Unfinished Symphony 1st Mvt. Measures 176-184 (Orchestra)

As I played the first movement of this piece this past summer at Avanti Summer Music Fest, there wasn't much to practice for this blog. However, the one run that the violins and violas play together (measures 176-184) has always given me trouble, so I decided to work on it again.

 This time around, I slowed the tempo down during practice to work on the intonation of each note. At Avanti, it was difficult to get every note perfect first, because we took the song at concert tempo at the first rehearsal and never slowed down, and second, because we only had five days to master each piece. The time restraint and the inability to play each song slowly made things besides intonation top priority. It did not help that I was first chair as well, and had to focus on cuing and at least looking like I was playing every note correctly (ha!).  Slowing down the tempo was extremely helpful because I was able to identify when I needed to shift, which shifts I needed to practice, and how to get each shift perfectly in tune.
As well as slowing it down, I also broke the run up in rhythms, putting emphasis on different notes each time. This helped me to shift perfectly each time because it made some shifts faster than others and so on and so forth. Breaking a hard section up in rhythms is something I always find incredibly helpful, and I plan on doing so with the runs in the second movement of this piece.
If you watch the video you will notice that I have a little hiccup around measure 181, and I didn't edit this out or redo the video because this is one spot in particular that I have always struggled with, and I felt it appropriate to label it in the video as something that I will continue to work on.

Clair De Lune Analysis (DP1 Music)

The piece that I chose to listen to and describe is Clair De Lune from Suite Bergamasque by Claude Debussy.
Although I'm one hundred percent certain you've heard it, I've attached a video with the song for reference:

• Right off the bat, I know that Clair De Lune means "moonlight" in French, and because of this I can assume that the piece will have a peaceful, calm, and regal sound. 
• Throughout the piece, there is only one instrument - the piano - and the texture is thin due to this. At times, the texture grows slightly heavier because of the addition of large chords or a moving bass line, but overall the feeling is light.
• For the majority of the piece, the bass line, or left hand, creates harmony for the melody, or the right hand. 
• I believe that the piece is in 9/8, or compound triple meter.
• The piece is lyrical, dramatic, and expressive, and follows a slightly slower tempo: andante. This factors in to the style of the piece, assuming that the way the piece flows was a choice made by the performer. In this particular recording, the musician uses plenty of rubato to emphasize the shape of each phrase. 
• Clair De Lune has an overall major tonality, starting in a major key and ending in one, despite the minor tendencies during the middle sections. 
• The dynamics change throughout the piece; more intense sections had a higher volume, while the peaceful sections had a lower volume. Generally, the bass line and melody questioned and answered each other, and were emphasized by a greater dynamic when "speaking."
• The structure of this piece is not as clear as it is in other pieces that follow a simple ABA type format; it is slightly more complex. At the beginning, there is a small introduction that leads to the main theme (first 30 seconds of the video). The main theme continues until the 1:00 mark, where a build up of sorts begins, and continues until approximately 1:38 where a transition occurs. One would expect for their to be a huge climax after a build up of that magnitude, however the suspense and the tension fizzle away as the transition begins. This section cannot be called more than just a transition because it ends at 1:49, making it only 11 seconds long! Despite its length, this transition is very important because it leads to a next, secondary theme. As opposed to the first theme, this one has a more prominent, moving bass line, and is a bit louder and chaotic despite the overarching lyrical melody. It also introduces a more minor tonality, and is notably longer than the first theme. The theme ends at 3:03, where the first theme reappears with little transition. The only difference between the first time this theme was played and the second time is that there are more accidentals (and minor chords) during the second portion, particularly the chord at 3:37. At 4:10, a variation of the second theme reoccurs, most likely the coda, and closes the piece with the addition of several concluding chords.  

Jane Beckwell