Stages of working on polyphony in music school. "work on polyphony in high school"

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Working on polyphony

Polyphonic repertoire as the basis for auditory education of pianist students in junior and middle classes of children's music schools

POLYPHONY (poly- + Greek phonos - voice, sound) is a type of polyphony in music, based on the equality of the voices that make up the texture, and in which each voice has an independent melodic meaning (a related term is counterpoint). Their combination is subject to the laws of harmony, coordinating the overall sound.

Invemnce (from the Latin inventio find; invention, in the late Latin meaning - [original] invention) - small two- and three-voice polyphonic plays, written in various types of polyphonic technique: in the form of imitation, canon,

Kanomn in music is a polyphonic form in which the melody forms counterpoint to itself. The main technical and compositional technique underlying the canon is called (canonical) imitation

Fumga (from Latin fuga - “flight”, “pursuit”) is a musical form that is highest achievement polyphonic music. In a fugue there are several voices, each of which, in accordance with strict rules, repeats, in basic or modified form, a theme - a short melody that runs through the entire fugue

Subvocal polyphony is characteristic Slavic music, in works of this type it is easy to distinguish the main voice from the accompanying voices; the solo voice is more developed, the remaining voices play the role of accompaniment. Intonationally, they are related to the main voice (there is no such connection in contrasting polyphony). Examples include the plays of M. Krutitsky “In Winter”, D. Kabalevsky “At Night on the River”, D. Levidova “Lullaby”, etc.). The accompanying voices can not only sing along, but also give new character the sound, for example, of Alexandrov’s “Kuma”, at the beginning of which we hear a calm character, at the end - a dance one. The content should be understandable to the student (the words lead to the content).

The next step is to become familiar with the concept of imitation, where the melody appears in different voices alternately. Soprano and bass - imitation (the bass “mimics” the soprano), the melody moves from one voice to another. The simplest examples for acquaintance: Gedicke “Rigodon” op.46 No. 1, K. Longchamp-Drushkevichova “Two Friends”, Myaskovsky “Carefree Song”. In imitative polyphony it is difficult to say which voice is the main one; in interludes it is the top voice. We get acquainted with imitative polyphony at various plays, fuguettes, fugues. Next, we can move on to the concept of canon (i.e., imitation of the entire work). The overlap of votes does not occur immediately. First the top voice, almost finished - the bottom one comes in, then in the middle the 2nd voice. Canon translated from Greek means pattern, rule. Examples can be used as initial material: R. Ledenev. Little Canon (F-dur), Russian folk song “On the River, on the Danube” arranged by S. Lyakhovitskaya and L. Barenboim, I. Khutoryansky “Little Canon” (d-moll), Russian folk song “Oh, you winter » processed by I. Berkovich.

In two-voice polyphonic pieces, try to emphasize the imitation not by dynamics, but by a timbre that is different from the other voice. If the upper voice is played loudly, and the lower voice is played lightly and quietly, then the imitation will be heard more clearly than if it is played loudly. It is this manner of playing that reveals the presence of two independent voices, which is the basis of polyphony. That is, dynamics are not the best means of making a theme clearly discernible in any voice. What is heard is not what is loud, but what has its own special timbre, phrasing, and articulation that is different from another voice. The light sound of the bass voice contrasts well with the sonorous “singing” of the upper one and is perceived more clearly than the loud performance of the imitation. polyphonic repertoire pianist melody

In classes with a student, one should try to include works of different countries and eras in the work, draw the student’s attention to the nationality (hidden songwriting, dancing), reveal the aesthetic richness and artistic charm of polyphony, and teach him to love this music. Polyphonic works should become indispensable material for development musical thinking, for nurturing the student’s initiative and independence and even the key to understanding all musical styles.

So, when working on polyphony, you should take into account - the ability to hear a melody “horizontally”, revealing emotional and intonation expressiveness in it. For very young pianists, the best repertoire is song repertoire. It is the song that is easiest to interest a child, to find with him mutual language. Bright, memorable melodies and rhythms of folk and best modern songs are close to children in character and are available for all types of performance.

From single-voice songs it is logical to move to songs folk character subvocal warehouse, where the second voice is not independent, but only supports the first. Here you can tell the student how these songs were performed among the people: first the singer began, and then the melody, changing it a little, was picked up by the chorus.

At this stage of training, playing in an ensemble with a teacher, simulating folk collective activity, is especially effective. One voice is assigned to the student, the other is played by the teacher. It is also advisable to turn to the synthesis of vocal and piano performance: we sing one voice and play the other.

Single-voice melodies and subvocal plays prepare the child to work on imitative polyphony and contrasting polyphony. Excellent examples of arrangements of folk songs for beginners can be found in such musical anthologies as “Collection of piano pieces, etudes and ensembles for beginners” (compiled by S. Lyakhovitskaya and L. Barenboim), “Piano Pieces on Folk Themes” (compiled by B . Rosengauz), “Collection of polyphonic plays” (compiled by S. Lyakhovitskaya) and others.

At the next stage of pianistic education, the core of the polyphonic repertoire for younger schoolchildren becomes the works of the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Maturity and deep content are combined in Bach's works with accessibility and pianism. The composer specifically wrote many plays as polyphonic exercises for his students, striving to develop polyphonic thinking in them. Such works include “The Music Book of Anna Magdalena Bach”, “Little Preludes and Fugues”, “Inventions and Sinphonies”. The composer sought to ensure that these works were accessible to perception and performance by young musicians. In them, each melodic voice lives independently and is interesting in itself. Without disturbing the sound of the whole and the life of everything piece of music.

