Today went really well at the hall, considering we turned up and the maintenance staff were unaware of the booking and the fact there was moving around going on, my gut reaction was that this is not going to work, we would have too much feedback from background noise, but regardless we carried on and managed to get a few decent takes from both instruments today. The acoustic was beautiful very resonate and the space was ideal for what we were trying to achieve. Just a shame I couldn’t get the Caird Hall.
Some good things learnt from today was about keeping things steady and about making every note clear as crystal – took a good few takes and just very nitty gritty areas that needed fixing but we had to just keep re-taking as it would be far too fiddly to edit bit by bit.
Used just an SE Room condenser mic at a similar angle as in studio but just a little further placed
Marryat Hall
SE Condensor set up and video set up with Canon
Violin Set Up
We took video footage of the session which I will provide within my portfolio and will do some editing for clips for the showcase and my presentation.
We also took another impulse of the room today which Gavin may use for the final mix, like we did back at the studio to get a impulse of ambience.
Just a couple of bars to really nail down for the two recordings coming up but pretty happy I think so far.
I have also been sending out invitations to organisations, people I know, friends, family, colleagues – sending out consent and forms. I also did a speech at the break of orchestra last night to let people know what I am doing and if anyone was interested to let me know.
Already got a lot interested, it will all just be about waiting for confirmation of numbers and hoping I get enough on either side.
Rehearsals at the RCS all day today for Glasgow Philharmonia concert on Friday 20th, so not much time to do project work today; although lots of repeat listening on the train of recordings and some reading. Hope to do a blog later this evening or tomorrow before work.
Currently standing in the corridor practicing the Gigue before we start again. Ciao for now.
No rest for the wicked on valentines day, have been doing some slow practice of Bach earlier this afternoon with real nit grit practice of intonation and metronome practice for both styles as that was something that came from the recording session in the studio. At the moment really trying to make sure when using the baroque violin; that I am working hard at not hearing bow noises as it is just so much more difficult to control. Again this is something that could make the recordings more affective, however I do want to try and achieve the best sound possible. Again I don’t think the space did any justice in my playing, so looking forward to placing in spaces that are for performing and recording.
Listening to different recordings of the Bach Gigue again today; James Ehnes, Arthur Grumiaux, Rachel Podger, Nathan Milstein, Alina Ibragimova.
I’ve mentioned previously when analysing current recordings of stylistic interpretations of his music; and I have found Podger vs Ibragimova the most fitting to what I am trying to achieve and most like what I relate to in terms of performance.
Hoping more slow practice pays off; now that I know my dates (pretty much) I can really focus on the research, practice and planning of the next stages in terms of participants, surveys and such.
Lots to do before I end up circulated in NYOS tour and dissertations and presentations. Ahhh.
A key part of research was to look into how to perform dance where Beauchamp-Feuillet’s dance notation system clearly shows the beats which indicate the rhythmic pattern in dances. So where …
Two single steps form a step-unit, and the step-units are related to music. In general, one step-unit is equal to one bar of music. The rhythmic emphasis can be adjusted in the different types of dances. Some dances share the same rhythmic emphasis, and others do not.
In Baroque dances, there are no specific tempo markings. The decision of the tempo is usually based on the division of the beats and pulses. Beats are usually grouped into two or three beats per measure, and the pulses would be the subdivision of the beats as you can see below;
With performance a dance number as it were and from research and listening to various recordings, from a dance perspective – many dance pieces are performed nowadays are played too slowly, specially areas of solo works of Bach. The Dance titled are French noble dances, they don’t specify any tempo marks so it is up to the performer to pick a comfortable tempo to play at whether that is slow or fast.
It is evident in modern string recordings, the main problem which leads to the slow tempo is the “romantic” performance practice; frequently, where as a listener you hear too many beats in a bar.
So the decision of making a good starting tempo is difficult and important to consider for my recordings.
With referring to the Romantic period, composers would write the metronome marking along with the musical term i.e. Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major is titled with Allegro moderato and a quaver equalled with 126 metronome marking. Likewise with Sibelius is titled Allegro Moderato with a tempo marking at 45-60.
