Molly Cowley and Alexander Woods, BYU School of Music
Historically informed performance, or playing music how we think it would have sounded within the era that it was written, is becoming increasingly popular. Because recordings are not available for anything played in the 17th or 18th century, we rely on books and treatises of that era to determine style (phrasing, tempi, pitch, articulations, etc.) Although many scholars have published on the subject of Baroque Era playing, I have discovered that these, often large, books can be intimidating to the average music student. Watching students avoiding the texts and attempting to learn the style from mere imitation has motivated me to compile an abridged version of these treatises and add very simple exercises that will hopefully ease the transition to “Baroque playing.” I limited my audience to stringed instruments.
This process began with a thorough study of the authoritative sources on Baroque style, including A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, by Leopold Mozart, 1755, and Baroque String Playing for Ingenious Learners, by Judy Tarling, 2001. As I read, I identified the information I felt would be relevant to a modern string player trying to learn the Baroque style for the first time. Once I knew which topics were essential to address, I ordered them in a logical sequence:
- Introduction
- Equipment
- Tuning and Pitch
- Fingerings
- Use of the Frog
- Articulations
- Starting from the String
- Slow Bows
- Inegal Bowing
- Stepwise v. Leaps
- Swelling
- Emphasize Syncopation
- Bow Vibrato
- Lifting the Bow
- Slurs
- Coupling
- Dynamics
- Beat Hierarchy
- Moving with the Line
- Moving with Sequences
- Emphasizing Dissonance
- Emphasizing Chromatic Movement
- Embellishing/Ornamenting
- Vibrato
- Trills
- Dances
I then wrote a simple explanation for each category and included a quote or two from wellrespected writers where it was appropriate. Next, I studied the techniques and wrote simple exercises aimed at the development of each technique. Lastly, I included an excerpt from a piece of Baroque music wherein the technique could be applied.
Once the process was nearly complete, I elected to change the original title, Baroque Exercise Book for the Modern String Player, to An Introduction to Baroque Interpretation for the Modern String Player. It seemed more appropriate to label it an “introduction” considering all of the explanatory information. I exerted a lot of effort in finding the balance of enough information to be accurate while still remaining accessible. I admit that it contains simplified explanations and generalizations and my hope is that this little book is will quickly give string players a foundation of skills and techniques within the Baroque “vernacular” upon which they can continue to build. Once a student has a firm grasp on the principles laid out here I would point them back to the authoritative sources for more thorough and exhaustive descriptions.
The BYU Baroque Ensemble will begin to use the book this Fall (2015) as part of their curriculum. As music students at BYU, and elsewhere, use this book, I plan to collect feedback and continue to revise and refine it.