where he completed a three-year course preparing him to be a teacher. He excelled and got a teaching job at his old elementary school, but after only 6 months, he joined the Fifth Infantry Regiment band and began his life as a professional musician. Mule was immediately successful in this military band, and he became inspired to practice more seriously than before. He began studying with Gabriel Willaume, a violinist who had an enormous influence on his musical interpretation. In 1923, he auditioned for an elite, ceremonial military band based in Paris called La musique de la Garde Républicaine (the Guard Band), and came in first place of the 12 that auditioned. He continued playing in the Guard Band until 1936, when his solo career took off in earnest. Mule’s time with the Guard Band provided him with the environment that he needed to launch his virtuosic solo career, as well as his creation of the saxophone quartet. Near the beginning of Mule’s performing career, he also earned extra income by performing at the Opéra Comique jazz and dance bands, ballet performances, among other places. This initial experimentation allowed him to be exposed to many different kinds of music, Miracle 4 and he began to realize the incredibly versatile potential of the saxophone. Although Mule never considered himself much of a jazz musician, he was intrigued by the vibrato that jazz saxophonists were using. At the time, classical saxophone was played similarly to a clarinet and vibrato was never used in a classical setting. Mule began experimenting with vibrato on his own, but never in the Guard Band or other classical performances. Eventually, the conductor of the Opéra Comique asked him to use vibrato on a blues melody in the saxophone part, and he reluctantly agreed. In his own words: I agreed to do as he wished, although I played it with more restraint than I did in the jazz bands. To my great surprise, it was a huge success among the members of the orchestra. In particular, there was a horn player from the Guard sitting next to me who said, ‘You should play like that in the Guard.’ And that is what I did from that day forward, but always with great caution, sometimes using the vibrato only on one note from time to time while observing the reactions of my colleagues. As their reactions were favorable, I became bolder until, relating the vibrato to the needs of the symphony orchestra, I arrived at a sort of compromise between the complete freedom of jazz and the rigidity of my previous approach (Rousseau 15). Consequently, due to this singular coincidence in 1928, classical saxophone began evolving into an instrument that is expected to use vibrato. Another significant occurrence that came from Mule’s career in the Guard Band was the development of the saxophone quartet. Mule and three other saxophonists from the Guard Band began playing together for enjoyment, and by 1928 they had decided on the arrangement of soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. They eventually began to rehearse regularly and performed for the first time on December 2, 1928 in La Rochelle, calling themselves Le Quatour de la musique de la Garde Républicaine. At the time, there was no repertoire for the saxophone quartet, so they primarily transcribed string quartet chamber music for themselves. It did not take long for their quartet to become one of the most respected chamber groups in France, and soon composers began writing specifically for saxophone quartet. One of these composers was Florent Schmitt, who wrote his Saxophone Quartet for Mule’s quartet in 1948. Throughout the relatively infrequent changes of personnel within this ensemble, Mule always played soprano saxophone, and in 1951 they officially changed their name to the Marcel Mule Quartet. By this time, numerous other saxophone quartets were already emerging around Paris, and the genre of the saxophone quartet was growing rapidly. Mule himself grew to enjoy performing with the quartet more than as a soloist because he appreciated the added complexity Miracle 5 that resulted from four different voices combining into one. The Marcel Mule Quartet eventually disbanded in 1967, just before Mule retired altogether. In addition to the many ensembles that he performed with, Mule was already becoming an active soloist by the mid 1920s. He became Paris’s premiere saxophonist, and was invited to play with orchestras all around Europe whenever they played pieces that required saxophone. For example, in 1928, Mule played the soprano saxophone part in the premiere of Bolero, with the composer, Ravel, conducting. This piece was originally written to have three saxophone parts: sopranino, soprano, and tenor, but Mule decided that the sopranino part was unnecessary and that he could cover both parts on soprano. In 1935, he performed the first concerto for saxophone and orchestra, written by Pierre Vellones, with the Pasdeloup Orchestra. From this point forward, the saxophone repertoire began to grow rapidly, and Mule was undeniably at the center of this growth. Later that year, Mule played the unofficial premiere of Ibert’s Concertino de Camera. This event took place just before Sigurd Rascher, who had actually commissioned the piece to be written, officially premiered it. Rascher is also credited for the premiere of the Glazunov Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra, but Mule (who was friends with Glazunov) actually performed this piece before Rascher as well. Over the next 30 years, many other significant pieces of saxophone repertoire were written for Mule, including Tomasi’s Ballade and Concerto, Bozza’s Aria, Bonneau’s Caprice en forme de valse, and Villa-Lobos’ Fantasia. He also worked closely with and influenced other works by Poulenc, Rivier, Messiaen, Desenclos, Dubois, and Boulanger. In 1950, Mule’s influence spread even further when he covered the trumpet part of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Casals festival on soprano saxophone. On this occasion, he surprised and impressed the audience, conductor, and fellow musicians alike, and it went so well that he was even asked to do it again years later. It is clear that Marcel Mule had a major influence on not only the development of saxophone and its literature, but also the entire Western music scene of the 20th century.