Having specific markings of tempo gives fine nuances for performers without having to make decisions about what speed to play. They also indicate the different weights of beats which related back to the time signature. However some of these composers reflect back to the Baroque style such as Stravinsky’s violin concerto giving just the title “Toccata” as a supplement of the tempo marking to suggest to the performer that its a realistic speed
markings indicate to the performers the different weights of beats and pulses, which are related to the time signatures.
In Baroque music, the tempo indicates a ‘mood’ or ‘manner’ of performance rather than a speed to play at which Mozart describes;
It is true that at the beginning of every piece special words are written which are designed to characterize it, such as “Allegro (merry),” “Adagio (slow),” and so on.
(Mozart, L. 1756. Versuch einer grundlichen Violinschule, trans. Editha Knocker, as A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing. Augsburg. (London: Oxford University Press, 1948, [p. 33]
Therefore, the dance titles in Baroque music are not “authentic” or reliable for the decisions of tempo, used are not in keeping with and indicate to the performers emotions and tastes such as feeling happy, quiet, or sad.
Scholar Robert Donington comments in his book that the time signature in Baroque dance music is like time- words, and they give performers a little help to choose a good tempo to perform at.
Following the proportional notation from Renaissance and early Baroque, the time signatures indicate the tempo by themselves. According to these time signatures, the tempo of the dance music could be compared and adjusted, and the comparison could make a flexible tempo that would satisfy each dance in a suite.
Bach varied the form of the suite or dance suite in his solo violin partitas and cello suites. The form of the suite for instrumental music was established by Johann Jakob Froberger, where the suite originally contained Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue. Bach followed the tradition and varied the form in each set, heres an example of Partita No. 1 and the one I am studying.
Tempo di Bourée – 2/2 – Double -2/2 -Tempo/Mood – Lively
Partita No.3 E major (BWV 1006)
Prelude – 3/4 – Opening Mood/Tempo
Loure – 6/4 – Tempo/Mood – Walking
Gavotte en Rondeau – 2/2 – Tempo/Mood – Jumpy?
Minuet I & II – 3/4 – Tempo/Mood – Joyful
Bouree – 2/2 – Tempo/Mood – Exciting
Gigue – 6/8 – Tempo/Mood – Home
I strongly feel from the research on dances and the analysis of the suite of solo work that Bach’s intention of the work for solo violin and cello is not for actual dancing but purely instrumental music for events, courts and concerts. These works mark his development away from the commissions for courts.
Quite a lot to take in but hopefully something that can be applied into practice, knowledge and into my other work.
Overall practice is going well this week. Lot of back and forth practice with the two instruments and basic exercises especially on the Hopf to make sure not hearing string changes, bow changes or noises. The instrument is very temperamental so it has been going up and down out of tune – typical gut string nonsense. It is also quite bright in sound so I have to hear every single note like the plague.
A lot of metronome and slow practice of sections and building up. This week its mainly been about balance of the bow as both bows have there pros and cons in terms of needing to work harder or letting it all happen naturally.
I have practiced mainly at 415 on the Hopf and 440 on my modern Guaneri violin but had a try at 390 on the Hopf but the sound was not really what I thought and difficult to get around pitching notes, specially with the key Bach has written this partita in.
I have been working on analysis of articulation and ornamentation (from the blog I wrote about Ornamentation, I have been working hard at analysing other recordings to see what others do – which I will blog about in due course) This is also cause I need to be decisive in what I want to be using in the recording, going in the space knowing exact what to do and being able to change and fix on spot when doing re-takes. I will put up in the next few days once I have some time. Having a few commissions to do so hopefully get updated on my project work via blog soon.
Practice this week has been much more successful – getting around the intonation and passages much cleaner, just a point of making sure I am not rushing so a lot go metronome practice the next coming weeks.
Still practicing on both instruments and varying pitch frequency – 415, 440, 390 and a few others but mainly 440 and 415 so feeling that is the best comparison and the most addressed and reflected on in scholars work and studies.
A little stiff this week in the shoulder, so a lot of physical calming exercises throughout this week to try not get tense and keeping all loose goosey.
