Playing Schumann Again for the First Time

Bobby Mitchell

How can one learn to improvise convincingly within the context of the nineteenth-century piano repertoire? And why is it important to improvise on this repertoire in the twenty-first century? Taking the music of Robert Schumann (1810−56) as a departure point, Playing Schumann Again for the First Time proposes an answer to these questions through methods towards a pianistic practice that is driven by experimentation and strives to continually find more layers where improvisation can take place, both in sounding musical practice and in notation. These practice-based methods are contextualized by a discussion of the presence of improvisation in Western classical musical practice in the nineteenth century. They are then substantiated by an argument to use improvisation as a tool for rethinking the current performance practice of nineteenth-century music. Improvisation itself and the concepts driving this term will also be addressed: improvisation in musical performance will be described as a process guided by a feedback loop between mimesis and morphosis with which the practitioner engages using his or her individual cognitive and embodied approach to listening, forgetting, and conceptualizing; the results of which bear his or her own sonic signature. The knowledge gained in this project lies within the realm of what will be described as improvisation as practice, a category of improvisational behavior that circumvents the need to be presented as art and is rather intended for the development of one’s own music-making.

SCHUMANN TO CHOPIN / CHOPIN TO BRAHMS exhibits Phase B activity

an extemporized transition from Chopin's Waltz in C# minor, Op. 64 No. 2, to Brahms' Intermezzo, Op. 118 No. 2, played on September 12th, 2013:

an extemporized transition from Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien: I. Allegro to Chopin's Waltz in C# minor, Op. 64 No. 2, played on September 12th, 2013:

One hears that a certain harmony might have been attempted in [0:15] and [0:16] but not all of the inner pitches were correctly managed in time. In contrast to the transition above, this performance cannot easily be divided into two halves because it continues in a similar manner throughout. Perhaps because of this continuity, it sounds a little too long and meandering as a whole. The final texture before Brahms' score begins to be performed ends on an F# in the upper voice, which is then harmonized slightly later by new pitches in the inner-voices; although not completely unsatisfactory, the more common realization would be to conclude the upper voice with an E in order to resolve the suspension.

The first half of this transition gives a generally favorable impression while simultaneously sounding like I am almost playing faster than I am able to think of things to play – a feeling that provides certain wrong notes but also lends a sense of excitement to the playing. At circa [0:48] it sounds like I remember that I need to transition from one texture to another, which comes across as extremely abrupt. At [1:14] I arrive in the wrong key; in order to correct this mistake, a final transition from a C minor context up one half-step to C# minor is accomplished satisfactorily, but this extra modulation gives the transition as a whole the feeling that it is somewhat too long.

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