Easy polyphonic pieces from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach are the most valuable material for the development of students' hearing and thinking. The largest dance pieces from the Notebook: minuets, polonaises, marches, are distinguished by a rich palette of moods and unusually beautiful melodies. A variety of articulatory and rhythmic nuances.

The timbre - the student's dynamic ideas - is enriched. He becomes familiar with the uniqueness of Bach's dynamics - its step-like nature, when sonority increases with the first note of each new motive.

The requirements for a young pianist’s melodic ear are also becoming more complex. First of all, this concerns the articulatory aspects of the melody. The student's hearing must master such types of melodic articulation as inter-motive and intra-motive. He learns to distinguish between iambic (off-beat) and trochaic motifs (beginning on a strong beat and ending on a weak beat).

Work on “Inventions and Sinphonies” provides even greater opportunities for a pianist’s auditory education, which is also associated with a higher performing level. The purpose of the “Inventions” is formulated by the composer himself: “A conscientious guide in which clavier lovers, especially those eager to learn, are shown a clear way of how to play cleanly not only with two voices, but with further improvement, correctly and well perform the three required voices. By learning at the same time not only good inventions, but also proper development; the main thing is to achieve a melodious manner of playing and at the same time acquire a taste for composition.” From this text it follows what high demands Bach made on the melodic manner of playing and, consequently, on the performer’s ear for melodic and intonation. The real sound of “Inventions” especially expands the student’s stylistic auditory horizons. The auditory imagination plays an important role in imagining the sound of ancient instruments - the harpsichord and clavichord, and the timbral uniqueness of each. In contrast to the subtle melodious sonority of the clavichord, the harpsichord has a sharp, brilliant, abrupt sound. The feeling of the instrumental nature of a particular invention extremely activates the pianist’s ear for timbre and allows one to achieve the possible through the seemingly impossible in the colorful sphere of polyphonic technique.

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Municipal state-financed organization
Additional education
"District Art School"

Methodological report
"Polyphony of J.S. Bach"

Teacher Slobodskova O.A.

