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Archive for the ‘Intonation (Pitch)’ Category

Sonata in A Minor  (Movement III) by George Philipp Telemann

(This piece  is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and can be found in a collection titled, SOLOS FOR THE OBOE PLAYER, edited by Whitney Tustin)

# 1

Movement III is titled “Andante”  and can be found on page 3 in your collection of oboe solos.   The tempo of the movement finds the eighth note receiving 66 M.M. or approximately one beat per second.  When the eighth note receives one beat, we are playing in 8/8 time.   This is a beautiful melodic line with the first pattern starting on the note “C”.

The style of performance is very long and stretched as if you were bowing the oboe like violinist bow their violin. Try to feel the rhythm of the triplet that is in almost every measure.  The triplet is faster than two eighths notes per beat but slower than four sixteenth notes per beat.

To accomplish these note connections it is important to keep you fingers close to the keys as if they were glued onto the keys as you squeeze the keys to play the melodic line.  Keep your air move quickly and direct the air upward towards the ceiling-not downwards toward the floor.  Keep your embouchure open with your teeth apart as if you were yawning with your lips together.

# 2

As the movement is in the key of “C” major you will be playing  the note “E” natural and using the regular “F” finger, not the forked “F” fingering.  Double check your “F#” fingering and your “C# fingering ( half-hole “D” plus your right pinky on the key between low  “C”  and low “Eb”).  The rhythm in almost every bar is a triplet rhythm with a few eighth note rhythms that receive one beat each.  There is a feeling of dragging the triplet as it is slower than four sixteenth notes.  Almost all the triplets are slurred.

# 3

Three bars before letter “A” the melody begins in the same pattern but up one step to the note “D”.  The pattern includes the note “C#” and a forked “F” fingering.  As the melody proceeds there is an “F#” fingering and a high “Bb” fingering.

# 4

There are three trills in the piece: B to A, E to D, and C to B.  In each case there is a small grace note above the regular printed note.   Always start on the smaller grace note.  Practice trilling slow to fast by play three slow notes and six faster notes ending with the lower note (1-2-3 (slow) followed by4-5-6-7-8-9 (faster), and holding the 9th note which will be the lower note.   (For the E to D trill play a regular “E: natural for the grace note and then proceed to half-hole “D” and trill the entire trill on the half-hole “D” with the third finger of your right hand.)

The final product should sound very graceful-like watching a ballet dance move.  The gracefulness is the gradual moving faster and slower with a feeling of ease and relaxation.  That is what you are doing with your fingers as they perform the trill-in ballet style-gracefully.

# 5

The opening melody returns at letter “A” with syncopated rhythms two before  letter “B”.  Be sure to make the eight beats in these two measures and mark the notes that are played on the down and up beats.  After playing the first eighth note at letter “B” ( the note “C”),  the music stops for one second, take a breath, and then proceed with the melody to the end of the piece using regular “F” fingerings for the most part with a forked “F” fingering on the fourth note of the last line of the music.  The piece gradually slows down (poco rit.) during  the last bar with the last note lasting a long two beats.

# 6

Be sure to note the dynamic markings through the piece.  At the beginning, letter “A”, letter “B”, and at the end the music starts softly with crescendos and diminuendos  scattered throughout the music .  The notes are mostly slurred; however, most phrases and melodic lines begin with tongued notes.  Always use a legato tonguing throughout.

There is a performance of this movement on YouTube that includes the above examples.  Watch, listen, and play along with the video.  It will help your practice and performance