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Fine musical phrasing sets apart the good from the great hornists. While the topic of musical phrasing is one certainly of concern to all good horn teachers and performers, in terms of publications on the horn it was a topic that particularly interested Philip Farkas.
Toward the end of his discussion of a variety of musical issues in The Art of French Horn Playing he offers this practical advice.
Bach and his contemporaries wrote almost no dynamic or shading marks, depending entirely on the player’s musicianship and ability to interpret the music properly. This has led to many heated discussions among present day musicians as to the proper interpretation of these early works. Unfortunately, we will never know exactly what the early composers intended, as their very “pure” form of writing lends itself to many interpretations….
The composer of today can indicate the slightest inflection with a symbol, written instructions, or metronome mark. Today, as always, we have good musicians and bad; but we have almost no excuse for straying far afield in the interpretation of a modern composer’s works. The good player will take these written symbols, not only literally, but also as a clue to the sprit behind the composition, and thus gain more insight into the exact thought that the composer hopes he will re-create. What a pity that a composer goes to great trouble to think and then write out the little shading marks (mf > p – sf ^); the engraver engraves them, the printer prints them out, the proof-reader checks them, and then the one person for whom they were intended – the player – ignores them! Yet they are as much a part of the music as the notes themselves.
The topic of musical phrasing is but one of the topics Farkas returned to in greater depth in The Art of Musicianship. His general introductory remarks set the tone.
Through the ages music teachers and directors have been imploring or demanding instrumentalists and singers to apply more and better musicianship to their art. Because definition of the term “musicianship” is abstract or even nebulous, many synonyms or explanatory phrases are used in urging musicians to employ good musicianship. Commonly heard are these exhortations: “sing”, “phrase”, “expressive”, “project”, “communicate”, “with feeling”, “say something,” etc. Unfortunately, these terms are almost as nebulous as the parent word, “musicianship”, which they are meant to elucidate.
One of the goals of this book will be to give specific instructions and suggestions which will help the performer to put usable and audible musicianship into performance. The trouble with the vague and nebulous words listed above is that they do not tell us what to do physically with the music. While these words may convey beautiful images and thoughts to the player, these thoughts will not be audible to the listener unless the player converts them into concrete and definite physical action on his instrument or voice.
Here is an aside which might illustrate this point. I have been aware, during many years of orchestra playing with the world’s great conductors, that there are two basic types of rehearsal techniques used. There is the technique use by the conductor who describes what the wants with flowery phrases or those nebulous words listed above…. In my observation, the conductors who get the musical results they desire quickly and efficiently are those who employ the second technique, that of using short, definite words. They may be accused of being brusk, even rude, but the meaning of their instructions is never in doubt. Instead of asking the orchestra to “do something” or to “visualize a garden in the moonlight” (a request one conductor actually made of me), these terse, efficient conductors will bark, “shorter”, “louder”, “more legato”, “bigger diminuendo”, etc. This is the entire objective of instruction. Give the performer concise technique instructions and he in turn will produce the desired musical effect.
On musicianship, and a Szell story
So then, what is musicianship? Farkas defines it as “good taste as applied to music.” Farkas also asks,
Can musicianship be improved or developed through study? The answer must be, “yes”!
At length Farkas discusses the specific topic of phrasing. Of particular interest to hornists is the fact that the vast majority of the musical examples in The Art of Musicianship are from horn parts. One central point of his discussion is that of breathing in relation to phrasing. He relates this anecdote.
At a time when the famous conductor, George Szell, was head of the Cleveland Orchestra and I was its first-horn player, I asked him, in a friendly discussion, if he felt that he was a great conductor as a result of being the magnificent piano virtuoso which he certainly was. He answer was quite surprising. The piano was a great help in studying scores, but his study of the horn in his youth was the factor to which he gave the most credit for his success as a conductor. Any of the wind instruments, he said, would have accomplished the same thing. It was the necessity of studying phrasing in order to breathe at musically correct moments which developed his understanding to such a high degree.
Dynamics and musicianship
There is a lengthy discussion of dynamics. Dynamics must be practiced in an absolute sense but played in relation to actual musical situations, and they will impact tone color. Farkas offered these two general aspects to dynamics.
1. As it relates to our personal performance, unrelated to other performers. How do we relate each dynamic mark to the other dynamic marks found in any one passage or composition?
2. We must consider how to relate our dynamic of the moment to that of our colleagues who are performing with us in ensembles.
Tempo and musicianship
Tempo is another aspect of phrasing. Tempo is not always in our control.
How frustrating it is to rehearse with a conductor (sometimes a world-famous one) who fusses about the slightest detail: “a little longer on this note,” “a touch less accent,” “a tiny ritardando here,” until these details are perfect, only to have him conduct a two-hour concert—all at the wrong tempos!…
Absolutely the most important duty of the conductor is to establish the right tempo.
In terms of situations where we can decide our tempo, Farkas felt that “musical instinct is, and always must be, an irreplaceable element in making tempo decisions.”
An important note on how to find the correct tempo
To close this brief survey of his thoughts on musicianship, the following is a quotation Farkas cites from a 1965 interview with George Szell that was published in The New Yorker magazine, and relates as to how to apply musical instinct to arrive at a correct tempo.
Frequently, a movement of a classical symphony begins with a theme that would be plausible at various tempos if it were detached from the movement and played by itself. However, the tempo of the whole movement will be firmly dictated by what Szell calls ‘a critical bar or a group of critical bars’ somewhere in the middle of the movement. ‘Think of the allegro section of the first movement of Mozart’s E-Flat Major Symphony, where the tendency to drag out the first subject in a sentimental way must be resisted,’ he said. ‘The difficulty consists in giving this lovely theme its singing, lyrical character while at the same time keeping the main tempo so that there will be no need for any modification—certainly not for a jerky speeding up—at the first forte tutti.’
This principal can be applied to so much music; key phrases do tend to dictate the tempo. Too fast and it sounds hectic, too slow and it is boring. As you practice, keep this principal in mind and the music will tell you what tempo it wants to go.
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