village Oktyabrskoye

Working on polyphonic works is an integral part of learning piano performance. Education of polyphonic thinking, polyphonic hearing, the ability to differentiate, and therefore hear and reproduce on an instrument, several sound lines combined with each other in the simultaneous development is one of the most important and most complex sections of musical education.
Working on polyphony is the most difficult part of educating a musician. After all, piano music is all polyphonic in the broad sense of the word. Polyphonic fragments are woven into the fabric of almost any musical work, and often form the basis of the texture. Therefore, it is so important to lead the student to the perception of polyphonic music, to awaken interest in working on it, and to cultivate the ability to hear polyphonic sound. If the student has not acquired sufficient skills in performing polyphonic music, i.e. does not know how to listen and reproduce several melodic lines, his playing will never be artistically complete.
The indifference of students to working on polyphonic music is known to all teachers of children's music schools. How often do beginning musicians perceive polyphony as boring and difficult two-handed exercises! The result is a dry, lifeless performance. This work is difficult, it requires many years of systematic work, great pedagogical patience, and time. You need to start from the very first steps of learning, laying the foundations of polyphonic hearing, which, as we know, develops gradually.
When Anton Rubinstein was asked what was the secret of the magical effect of his playing on the public, he answered: “I spent a lot of work to achieve singing on the piano.” Commenting on this recognition, G. G. Neuhaus remarked: “Golden words! They should be engraved on marble in every piano classroom." The attitude towards the piano as a “singing” instrument united all the great Russian pianists, and now it is the guiding principle of Russian piano pedagogy. Now no one would dare to argue that the requirement of melodious playing is not necessary in the performance of polyphonic works or can be limited in its rights.
Meaningfulness and melodiousness - this is the key to the stylish performance of J. S. Bach's music. “Studying the easy keyboard works of J. S. Bach is an integral part of the work of a student pianist. Pieces from A.M. Bach's Notebook, small preludes and fugues, inventions and symphonies - all these works are familiar to every schoolchild learning to play the piano. The educational significance of Bach's keyboard heritage is especially due to the fact that instructive keyboard works in the work of J. S. Bach are not a series of less significant pieces of low difficulty. The largest keyboard works by Bach are among the instructional works,” wrote I.A. Braudo. Works of the polyphonic style are built on the development of one artistic image, on multiple repetitions of one theme - this core, which contains the entire form of the play. The meaning and characteristic content of the themes of the polyphonic style are aimed at form-building, therefore the themes require the performer to work with thought, which should be aimed at comprehending both the rhythmic structure of the theme and the intervallic one, which is extremely important for understanding its essence.
The two-voice inventions, and the composer has 15 of them, reflected the full power of Bach’s genius, and are a kind of encyclopedia of pianistic art. The lengthy title of the title page of the last edition of the series clearly indicates the role that J. S. Bach pursued in the inventions: “A conscientious guide, in which clavier lovers, especially those eager to learn, are shown a clear way of how to play cleanly not only with two voices, but also with further improvement, correctly and well perform the three required voices, learning at the same time not only good inventions, but also correct development; The main thing is to achieve melodious playing, and at the same time acquire a taste for composition.” The deep meaning of the inventions is what must first be felt and revealed by the performer. A meaning that does not lie on the surface, but lies deep, but which, unfortunately, is often underestimated even now.
Much in understanding these pieces is achieved through appealing to the performing traditions of J. S. Bach’s era, and the first step on this path should be considered the student’s acquaintance with the real sound of those instruments (harpsichord, clavichord) for which the composer wrote his keyboard works. Students should be able to realistically imagine the sound of these instruments. A real sense of their sound enriches our understanding of the composer’s work and helps to reflect means of expression, protects against stylistic mistakes, expands the auditory horizon. If you don’t have the opportunity to get acquainted with these instruments at a concert, you can listen to them in a recording. However, it is important not to forget that one should not blindly imitate these instruments, but seek the most accurate definition of the nature of the pieces, correct articulation and dynamics. In slow, melodious “clavichord” inventions, legato should be continuous, deep and coherent, and in distinct, fast “harpsichord” pieces – unfused, finger-based, preserving the harpsichord’s separateness of sounds.
In pedagogical work, revealing the meaning of Bach's music and his works is of great importance. Without understanding the semantic structures of Bach's works, they do not have the key to reading the specific spiritual, figurative, philosophical and aesthetic content inherent in them, which permeates every element of his work. A. Schwartz wrote: “Without knowing the meaning of the motive, it is often impossible to play the piece at the correct tempo, with the right accents and phrasing." Stable melodic turns of intonation, expressing certain concepts, emotions, ideas, form the basis of the musical language of the great composer. The semantic world of Bach's music is revealed through musical symbolism. The concept of a symbol cannot be unambiguously defined due to its complexity and versatility. Bach's symbolism develops in line with the aesthetics of the Baroque era. It is characterized by extensive use of symbols. The literal translation of this word from Italian means “strange, bizarre, pretentious.” Most often it is used in relation to architecture, where Baroque is a symbol of grandeur and splendor.
The life and work of J. S. Bach are inextricably linked with the Protestant chorale and his religion, and his activities as a church musician. He constantly worked with the chorale in a variety of genres. It is quite natural that the Protestant chorale became an integral part of Bach’s musical language. Based on the study of the composer’s cantata-oratorio work, identifying analogies and motivic connections between these works and his clavier and instrumental works, and the use of choral quotations and musical rhetorical figures in them, B. L. Yavorsky developed a system of Bach’s musical symbols. Here are some of them:
The rapid ascending and descending movements expressed the flight of angels;
Short, fast, sweeping, breaking figures depicted rejoicing;
The same, but not too fast figures - calm contentment;
Jumps down at large intervals - sevenths, nones - senile infirmity. The octave is considered a sign of calm and well-being.
Even chromaticism of 5-7 sounds – acute sadness, pain;
Descending down two sounds - quiet sadness, worthy grief;
Trill-like movement - fun, laughter.
As we can see, musical symbols and choral melodies have a clear semantic content. Reading them allows you to decipher the musical text and fill it with a spiritual program. True music is always programmatic, its program is a reflection of the process of the invisible life of the spirit. From this we can conclude that it is important to introduce the student to this musical symbolism in order to more deeply understand the meaning of Bach's genius creation.
Works of the ancient polyphonic style are built on the development of one artistic image, on multiple repetitions of the theme - this core, which contains the entire form of the play. The meaning and characteristic content of the themes of this style are aimed at shaping. Therefore, themes require from the performer, first of all, the work of thought, which should be aimed at comprehending both the rhythmic structure of the theme and the intellectual structure, which is extremely important for understanding its essence. It follows that the student’s attention to the topic should be riveted even before the analysis of the play begins. This approach radically changes the student’s attitude towards inventions, as it is based on specific knowledge, preliminary and thorough analysis of the topic itself and its transformations in the work.
When working on the works of J. S. Bach, the following stages are very important:
Articulation – accurate, clear pronunciation of the melody;
Dynamics – terrace-like;
Fingering is subject to articulation and is aimed at identifying the convexity and distinctness of motivic formations.
The student's attention should be focused on the topic. By analyzing it, tracing its multiple transformations, the student solves a kind of mental problem. The active work of thought will certainly cause a corresponding influx of emotions - this is the inevitable consequence of any. Even the most basic creative effort. The student analyzes the topic independently or with the help of a teacher, determines its boundaries and nature. The main method of working on a theme is to work at a slow pace, each motive, even submotive, separately, in order to feel and meaningfully convey the full depth intonation expressiveness. A certain time should be allotted for an exercise in which the student first performs only the theme (in both voices), and the teacher performs the opposite, then vice versa. But any exercise should not turn into meaningless play. It is necessary to direct the student’s attention to the intonation of the topic and counterposition. Memorizing each voice by heart is absolutely necessary, since work on polyphony is, first of all, work on a single-voice melodic line, saturated with its own special inner life, into which you need to join, feel, and only after that begin to combine the voices.
The student should also explain such an unknown concept as intermotivic articulation, which is used to separate one motive from another using caesura. The skills of correct division of melody were given great importance in Bach's era. This is what F. Couperin wrote in the preface to the collection of his plays: “Without hearing this little pause, people delicate taste they will feel that something is missing in the performance.” It is necessary to introduce the student to different ways of indicating intermotivic caesura:
Two vertical lines;
End of the league;
A staccato sign on the note before the caesura.
In the very first lessons, the teacher must trace, together with the student, the development of the theme, all its transformations in each voice. A very significant point in the performance of Bach's polyphony is the fingering. Right choice fingers - a very important condition for competent, expressive performance. It should be aimed at identifying the convexity and distinctness of motivic formations. The correct solution to this issue is suggested by the performing tradition of the era of J.S. Bach, when articulation was the main means of expression.

