JAVS Fall 2005

surrounding it with a vibrant bed of warm beauty, there is scarcely ever a passive moment. Anybody who has done the exercise of completing a string quartet in a harmony exercise wi ll have learnt that no mark gets onto the manuscript by accident. In matters ofensemble, a great deal can be solved by getting d1e players to clari fy for d1emselves who is lead ing at any moment. Clearly this is, by defitt~t, d1c person playing the melody, but when two or more peo ple arc playing an accompaniment or secondary material it is very valu able to have one of them take some leading initiative too. It really is pos sible for d1cm ro interpret the timi ng and character ofan accompaniment in equally valid but quite different ways. For example, accompanyi ng eighd1 notes couJd be played with

great balance. But they often need a bit ofa "push" to plumb their musi caJ imagination and do more than fix a technical prob lem. T try to per suade them that the most impor tant part of our job is to convey the moods and emotions in the music so as to make the audience undergo actual emotional sensations. Chamber music has been described as intelligent conversation an1ong equals. Yes - but with the extra dimension d1at many strands of our musical conversation have to be in telligible simul taneously. ln coad1ing quartets one of the cl1al lengcs is to get everybody to con tribute enough al l d1e time. Whether they are leading with a melody, commenting on it wid1 a coLmter-melody or descant, keeping it bubbling with good rhyd1m or

d1e responsibili ty for the rhyd1mic lifeblood of d1e music; and it can make a decisive difference ro a first violi nist, who finds him or herself ahead in a passage, to pay particuJar attention to the cello line, and imag ine playing the leaps in d1e bass line while struggling to make d1e lower strings spealc Actively imagining that you are playing another person's part is a great cohesive tool. I've seen a large range of abilities. A younger, less advanced group can get a real th rill if you, as the coach, can play in rhc group for a minute or two and impart some intcnsiry and rhythmic drive. But beware the frozen atmosphere in which a very clear question is put pointedly by one member of a group and there is a tense silence as they wait for d1e "judgment of Solomon. " You have probably stepped into a major argument, and only your highest skills of tact are going to prevent you from making an enemy for li fe! And then, you get d1at occasional moment of thrill mixed with panic when you hear a group playing so well d1at you feel you are going to let d1cm down by not having any tiling to add. I've realized thar when this happens you change your focus and just get drawn into it as if you were in a professional rehearsal. There is always some point of musi caJ imagination to discuss in the great works, and before you know it che time has Aown by. H Roger Tapping wttsfor 10 years the violaplayer in the Tttkdcs quartet; and, before that, in Britain's A!legri Quartet. He is now on thefocu!ty ofthe New Englan£1 Conservatory, the Longy Schoo~ and the Boston Conservatory.

more or less tlu·ust, clari ty, presence or plmLSing. So work ing closely as an accompanyrng group helps to give it some independ ently cohesive char acter while enhanc ing d1c melodic line. Leading and being led are by no means black and whire. Sometimes it can make all the differ ence to a player with a secondary line to encourage d1em to lead as wel l, so long as they understand d1is to meatl d1at they are talcing an active, collaborative p

THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY A HISTORY AND REFERENCE SECOND EDITION

by Dwight R. Pounds

$24.00 Spiral Bound $28.00 Hard Cover (recommended for Library Use)

Dwight R. Pounds 1713 Karen Street

Bowling Green, KY 42104 dwight. pounds@wku.edu 502-843-4820

JOURNAL OF THE AMERI CAN VIOLA SO ' I ETY 46