Introduction
The chamber music masterclass with the Borromeo Quartet lasted two hours. Yeesun Kim, cello, Nicholas Kitchen, violin, Mai Motobuchi, viola, and Kristopher Tong, violin, are the soloists of the quartet who taught and monitored students playing three different pieces of the chamber music during the masterclass (“The Borromeo Quartet” par. 1). First, Anne Schneller, violin, and Shane McFadden, piano, were asked to play Allegro con brio from Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30, No. 2.
Main body
Mr. Kitchen and Mr. Tong stated that much attention should be paid to representing the dynamics of Allegro and to the collaboration of these two instruments that need to sound as perfectly combined. Mr. Kitchen noted that the sound of the violin should be connected to the sound of the piano because the sound of these instruments should be perceived as a whole. Therefore, the beginning phrases of the violin should be strongly connected with the piano phrases. Mr. Kitchen and Mr. Tong stated that to achieve the sound balance, more attention should be paid to the subito piano because of the necessity to accentuate the dynamics of the movement and intensity of the played octaves (Gritten and King 34). The final comments regarding the movement emphasized the necessity to avoid contrasting sounds because the focus is on the collaboration and unity of two instrumental parts.
Richard Adger, clarinet, Sunnat Ibragimov, cello, and Teng Fu, piano, were invited to play Allegro from Johannes Brahms’s Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114. Yeesun Kim monitored their playing. Before commenting on the technique, Ms. Kim stated that the overall playing was beautiful and rather sensitive, but there could be some improvements. Ms. Kim pointed at the mood of Allegro and noted that musicians should not oppose each other to make the sound deeper and more powerful, but they should tell a single story. Therefore, players should concentrate on poco forte that is typical of Brahms (Notley 92). Ms. Kim noted that the cellist should avoid focusing on the wide vibrato because clarinet and piano cannot imitate that sound (Berger 68). As a result, the cellist should adapt his approach to emphasizing vibrato to accentuate the sound appropriately while using the right hand. Moreover, the pianist should not hesitate while accentuating the phrase and avoid making the triplet too fast, and both cellist and clarinetist should listen to the pianist’s part carefully to understand its tension.
Mickayla Chapman, clarinet, Cong Cong Chai, piano, and Mandy Wang, violin played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano in B flat, K 358. The members of the Borromeo Quartet had only a few comments regarding the playing because the performance was rather convincing. They noted that the efforts in sound imitation made by the violinist and clarinetist were significant, but they should also try making the melody and phrases different to add to the liveliness of the piece (Girdlestone 23). Furthermore, in the second movement, the pianist and violinist can focus on the tempo to support the clarinet.
In the final part of the masterclass, students asked the members of the Borromeo Quartet about their practice of using laptops and iPads for reading the sheet music and manuscripts. The musicians stated that this practice is effective when it is necessary to read complicated notes. They also advised students to focus more on dotted notes to make playing more dramatic and try to use all available resources to improve the work with the sheet music, and these guidelines are in line with the traditional teacher’s advice (Berger 12; Haviland 148).
Conclusion
Conducting the masterclass, the Borromeo Quartet musicians used a variety of pedagogical tools, including encouragement, mistakes identification, and explanation. Much attention was paid to developing the collaboration between players. The musicians noted that the technique can be improved individually, but the main focus should be on collaboration. The musicians taught students how to work as a team because it is an important quality in chamber music.
References
Berger, Melvin. Guide to Chamber Music. New York: Courier Corporation, 2013. Print.
Girdlestone, Cuthbert. Mozart and His Piano Concertos. New York: Courier Corporation, 2012. Print.
Gritten, Anthony, and Elaine King. Music and Gesture. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006. Print.
Haviland, John. “Master Speakers, Master Gesturers: A String Quartet Master Class.” Music Essays 1.2 (2007): 147-172. Print.
Notley, Margaret. “Plagal Harmony as Other: Asymmetrical Dualism and Instrumental Music by Brahms.” The Journal of Musicology 22.1 (2005): 90-130. Print.
The Borromeo Quartet. 2015. Web.