List of used literature:

Kalinina N.P. Keyboard music at a music school. M., 2006
Nosina V.B. Symbolism of J. S. Bach's music. M., 2006
Shornikova M. Musical literature. Development of Western European music. "Phoenix", 2007.

Municipal budgetary institution of additional education of the resort city of Kislovodsk “Children’s music school No. 2” Methodological report “Work on the polyphony of I.S. Bach in the children's music school" Work was performed by: Teacher of the piano department of MBUDO, Kislovodsk "Children's Music School No. 2" Pashkina Elena Nikolaevna, Kislovodsk, 2016. 1 Polyphony is a type of polyphony, which is a combination in the simultaneous sound of two or more melodies so that they alternately become leading in carrying out the theme in the exposition of a fugue: fluidity, discrepancy in cadences and caesuras of climaxes and accents in different voices. The area of ​​musical art based on this type of polyphony is “polyphonic music.” Polyphony of the Baroque era in the 18th century was called “free style”, characterized by an interest in the inner world of man. The predominance of instrumentalism stimulated the development of organ chorale arrangements, polyphonic variations, as well as passacaglia, fantasies, toccatas, canzones, from which the fugue was formed in the 17th century. Fugue (from the Latin “running”) is based on the imitation of one or more themes in all voices according to a certain tonal-harmonic plan. Fugue is the highest form of polyphony. Imitation (from the Latin Immitato - “imitation”) is the repetition of a theme or melodic turn in any voice, directly behind other voices. A melody that sounds simultaneously with the theme of a fugue or other polyphonic work is a counterposition. Stretta (Italian stretta - “compression”) is a close continuation of a theme in several voices: the theme enters in the next voice before it ends in the previous one. The merging of polyphony with chordal harmony, the involvement of tonal harmonic development, the interaction of polyphonic and homophonic forms - all this opened up prospects for the further renewal of polyphony, the main trends of which were concentrated in the works of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. Working on polyphonic compositions in a music school has a number of difficulties, but also fascinating features, so familiarization with 2 such compositions should begin from the very beginning of learning to play the piano: from simple to complex. Bach repeatedly emphasized the need for melodious performance of keyboard music. The melodious manner of playing Bach's works is precisely characteristic of our pianistic school and in many works is precisely opposed to playing with a continuous non legato or with a too heavy deep sound. Such playing does not at all evoke a feeling of real melodiousness and does not contribute to the perception of each voice in its independent development. You need to begin analyzing a polyphonic work by studying each head separately. To understand how Bach's singing should be, Matteson names four basic properties of melody: lightness, pleasantness, clarity and fluidity. Particular attention should be paid to lightness - this does not mean lightness of content, but ease of movement. Along with ease, clarity (clarity) stands out as one of the most important characteristics of a melody. Correct performance requires the highest degree of clarity in the extraction of sounds and in the pronunciation of words” - that is, the correct articulation of motives and phrases is very important. It is interesting to note that Bach himself seemed to be very interested in the idea of ​​comparing music with speech. He was well acquainted with the ancient Roman theories of rhetoric, could talk about them for hours and even tried to apply these theories to musical performance. The dynamics during the performance of Bach's works should, first of all, be aimed at revealing the independence of each voice. Of course, it is necessary to achieve a certain color for each voice, and within the appropriate color, the voice must have its own individual dynamic line, determined by the melody. Maintaining reasonable measures and avoiding any exaggeration is very important when performing Bach's music, because... This is precisely where 3 one of the main aesthetic principles of that era lies, distinguishing Bach’s art from the music of subsequent eras, in particular from the romantic. It is necessary to cultivate a sense of proportion and style in students. After all, it is not uncommon for us to encounter such student performances of Bach’s music, in which in a short period there is a huge range of sonority - from pp to ff, changes in tempo, unjustified accelerations and decelerations. But these icons of modern art were apparently not held in high esteem two centuries ago. In their treatises on the art of playing the harpsichord, the authors always and above all recommended beauty, subtlety and precision. Bach himself did not strive to achieve forced sonority, but a timbre that was “as flexible as possible.” Let us remember what they said about Bach’s playing: “When he wanted to express strong emotions, he did it not like many others - by exaggerated force of impact - but ... by internal artistic means.” When learning, the most suitable are various gradations of piano - with a good feeling of the fingertips. At the same time, it is easier to hear every voice and the hearing does not become tired. The correct tempo of the piece also requires special attention. Of course, extremely fast tempos should be avoided, but extremely slow tempos are also unacceptable: the idea that all fast tempos used to be much slower than now is hardly true. Throughout the piece, the tempo should generally be uniform, but not frozen - it should be remembered that the basis of music is not counting, but the free breathing of melodic thought, pushing with a rhythmic impulse and not constrained by the bar line. It is important to listen carefully to the polyphonic fabric. In order to hear more intense episodes, the student will have to involuntarily 4 slow down the movement a little, and, conversely, in more rarefied places, return to the main movement. The same applies to conclusions - there is no need to specifically require slowdown, you should simply show the student the entire structure of this conclusion, pay attention to the smallest details, invite him to listen to them. With such a sensitive attitude to the musical fabric, the tempo of the performance will not be frozen, but will change slightly - like breathing. Melismas in polyphony are a separate topic. It is impossible to agree with their arbitrary decoding - after all, Bach himself was a supporter of accuracy and in a number of works he even wrote out turns in notes that could be notated with one or another symbol. On the other hand, Bach (according to Kreutz) wrote out the symbols of decorations rather carelessly, relying mainly on the experience of the performers. The table of decorations inscribed by Bach in his own hand in the “Wilhelm Friedemn Music Book” cannot be considered as a panacea for all ills - after all, it was intended for the primary education. Surely Bach himself viewed it only as a