May 4, 2009 Proposal Lyrical Phrasing on the Horn: Artistic Performance through Bel Canto Technique Lecture-Recital Document by Denise Root Pierce 3896 Rowley Road Williamston, Michigan 48895 [email protected] I have read this proposal and believe it is ready for consideration by the Graduate Committee: Prof. Daniel Katzen Dr. Ed Reid Prof. Jerry Kirkbride Lyrical Phrasing on the Horn: Artistic Performance through Bel Canto Technique Intent and scope of study A lyrical melodic style is among the most desired soloistic attributes for any musician. How can horn teachers more effectively teach lyrical horn playing? How can a student be helped to develop from a mere horn player to artist performer? Lyricism refers to the musical quality of being suitable for singing. Of all the vocal music traditions and styles, perhaps the most exquisitely lyrical and melodically pleasing is that of the bel canto (literally, “beautiful singing”), a singing style that refers to the Italian vocal style of the 18th and early 19th centuries, the qualities of which include perfect legato production throughout the range, the use of a light tone in the higher registers and agile and flexible delivery. More narrowly, it is sometimes applied exclusively to Italian opera of the time of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.1 Since instrumentalists aspire to a “singing” tone and melodic style, what better model for horn players than that of the bel canto singer? Consequently, to develop a pedagogy of lyrical horn playing, it is the intent of the proposed study to examine the art of bel canto singing; to apply bel canto singing principles to horn technique as a means of developing a pedagogical approach to a lyrical performance 1 Owen Jander and Ellen T. Harris. "Bel canto." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http:// www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/02551 (accessed April 10, 2009). 2 style; and to apply this horn performance approach to selected bel canto repertoire arranged for horn and piano. The proposed study will only address those aspects of bel canto singing technique that are particularly valuable for horn performers. Repertoire will be chosen from the few existing solo horn and piano pieces, and early nineteenth-century vocal music adapted for horn and piano, composed by Vincenzo Bellini, Luigi Cherubini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Giachino Rossini. The music will be chosen to best illustrate the pedagogical concepts and characteristics of lyrical playing in the bel canto style. I will write a pedagogical explanation of how to play lyrically on the horn implementing bel canto principles as applied to the horn. I will investigate vocal pedagogy related to lyricism, study the recorded performances of singers2 who have specialized in the bel canto repertoire, and discuss analogies between the voice and horn with regard to achieving these in performance. Included will be suggested exercises for developing the necessary techniques on horn. While it may be expected that horn performers would want to approach any soloistic music, whether orchestral, chamber music, or solo repertoire, in a lyrical manner, it is my conviction that vocal music itself provides the most pedagogically rewarding repertoire for developing lyrical performance habits. Therefore, I intend to integrate the principles of lyrical horn technique founded on the art of bel canto singing with artistic performance as 2 e.g. Cecilia Bartoli, Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Renée Fleming, Anne-Marie Rodde. 3 applied to selected vocal repertoire adapted for horn. In addition, I will also demonstrate how this technique can be applied to selected early nineteenth-century horn repertoire. I will be borrowing selected vocal repertoire from the nineteenth century that is best suited to playing with a vocal style and adapt it for “singing” on the horn. The purposes in utilizing vocal repertoire are as follows: 1) For the purpose of teaching a singing style, it is helpful to begin with songs originally intended to be performed by a singer. 2) Considering that listening is an aid to learning lyricism, live or recorded vocal music can provide an excellent example of a model performance demonstrating a singing, lyrical style. 3) A precedent has been set for brass players to play vocal music in existing arrangements of vocal music for brass instruments. 