Posted by Bill on November 29, 1999 at 13:52:49:
In Reply to: Six Studies in English Folk Song (HELP) posted by Scott Roberts on November 28, 1999 at 23:38:25:
I performed this piece earlier this semester. Here are a few of the things I found helpful: In the first movement, rubato is very appropriate, maybe even necessary. You're never really playing with the piano for any amount of time, so you have a lot of freedom. This movement feels to me like you're kinda' singing an old melody to yourself, while you're walking somewhere or doing something. So it doesn't really seem like it should be in strict time, and the melody kinda' wanders a bit. it needs to have some motion, but not necessarily strict time. As for cleaning up the slurs in the second movement, I found mouthpiece buzzing very helpful. Buzzing with a full sound, with the pitches as centered as I could helped me a lot. Also, in bar 20 of the last movement, I found it best to intentionally leave the E out and breath. I had to make a compromise somewhere, and that seemed like the best place. If you haven't done so yet, I strongly suggest to listen to Gene Pokorny's recording of this. It's on his album, "Tuba Tracks," on Summit Records. It's really a great recording.
hope that helps,
-Bill