set of rules that were the starting point for further improvement (this is evidenced by the fact that Bach did not “create” anything here, but almost rewrote this table from the French theorist d’Anglebert). In the future melismatics entered the student's consciousness as a natural part of music - the main role in teaching was played by the teacher's visual demonstration. Apparently, every teacher should be more inquisitive and study not only Bach's table, but also ancient treatises, primarily F.E. Bach , in which the formulas of the decorations are written out in the text. "Little Preludes and Fugues" provide irreplaceable material for initial familiarization. Subsequent study with a more Bachian complex keyboard style of Bach's music must certainly include associations with what has been covered earlier, finding parallels in simpler pieces In the absence of many instructions in the notes and with a lost living performing tradition, only the constant development of the fundamentals received at the beginning of training, the constant attraction of the student’s attention to various aspects of performance (tempo, dynamics, decorations, etc.) will make it possible to develop a real performing understanding of Bach’s music. Detention is one of the foundations of all Bach polyphony. In Prelude No. 6 d-moll and No. 7 e-moll, literally the entire fabric consists of arrests, which are the most important impetus for development here. These detentions cannot be performed with a flat, inexpressive sound. As a demonstration, you should take 3-4 bars of the e-moll prelude and show the student all three elements: 1) preparation (E - in the third quarter), 2) retention (first quarter), 3) resolution (second quarter). Then you need to work on the upper voice: take E intensely and then very coherently, with a slight lift of the hand, extract D a little more quietly. Do the same, adding a middle voice, in which you need to lean somewhat on the first beat of F. Likewise, the student should work on arrests throughout the play. In the future, he will encounter detentions many times, and with such work they will never pass by him, but will be perceived by him as the most active and expressive element of language. To the most difficult problems (especially on early stage training) belongs to the real holding (with fingers) of all voices. Unfortunately, not all teachers are uncompromising about voice disorders. How often do students confuse their voices when playing, one voice directly transforms into another, etc. It is necessary to teach the correct work from the very beginning - to play each voice separately, to play two voices with two hands that should be performed with one hand. In this case, it is necessary 6 for the timbre difference between these voices to immediately become clear. The fingers should feel this difference - turning or tilting the hand will help transfer the support to the upper or lower voice. It is very useful to sometimes stop the student so that he can hear the entire vertical and check whether all his voices are heard. In Prelude No. 10 gmoll and No. 4 –D-major, the right hand leads the duet of two voices almost throughout. Teaching a little pianist to hear all this fabric, to feel all the sustained notes not as stops in movement, but as its integral element is a task that justifies any expenditure of labor and time. It was Bach who was one of the first German composers, in whose work a new era was expressed, characterized by an interest in man, in the human personality. This is primarily visible in his themes - bright, expressive, complex altered harmonies, and bizarre rhythmic outlines. And in pedagogical activity Bach feels like a new approach. If we take his pedagogical works such as the inventions, then one of the main tasks that Bach set for these plays was to instill in his students a “taste for writing.” Since here the music is of a completely new, individual genre and form, an awakening personality and creative intuition will be consciously nurtured on it. The inventions and symphonies are known in three editions. In 1720, the composer entered many of these works into the Notebook of his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, where the two-voice pieces, originally called preambles (that is, preludes, introductions), were placed separately from the three-voice pieces, then called “fantasies.” The second author's edition was preserved only in a copy of one of Bach's students. The richly ornamented pieces in this version were arranged exclusively by key: each three-voice piece was preceded by a two-voice piece of the same key. In the third, final edition of 1723, Bach again divided the inventions and symphonies 7 in Wilhelm Friedemann's Notebook, the first half of which was located on the steps up to major scale : C, d, e, F, G, a, then - in descending and altered steps in tonalities of the second degree of kinship: h, B, A, g, f, E, Es, D, s. The order of three-voice inventions (called fantasies here) is similar. In the final version, Bach arranges them differently: C, c, D, d, E, e, F, f, G, g; A, a, B, h. As we see, they are located this time regardless of the relationship of tonalities, simply in an ascending sequence with the filling of a number of chromatic steps. Apparently, Bach applied here - with the necessary modifications - the principle of arrangement that he had already found for the Well-Tempered Clavier a year earlier (in 1722). The composer's two-time return to this collection suggests that he attached particular importance to the Inventions and Symphonies. The definition of invention, which was almost never used in the music of that time, comes from the Latin invention, invention, invention. Subsequently, this name was arbitrarily extended by the editors of Bach's works to symphonies, which in this way turned into three-part inventions. In piano pedagogy, the term “Symphony” does not create any inconvenience, while the current name “three-part invention” does not quite legitimately unite two types of pieces, which were strictly distinguished by their author. Despite the educational purpose of “inventions and symphonies,” their expressive sphere is unusually wide. “..Each of these plays is a miracle in itself and is unlike any other,” wrote A. Schweitzer, adding that these thirty plays could have been created “only by a genius with an infinitely rich inner world.” About what goal he pursued Bach in his “Inventions” is clearly evidenced by the lengthy text of the title page of the last edition of the cycle: “A conscientious guide in which clavier lovers, especially those eager to learn, are shown a clear way to play cleanly not only with two voices, but with further improvement correctly and perform well the three required voices, learning at the same time not only good inventions, but also correct development; the main thing is to achieve a melodious manner of playing and at the same time acquire a taste for composition. Composed by Johann Seb. Bach, the Grand-Ducal Kapellmeister of Anhalt-Keten. From the birth of Christ the year 1723.” For us this annotated title is of double interest. It shows how highly the creator of “Inventions” valued the melodious style of playing. To cultivate such a