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Posted

I'm a student cellist who's been playing for about 7 years now, and I feel more and more confident in my stylistic abilities, but I'm wondering how to make the music "my own". Everyone talks about how master players always bring unique and interesting interpretations of pieces, and I understand why it's important, but as a student who obviously doesn't have a master's grasp on my pieces, how do I actually start taking creative liberties beyond just following what's on the page? I've heard extreme takes on this from various people; some have said students should just play exactly what they're given and not interpret til they've reached a high level, and others have told me to just go with the flow.

Any advice would be appreciated, but I'm especially curious to hear teachers' perspectives on this-how do yall go about encouraging your students' artistic expression while still giving personal guidance?

Posted
10 hours ago, mwu52 said:

how do I actually start taking creative liberties beyond just following what's on the page?

Similar position to you - hobbyist/student, and not remotely claiming to be a virtuoso.

But something I feel I've learned, which you might find useful, is that there's no such thing as "just following what's on the page". The notes on the page aren't the music. They are some instructions for how to create the music. The music itself is what you actually generate with your instrument.

There are a whole load of things that you do that aren't contained in the notes on the page. Even if a composer has put in lots of markings (eg. bowings, fingerings, dynamics etc.) it really doesn't cover everything. Not even close. There are still absolutely loads of choices you personally still have to make.

Things like:

  • How are you going to shape the note, from start to finish? (How do you attack the beginning of it? For longer notes, do you swell it across the length? Really importantly, how are you going to finish it off? Lots of different speeds and ways of taking your bow off the string at the end. I'm really bad at playing a note but then forgetting to bring it to a controlled end.)
  • The combination of bow speed, contact point, pressure, full hair vs tilted hair
  • Bowing hand position - more pronated to get a bit more weight/bite into the note? Or less pronated for a softer sound? (It might be different with a cello bow hold compared to a violin bow hold which is what I play, but I assume there's an equivalent choice to be made.)
  • Pressure of your left hand fingers on the fingerboard. Pressing gently for a fuzzier sound, or harder for a crisper one
  • Dynamics - even if these are all written in by the composer, there's still a lot of choices you individually need to make. If a passage is all mf, you still need to give it a shape, emphasise the more important notes, give it a sense of travel. If there's a < .... > written in, you still need to decide on the intensity/speed of it and the precise start and end point.
  • Adding in the right amount, intensity and depth of vibrato, and knowing when not to use it at all.
  • Intonation - this can be really subtle too. You don't play a violin (in my case, or a cello in your case) like a piano, with every note having an exact pitch that never changes. You're changing them on the fly depending on context. If there's a sharp or flat note that's unusual in that key, you can push it ever so slightly more sharp or flat than you would on a piano to give it a bit more emphasis

That's just a few small things to think about, but I hope you can see that there are so many choices to make, the whole time, which go a long way beyond just what's written on the page by the composer.

Your teacher might have a different attitude, but mine is very keen on getting me to think about all of the above, right from the beginning, and try to build them into a piece as I'm learning it. A lot of our lessons involve her asking me about the choices I've made, getting me to re-think them if they aren't working, or suggesting alternatives.

Btw I'm grade 7 going on grade 8, so you really don't need to be Augustin Hadelich to be thinking about all this stuff, I think it's valid at every level.

Posted

I think you can gain a perspective by

Listening to different interpretations by "master players

reading books or articles by or about the interpretations bofmaster players

and thus developing your own approaches to interpretations.

One interesting book is"Szigeti on the Violin" that presents his approaches to  a range of violin pieces.

Roy Sonne (retired Pittsburgh Symphony first violinist) has several demonstrations on YOUTUBE. His approach to the Accolay Violin Concerto is one of them (originally a DVD at SHAR) is an interesting approach to developing an interpretation by imagining the music as a scenario. This is an approach that I had started to use on other music even before I encountered his demonstration of it with this student concerto.

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Study the score.  Study the orchestral lines. Study the history of the composer. Study the time frame during which the piece was written.  These are things that help shape the music. 

Of course, the tried and true advice to play what is written first is the foundation. 

For example: Start with tempi.  If the piece is in common time and marked allegro, are you going to play it 100 bpm because its what "So-and-so" Master Artist does?  Maybe. But I wouldn't.  I would start at 120 bpm.  that sets the stage for colors and phrases along with how the melody runs.  Then, once you have the tempi, dynamics, accents, etc under your belt (of course with intonation and bowings), ask yourself when was this written?  Beethoven pieces sound different  pre-5th symphony and post-5th symphony.  His First Symphony is very much Mozart and Haydn inspired.  So, I would never play that music with thick , rich vibrato.  Look at what the other instruments play from the score.  Who has the melody?  In the Brahms violin concerto, the piece is symphonic and the soloist IS NOT always the most important line.  

Simply put, there is no bright line rule or method, but you have to think much more broadly than listening to other musicians or "just feeling" things.  A good teacher will often beg the question, "why" is that artistic choice the one you choose.  You better be prepared to answer with research.  My teacher will listen to my response, correct me if I am wrong or a little off, and show me alternatives.  otherwise, I am the boss and my teacher lets me play how I want AS LONG as i can play it how she wants first LOL

 

Posted
On 3/18/2025 at 5:27 AM, mwu52 said:

I'm a student cellist who's been playing for about 7 years now, and I feel more and more confident in my stylistic abilities, but I'm wondering how to make the music "my own". Everyone talks about how master players always bring unique and interesting interpretations of pieces, and I understand why it's important, but as a student who obviously doesn't have a master's grasp on my pieces, how do I actually start taking creative liberties beyond just following what's on the page? I've heard extreme takes on this from various people; some have said students should just play exactly what they're given and not interpret til they've reached a high level, and others have told me to just go with the flow.

Any advice would be appreciated, but I'm especially curious to hear teachers' perspectives on this-how do yall go about encouraging your students' artistic expression while still giving personal guidance?

You could try Oistrakh's recipe : play a piece over and over and...over as close as possible to what is written, with good tone and non-intrusive vibrato and things will eventually fall into place. Unless you are a solid exception you shouldn't beat the public over the head with your "stylistic abilities". Peculiarities of your own tone emission, intonation, articulation, rhythm etc will introduce enough variation to make your interpretation, personal. Think HARD : can you add anything to this ?

 

Posted

Jazz students often copy solos before they come up with their own.

Same thing here.  If you're learning a piece, find 4 recordings and try to pick out elements you really like.  Do they take time somewhere?  Do they slide somewhere?  Is their vibrato a certain way?  What fingering are using (you can usually tell by listening)?  Whatever stands out to you.

And dive deep on a few players.  Once you can recognize a player's particular style, that will give you a sense of what it means to have a particular style.

I'm not sure if you're like my students, but they're all just listening to whatever recording gets served up to them by YouTube or Spotify or whatever.  Before music was streaming, you had to buy recordings and so you would choose which one you wanted and you'd listen to you dozens or hundreds of times.  It would become intimately familiar so that when you heard another recording it sounded "wrong."  I feel like that has been lost.  Music is more available but more anonymous than ever.

 

  • 1 month later...

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