Question and Answer Department
Question One
Q. How should the following measure from Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody, No. 2 be played? Does it mean, that the G# shall be trilled, or all four notes trilled and the G# sustained. —C. A. G.
A. The G# is trilled and the passage is played thus:
Less experienced performers misht be allowed to play it as a "false trill"—so-called, thus:
Question Two
Q. Does yodeling hurt the voice? One of my pupils has several songs in which yodeling is a part. He does not want to give them, up. He is a baritone. In yodeling ever considered artistic?
A. It does not hurt the voice when employed by an expert singer having a strong falsetto ; but also it docs not do the voice any good even in this case. An inexperienced singer who affects the yodel speedily acquires a hard break between the open voice and the falsetto, which afterwards is very hard to eradicate. Indulged in occasionally, very occasionally, by the expert singer, the yodel may be harmless, but it is not recommended as a practice.
If the baritone in question is being educated as a legitimate concert singer, he would do well to renounce the yodel and to undertake the systematic training of the falsetto voice whereby to reinforce his upper register. If the baritone, quality be very light and the falsetto strong he might, by careful training, wake up some day to find himself a tenor!. Who know?
Yodling cannot be considered "artistic," except in so far as It imitates the particular style of singing of the Tyrolean peasants of the Ziller Thai, where are found the best specimens, both in song and singing, of the Yodel or Jodel.
Question Three
Q. Will you please explain the "legato" mark in the following meastures of music? Is the hand lifted at the end of the first slur, or is it kept down in order to preserve the next or following "legato" mark?—E. G. B.
A. Phrasing, or the setting out of music into periods, phrases and sentences, is usually indicated by the employment of a sign termed a slur, having the form of a curved line, or arc of a circle. As a general rule, the initial note of the slur has a stronger accent than the others, in order to mark tne beginning of the phrase, etc., while the other notes are played smoothly, legato, without particular accent, unless so marked.
In the example given, there are two conjunct phrases; or, if you prefer it, one phrase repeated—the repetition commencing on the final note of the first exposition. The last note of a phrase being the least important, this final note would have no accent whatever; but, in order to preserve the integrity of the phrase when repeated, the initial note of the repetition (the first eighth note of measure three) must be accented, without, however, lifting the hand. The passage, therefore, is played thus:
Question Four
Q. How is it possible to strike the single octaves and chords in both hands at the same time? Or is the single octave "C" played alone, and the chord to follow on the next half-beat?—E. T.
A. It is not possible to strike the octave and chords simultaneously in both hands; but it can be done nearly so, by striking the octaves together, and then proceeding as quickly as possible to strike the chords. This is the manner In which the composer himself played it at a recent recital, in. Symphony Hall, Boston.
Question Five
Q. Grace-notes have always bothered me. Am I to understand that it is always the rule to play a grace-note with a line through the hook very quickly and before the regular beat of the principal note (that is, the grace-note comes together with the bass-note)? Also, please tell me whether a single grace-note without any mark through the hook comes with the beat or before it. In the case of two or more grace-notes, do you play them before the beat or with the accompanying note in the bass? Czerny, I note, prefers them before the beat. How about it?—Read in North Dakota
A. The "grace-cote with a line through the hook" is a short appoggiatura, more correctly known as an acciaccatura. The best masters have always required it to he played on the beat, rapidly, taking time out of the principal note (see A)[*]. Its accent is equally strong as that of the chief note. If there are several grace-notes they are played on the beat, as strongly as the principal note from which they take the time (see B).
The "single grace-note without any mark through the hook" is classed as an appoggiatura. It takes the strong accent; it is played with" the beat, and it takes the time it represents out of tile following note: if the principal note be dotted, the grace-note, takes two-thirds of the time of the following note. A few examples are given at C.
Many modern composers, however, indicate their preference for grace-notes which take their time out of the preceding note.
In any case, the time occupied by the grace-note or notes is so infinitesimal as to be merged into the beat, except as regards appoggiature.
The chief grace-notes, or ornaments, in use to-day are the trill, the mordent, the inverted-mordent, the double inverted-mordent, the grupetto or turn, the back-turn, and the acciaccatura, to which may be added rapid arpeggios, found so frequently in Chopin's works.
[*NOTE: These letters appear to reference a musical example, but there is no example included in the magazine for this question.]
Question Six
Q. In the following example from the Andante Finale of "Lucia di Lammermoor," there is the following (see below): Please tell me whether the tied acciaccatura notes in the bass are to be played again, or how the passage is to be played. Is there a general principal covering this? I have taken THE ETUDE for years, but this is the first question I have ever sent to this department.—R. J. R.
A. The acciaccatura octave should be struck immediately before the chord for the right hand, just as though the octave was written as a thirty-second note at the end of the preceding measure (see measure marked "played"). The effect is somewhat similar to that produced by indifferent performers, who persist in playing the left-hand a fraction of a second before the right-hand—a very bad habit, as a habit. This department is very glad to welcome R. J. R.'s question to its columns, with the hope that the good habit will be continued. Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute.