JAVS Fall 2006

ORCHESTRAL TRAINING fORUM FoR CouNTING OuT Louo!

by Stephen Wyrczynski

learning a particular passage or movement. Its loud cl ick and blinking light keep ou r rempo steady and distills exact rhythmic passages. Even in the final stages of practicing, ir can be used ro rea lize a metronome marking given by a composer or help us increase a tempo one cl ick at a time. The problem happens when it i per fo rmance time and our metronome is no longer avai lable. The mosr reliable help we need to make our pul e rock solid is righr under our no e . Try counting our loud while playing! This is some thing pianists do and it is a mystery why string players do nor. Ir is rhe surest way to develop consistency in keep ing an Lmwavering pulse and good rhyrhm during practice. This mc.1.11Sactually saying out loud (and I do mean OUT L UD) the bears in a measure. T his will seem qui re difficult at first because it is a learned skill and must be practiced. Over time when it get easier to speak and play at the same rime, one can reduce the volume of one's voice to a whisper. Ulrimarcly jusr mouth ing or moving your tongue is enough ro exact a precise beat, espe cially when you need it mo t during

pressure situation . Be advised rhat th is doe require some patience and short curs do not achieve rhe same go<~ l s. You will sec immecUaLely when you are counting our loud the area where you are prone to erratic tempo changes. hoosing a tarring tempo for a particular excerpt is something thar we spend a good amount of rime considering. O nce we begin the piece, our mind becomes di traer eel wirh al l sons of other technica l concerns <~ nd we lose our tempo ral bearings. I am going ro discuss fou r passage where the e tempo lapses are chronic. I have witnessed many a succe sful audition where the pulse is lost in these places. lntere tingly, these spot occur either right before or righr afrer a technically intricate passage. The Rornrm Cnrnivnl Overture by Hector Berlioz is a selection chosen ro highlight a player's abi li ty to produce a beautiful rone and navi gate the nuanced dynamic indica tions. The viola section solo begins at rhc key change in the third bar afrer rehearsal # I . ounting our loud while pra ti eing this entire

In our preparation of rhe familiar viola excerpt s, we are ofren con fronted with rhe common plateaus and impediments. We must never lose sight that in reworking these musical fragments we musr capture rhe arti stic essence of rhe larger work. T he usual focus of our prac tice is intonation, dynamics, pul e, and rhythm. Whi le bringing rogerher arrfulness with our techni cal means is the goal for all of US, pulse and rhythm ga lva nize these elements in to a coherenr whole. T his becomes especially challeng ing during a rressful audi tion siru arion where su cess or fa ilure determines our livel ihood. Pulse and rhythm are the funda mentals of musical rime, and their exactness is a cornerstone of a suc cessful aud ition. Th is is one of the ways an aud iti on commirree deter mines wherher or not an applicant would be able to play with an ensemble, be it large or small. T he challenge for us i to choose and keep a pul e during any given pas sage or movement, nor only in a practice room bur especially throughout an audition.

T he fi r t roo! of choice utilized fo r aud ition prepara tion is the metronome. It can be very useful in the early stages of

ExampLe ! : BerLioz- Roman Carnival Overture

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