manner, to teach the performance of polyphony and to instill a penchant for composition - this is why “Inventions and Symphonies” were written. However, the first of the tasks formulated by the composer himself was not always adequately taken into account by piano pedagogy. Here is what F. Busoni wrote, for example, almost 80 years ago: “A detailed examination of the usual, universally practiced system of musical training led me to the conviction that Bach’s inventions in most cases are intended only to serve as dry piano-technical material for beginners , and that on the part of gentlemen piano teachers little and rarely is anything done to awaken in students an understanding of the deep meaning of these Bach creations.” The deep meaning of the inventions is what must first be felt and revealed by the performer, a meaning that does not lie on the surface and, unfortunately, is often underestimated even now. Much in understanding these pieces is achieved through appealing to the performing traditions of Bach’s era, and the first step on this path should be considered the student’s acquaintance with the real sound of those instruments (harpsichord, clavichord) for which Bach wrote his clavier works. A real sense of their sound enriches our “Imagination of the composer’s work, helps select expressive means, protects against stylistic errors, and expands the auditory horizon.” In this regard, an important and not yet resolved question arises about what instruments Bach intended his “Inventions” and other works for. This question has been repeatedly raised in the literature on Bach. Conflicting evidence, conjectures and points of view, often one-sided, were expressed. It is obvious that only a strictly differentiated approach to each work, consideration of its composition and coloring will in many cases allow one to come to fairly substantiated conclusions. It goes without saying that the student should know everything essential about both the harpsichord and the clavichord. Clavichord - small musical instrument with a quiet sound corresponding to its size. When you press a clavichord key, one string associated with this key is sounded. The clavichord is not characterized by bright colors and sound contrasts. However, depending on the nature of the keystroke, the melody played on the clavichord may be given some sonic flexibility, and even more, a certain vibration may be imparted to the tones of the melody. Advantages of the device: and the slightest disadvantages: a change in the clavichord's pressure on the key causes a sensitive difference in sound shades, since the string, which the metal tip touches when pressing the key (Pant), is located, as it were, directly under the performer's finger. The instrument can convey any subtle dynamic shades, their gradualness - crescendo and diminuendo - depends entirely on the will of the performer. The second advantage of the clavichord is the possibility of very melodious, coherent playing. The disadvantages include a dull and weak sound, although the sound is gentle, soft and warm. However, such a dull tone is not at all suitable for the performance of a number of polyphonic works, in which each voice in the general movement must be heard with extreme clarity. In contrast to the subtle and soulful sonority of the clavichord, the harpsichord has a more sonorous and brilliant playing. Sound production on a harpsichord is made by touching the string with a feather or a metal rod. The harpsichord has a sharp, brilliant, piercing, but abrupt sound. Its inherent gradations of sonority are achieved by changing keyboards (manuals). One for producing a forte sound, the other for a piano. 10 The arrangement of the keyboards in the instrument is terrace-shaped, one above the other. It is known that Bach also used improved harpsichords with a pedal keyboard, which had a special device (copula) for connecting the upper keyboard with the lower one. The harpsichord sounds great in fast pieces with continuous uniformity of movement or toccata-type pieces (prelude from Volume 1 of the KhTK in A minor). On the contrary, due to the short, abrupt sound, it cannot be used to perform pieces that require a melodious, drawn-out sound, gradual nuances. Only the clavichord could bring to life the inventions Es-dur, F-dur, G-dur, A-dur. Since the sense of the instrumental nature of inventions and symphonies plays a very important role in determining their interpretation, our students, of course, should be knowledgeable in this area, moreover, they should really imagine the sound of both instruments. However, it is important not to forget that it is not blind imitation that dictates turning to the harpsichord or clavichord, but only the search for the most accurate definition of the character of the pieces, correct articulation and dynamics. In slow melodious clavichord inventions it is legato-fused, deeply coherent, and in distinct fast harpsichord pieces it is unfused, finger-like, preserving the harpsichord separation of sounds. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote “Inventions and Symphonies” for his students as preparatory exercises before the fugue to achieve complete independence of the fingers and develop the ability to perform complex polyphonic music on the harpsichord. The composer chose the title for his plays accurately, since his inventions are truly full of inventions, witty combinations and alternations of voices. The term was first used by the composer Clément Janequin in the 16th century. How can we perform Bach's works written for harpsichord and clavichord on our piano? How to use the rich dynamic means that it possesses and which ancient keyboard instruments did not have? There can be no question of abandoning these funds. One of the wonderful properties of the piano is the ability to perform works from a wide variety of eras and styles on it. And it is precisely the ability to find on the piano the means necessary to perform a composition various styles , is one of the essential components of piano mastery. It is necessary, first of all, to point out that when we talk about the use of piano dynamics in the performance of harpsichord music, we do not mean an attempt to imitate the sonority of ancient instruments on the piano; This is not about onomatopoeia, but about finding in the piano the dynamic techniques necessary for the truthful performance of Bach’s harpsichord works. Thus, the teacher’s first concern will be to teach the student to extract from the piano a certain sonority that is necessary in this case. I would call this skill the ability to organize sonority according to a chosen plan, the ability to logically instrument the piano. The development of a specific instrumentation that corresponds to the very essence of the work will be helped, first of all, by a clear understanding of the fact that different works may require the use of different piano colors for their performance. It is sometimes convenient to make this difference clear to the student through figurative comparisons. For example, the solemn, festive Little Prelude in C major can naturally be compared with a short overture for orchestra, in which both trumpets and timpani take part. The thoughtful Little Prelude in