4) The texts of vocal music can help a student better understand what emotion to convey through the music. Ultimately, it is hoped that the outcome of the proposed study will be to encourage bel canto horn playing featuring a beautiful sound, flexible technique and shaping of legato phrases used to achieve a singing, expressive style. Statement of Primary Thesis Develop a pedagogical guide to the bel canto style for horn. This guide will present a bel canto horn pedagogy and style, applying it to nineteenth-century repertoire composed by Vincenzo Bellini, Luigi Cherubini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Giachino Rossini. Using this guide, horn performers may develop a lyrical singing style on the horn and teach that style 4 through bel canto technique as applied to horn technique. Included will be discussion of how one may seek to cultivate a perfect legato, work toward a beautiful sound throughout the range of the horn, and play with a light mechanism to result in improved agility. Thereafter, the techniques are to be applied to selected nineteenth-century horn and piano repertoire or vocal repertoire adapted for horn and piano, modeling the resulting bel canto horn style in a lecture recital. Justification The proposed study is unique in its application of principles of bel canto style and technique to horn performance. The included repertoire for horn and piano also distinguishes the proposed study from other pedagogical treatises since it is typical for pedagogues to focus on exercises rather than complete musical works. While there are four doctoral dissertations that are related to the proposed study, they either do not address the horn, do not consider the art of singing, or do not demonstrate application of the pedagogical principles to musical repertoire. In order to establish the viability of the proposed study, a survey of related literature was undertaken. Three categories of literature were found: sources addressing horn pedagogy, sources concerning bel canto singing, and sources dealing with the development of musicianship. In several cases, a source bridged two areas, e.g. horn pedagogy and musicianship. 5 Horn Pedagogy Louis-François Dauprat, in his Method for Cor Alto and Cor Basse,3 was an advocate of studying singing as a supplement to the study of horn. He states: teachers of wind instruments have not been able to recommend this Singing Method too highly to their students, as it contains so many precepts that are just as useful for instrumentalists as for singers. It is particularly suitable for shaping the student’s style in that it teaches him to phrase melodies and give them expression, to play with taste, to place all the musical ornaments with discernment, and finally, to imprint upon each piece the character that belongs to it.4 Dauprat includes adaptations of “solfeges that the late Mengozzi and other professors at the Conservatoire selected out of the works of the most celebrated Italian composers”5 in his Method.6 These adaptations, however, were intended for the hand horn and are limited to the one singing method from the Paris Conservatory. 3 Louis-Francois Dauprat, Method for Cor Alto and Cor Basse (Complete English translation of the first edition published by Zetter, Paris, ca. 1824), Edited by Viola Roth. (Bloomington, IN: Birdalone Music, 1994). 4 Ibid, 196. 5 Ibid, 196. 6 Ibid. 6 In his books, The Art of Musicianship,7 The Art of French Horn Playing,8 and The Art of Brass Playing,9 Philip Farkas recognizes the importance of listening to performed music in order to develop a mature understanding of musicianship. Farkas states, “A musical environment is important in the development of a sensitive musician. This environment includes frequent listening to artists…”10 Regarding phrasing, he refers to the “pivot-point”11 of the phrase, but does not draw specific connections with horn technique in order to show how to achieve the pivot-point successfully. According to Mr. Farkas, the “pivot-point” in a musical phrase “almost always (includes) one or more “pivot” notes, around which the phrase seems to center”.12 He calls them “pivot” notes because, as the phrase leads to such a note, it seems to require more and more intensity (like traveling up-hill) until this note is reached, at which point the direction pivots and a feeling of relaxation appears (like reaching the crest of a hill and starting down the other side).”13 7 Philip Farkas, The Art of Musicianship, (Rochester, NY: Wind Music, Inc., 1976). 8 Philip Farkas, The Art of French Horn Playing: A Treatise on the Problems and Techniques of French Horn Playing, (Evanston, Il.: Summy-Birchard, 1956). 9 Philip Farkas, The Art of Brass Playing : A Treatise on the Formation and Use of the Brass Player's Embouchure, (Rochester, N.Y. : Wind Music, Inc., 1989). 10 Farkas, The Art of Musicianship, p.7 11 Farkas pivot point 12 Farkas, The Art of French Horn Playing, p.55 13 7 In addition, his musical examples are drawn from instrumental music rather than from vocal music—he gives examples from orchestral literature and suggestions for etude books for practicing playing musically. There is little reference to a singing style, though he refers to a technique which is related to a vocal style, forming vowel sounds in the oral cavity as an aid to slurring—a technique that is critical to achieving a true singing style on the horn. Oscar Franz, in his book Complete Method for the French Horn,14 gives directions in how to interpret a phrase and includes some “Exercises for Style and Interpretation” in order “to acquire correct and systematic breathing together with the Art of Phrasing.”15 His exercises are taken from orchestral and chamber music literature, but do not include specific technical resources to achieve smooth legato, or to achieve a desired singing style.