I have a lesson coming up in a few weeks with a retired soloist and orchestral player so I feel this will be a good step to for the recording process to get a feel for if what I am doing is applicable for recording.
Over the current weeks have been emailing round different venues about utilising their spaces with my collaboration student for both our projects.
But overall practice is getting there, feel much more comfortable having picked a piece I am more comfortable with. Being a musician choosing repertoire is something that is so tricky at best of times and with time left I feel it was the right thing to do and its sounding like I am going in right direction in terms of getting round all the notes and phrasings I would like for ‘authentic’ side of things.
So today I practiced these sorts of techniques with the Baroque set-up with the Gut Strings now on. Today’s practice overall was okay, a little tense in the shoulders so I am hoping that will subside as I am practicing more since the accident.
Despite these examples are in the Viola Clef they can be applied the same way on any string instrument – and is something I could maybe think about in phrases and stuff.
So as part of meeting one of my objectives “produce a set of variable recordings that evoke the use of authentic methods in contrast to contemporary methods of practice”, I need to have an awareness of the equipment that I will be using for the recording. I’m not sure if I have said already but I will be working with Gavin McDougall, a student at Glasgow Caledonian University – in his honours year too doing a project (see more here). He is trying to produce recordings with keep to the traditions of natural based recording and finding spaces that compliment the production. He is looking to break the barrier of studio based recording and taking modern recording to be natural based to produce best ambience. Our ideas co-inside as I am wanting to produce recordings that are as aesthetic to the style (baroque) and we seem to be on board with plans to meet up and do the recordings. It is quite simple for him to get on with the recordings himself and I to practice for the recordings (haven’t chosen what pieces yet).
We have taken note of the equipment that he will be using for this.
Apple MacBook Pro
Avid Protools 11
2 channel audio interface
a diaphram condensor microphone
zoom audio recorder (room/ambient microphone)
He will be using these sets of microphones because they are multi-functional for his project and has used them before.
The specific microphones he will be using is an Cardioid Capacitor Microphone (AT 3035)
Audio Technica AT3035
This mic works well in real-life situations, its also inexpensive for a large-diaphragm condenser mic and is good at recording violin. Form recording back in the HND I remember placement was one of the most important factors (more so than the mic used). I remember placing the mic over the my left shoulder-which wasn’t in my way, and also yielded a mellower tone.
He also mentioned he may use a SE Electronics X1 condenser microphone – as he has one himself. Again like the AT, its good for capturing that natural essence – ideal for acoustical recording techniques.
SE Electronics X1 Condensor Microphone
From what I remember If you want the violin to cut through the mix and sound a bit more modern, I’d use a small diaphragm condenser (possibly a used ATM450 or like what Gavin has suggested which he has access to)
For a more ‘vintage’ sound or for violin tracks that sit better in a mix, a good ribbon mic is a possibility. I haven’t had direct experience with any and remember my lecturer mentioning Cascade mics but will have a more detailed chat with Gavin when we meet face to face. Theres not a lot we can do till I have learnt what I will be playing.
I’ve also had a think about other mics that would be ideal for this set up of having something overhead – which I may consider buying for myself. (for the moment I will just record via my iPhone for practice and such.
Had a look into the MiC 96K.
MiC 96K Condensor Mic
This Apogee product is a studio quality cardioid condenser microphone, which I can just plug in to a Mac device and record. It is designed for vocal and acoustic instrument recording and is good for recording interviews, podcasts, voice overs, and audio for DSLR video. (which is all ideal for my project objectives and portfolios. It also works with GarageBand.
My only issue is, I do not have a mac, however, my packard bell notebook is going to be replaced by a MacBook Pro so once I get some money together I will get the MacBook and see how funds take me to purchase this microphone. I will also have a chat with Gavin and see what he thinks – as I’m sure he can recommend the most suitable thing for me personally.
Obviously in terms of the project, this will be a learning curve, as I don’t have much experience in Recording so as part of the process in semester 2, I am sure I will learn a lot from the experience and pick into Gavin’s recording head brain.
The pictures below shows roughly the set up I will be most likely following for the recording set up. Again this will be decided nearer the time and with some discussions with Gavin, which hoping to have soon.
lauren hamilton violinist 