e minor can naturally be compared to a piece for a small chamber ensemble, in which the melody of the solo oboe is accompanied by string instruments. The very understanding of the general nature of the sonority required for a given work will help the student develop the demandingness of his hearing, and will help direct this demandingness towards the implementation of the required sound. We see that the means of piano dynamics applied to the performance of a certain melody naturally fall into two groups that perform different functions. In one case, a certain instrumentation of the melody is created using dynamics. We will call the shades of this group instrumental shades. On the other hand, dynamic means can serve a flexible, expressive and grammatically correct performance of the melody. The shades of this group will be called melodic shades. Changing the registers and keyboards of the harpsichord is a means of creating instrumental shades. The playing of the clavichord is devoid of bright contrasts. However, the dynamic clavichord gives the performer the means to impart subtlety, flexibility and spirituality to the melody. The piano cannot compete with the harpsichord in its ability to accurately create contrasting timbres, but the piano is superior to the harpsichord in its ability to add dynamic flexibility to a melody. And in this respect, the piano seems to develop what is inherent in the second ancient instrument - the clavichord. Thus, the piano provides, to some extent, the opportunity to combine the contrasting instrumentation of the harpsichord with the flexible, within this instrumentation, performance of the melody by the clavichord. Melodic shades by their very structure differ from instrumental ones. They are more detailed, as they correspond to all the turns of the melody. Sometimes they are small: after all, they should not go beyond the limits indicated by this instrumentation. If the shades that play the role of instrumental ones are not difficult to identify in the musical text, then the melodic shades are difficult, and sometimes impossible, to fix. They should obviously be discussed at the keyboard, and a teacher rather than an editor can help develop them. With all this, we can observe the difference between melodic shades and instrumental shades. If when creating instrumentation one should achieve clear differences in the strength of sonority, recognize and practice them, then in melodic shades the goal is the opposite - to carry them out so that they are perceived not as a difference in the strength of sonority, but as a difference in the expressiveness of intonations. Is all this difficult? Too difficult? Don't think. A leader should not be afraid of difficulties when it comes to teaching a child to “speak out” at the piano. A child can learn this art. They just need to be guided wisely and patiently. From the very beginning of learning, it is important to take some path of ordering. Once this order is introduced in the very first steps of training, it will be possible to develop a demanding ear that will be able to subsequently resolve more complex issues. I repeat, it’s not a matter of rules, but of cultivating an ear that is demanding and strives for order. If we turn to the originals of Bach's works - to cantatas, orchestral suites, concertos - then in most cases we will encounter scores equipped with strokes. Bach also attached great importance to the designation of strokes in orchestral parts. So, for example, sometimes, due to lack of time, he released games from his hands that were not corrected, but with the strokes added. If Bach attached such importance to the articulation of his music, then how can one explain that, along with scores equipped with lines and, there are scores devoid of line instructions? The existence of undesignated texts does not mean, however, that the works recorded in them do not need a certain articulation. Both marked and unmarked scores for some reason were created by the same author, and in any case articulation remains the most important life basis performance of Bach's music. We will begin our remarks on articulation with a question that most often arises in school practice, namely: what articulatory manner is the main one when performing Bach’s clavier works? This means an alternative between two manners - the manners 14 of a connected game and a dissected game. It is obvious that both of these opinions are incorrect in their one-sidedness. It is pointless to decide whether a student should be taught to play forte or piano, whether he should be taught to play allegro or adagio. It is clear that performance requires mastery of both full sonorous light play, fast playing, and calm playing. But it is also pointless to solve the question: what is characteristic of Bach - legato or non legato? The art of articulating clavier works requires the development of both coherent and dissected playing, the development of these techniques, and their skillful opposition. It is best to start studying articulation by studying two-voice works, in which each voice is assigned its own special articulatory coloring. This is precisely the case demonstrated by the examples of the Sinfonia in A minor, the allemande from the French Suite No. 6, and the Little Preludes in E major and D major. The main intermotivic articulation is the caesura. Establish a caesura between motives, take a “breath” before the introduction of a new motive - is it possible to imagine a simpler means of developing in the student a clear idea of ​​the motivic structure of a melody! The most undoubted type of caesura is the pause between motives designated by the author (example 39, Prelude W. K. I b-moll). Because the we're talking about about the execution of motives, the student should be taught to distinguish between the main types of motives. (Of course, at what point and in what amount information about the structure of motives should be communicated to the student, the teacher must decide). In this case, you should use the information that the student receives in solfeggio and theory classes. In any case, the student must distinguish: 1. Iambic motives, which go from weak to strong tenses and are often called beats; 2. The motives are trochaic, starting on the strong beat and ending on the weak beat. 15 But one should not exaggerate the difficulties of studying the entire variety of strokes. Practice shows that a student who has mastered the game legato well has already prepared himself to master staccato. Anyone who has developed staccatissimo will not be difficult to achieve a more extended non legato. After all, the point is only to teach the student to listen to how he articulates, to teach him to understand that the nature of the removal of the hand from the key has expressive meaning. We know that Bach himself intended the easy keyboard pieces not for concerts, but for teaching. And we must consider the real tempo of an invention, a small prelude, a minuet, a march - the tempo that is most useful for the student at the moment. What pace is most useful at the moment? The tempo at which the piece is best performed by the student. After all, if we do not consider it necessary at all levels of study to strive for the best performance, then it turns out that we hope through large number repetitions of bad performance to achieve good performance. So, suppose we have accepted that the correct tempo is that very leisurely tempo at which the student plays the piece best. One should not, however, imagine this slow training tempo as merely a preparation for the final tempo. Study tempo has as its main goal not preparation for a faster tempo, it pursues a deeper goal: to be preparation for understanding music. The thought of achieving speed contains many harmful things. It creates the misconception that the student's main goal is to move from a slower pace to a faster one. This idea obscures the main purpose of calm tempos - to provide an opportunity to listen to the music. What the student gains by working at a slow tempo—an understanding of music—is the most essential. And it is important to teach him that it is the understanding of music 16 that he considers his main achievement, something that should remain and be consolidated in all future work. Achieving a faster tempo he should consider a less significant circumstance and, moreover, permissible only if the basic quality of performance is not violated. The importance of a restrained pace is evident at all stages of work. It happens that a student who plays things quickly cannot play them slowly. Sometimes this circumstance is not unexpected even for him. He is aware of it, declares it, and is even dissatisfied if the director invites him to play a piece not at an easy fast tempo for him, but at a “difficult” slow one. All this contradicts the basic requirements of study. Execution in fast pace, if the performance in slow still doesn’t fit. Another frequently occurring case. The student can complete the task at a slow pace, or he can complete it at a fast pace. However, it is difficult to perform at a medium tempo. This again indicates a flaw, that the developed mechanisms of movement do not obey the student’s hearing and thinking. They only work at certain specific tempo levels. It is necessary to ensure that the student, once he has mastered a given work at a slow tempo, does not immediately move on to a fast tempo, but carries out the work through all medium tempos, maintaining in each of them the meaningfulness and naturalness that he acquired already at the first stage of work. Ways to indicate tempo (and character). Let's consider three ways: 1) generally accepted Italian terms; 2) descriptive expressions in the native language; 3) metronome instructions. A few words about using a metronome in your studies. The metronome makes it possible to study the instructions of various editors, compare your own ideas about tempo with these instructions, and make estimates and check the tempo from time to time; to check how well the tempo is maintained, then 17 this is how different the tempo at which the game ended is from the tempo at which it began, to what extent the tempo is maintained in different sections of the work. We see that the metronome as a teaching tool allows for a number of checks. There is no need to allow the student to play an entire piece to a metronome. It would be harmful. However, it is necessary to require the student to be able to play to a metronome. The inability to coordinate your playing with the beats of the metronome should be considered some kind of disadvantage that you should strive to eliminate. Without starting a conversation about work on innovations, let us note important point when working on polyphony - fingering. It is important to carefully consider the fingering, use the best individual characteristics of the student’s hand, and ensure more perfect fulfillment of the required artistic tasks. The problem arises in polyphonic music when two voices are played in one hand. In such cases, complex fingering techniques are used: 1. Silent substitution 2. Shifting (5 through 4) 3. Sliding fingers. In three-voice inventions, the student is faced with a new challenge regarding fingering. Distribution of the average voice between the right and left hand parts. The accuracy and smoothness of voice production depends on the successful solution of this problem. Fingering in keyboard works early music has a number of specific features. It is interesting to take into account those techniques that were especially widespread in the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries. We are talking about performing scale sequences without using the first finger. So, for example, the ascending sequence 18 in right hand can be performed with fingering: 3, 4, 3, 4; descending - fingering: 3, 2, 3, 2. These techniques give the game greater flexibility. They retain their role in modern pianism. Particular attention should be paid to fingering, which itself predetermines this or that phrasing. A typical example is the beginning of the C-dur Invention. From the same Invention, motive b is shown not through a caesura, but through a slight accentuation of the first tone of the motive. This accentuation can be facilitated, as already indicated above, by a certain fingering, namely the use of the first (heaviest) finger on the first tone of each motive. When considering the fingering of a coherently performed three-voice polyphonic work, the first thing to determine is the performance of the middle voice. It is clear that the lower voice is performed with the left hand, the upper voice with the right. As for the middle voice, for the most part it can be distributed between two hands so that each can coherently perform the two-voice fragment assigned to it. However, the piano has a tool that helps you combine relaxed, free hand movements with a coherent sound. We are talking about the right pedal of the piano. Freeing up your hand and achieving a coherent sound are not the only functions of the pedal in performing piano polyphony. However, this topic is beyond the scope of this work. I will limit myself here to three comments: 1. A pedal taken at a strong time can pursue the goal of prolonging chord tones. Doesn't this prolongation create some harmonic support, similar to the bass, so characteristic of Bach's polyphony? However, the piano has a tool that helps you combine relaxed, free hand movements with a coherent sound. We are talking about the right pedal of the piano. 19 Freeing your hand and achieving a coherent sound are not the only functions of the pedal in performing piano polyphony. However, this topic is beyond the scope of this work. I will limit myself here to three comments: 1. A pedal taken at a strong time can pursue the goal of prolonging chord tones. Doesn't this prolongation create some harmonic support, similar to the digital bass so characteristic of Bach's polyphony? 2. A pedal taken at a weak time and removed at a strong one emphasizes the movement of the beats (this technique is most clearly developed in Petri’s editions). 3. The pedal enriches the sound of the piano, which has poorer overtones than the harpsichord, clavichord and organ. Invention (from lat. inventio find, invention) - small two- and three-voice polyphonic plays, written in various types of polyphonic technique. The most famous are Bach's 15 two-voice "symphonies". If the word “symphony” (Greek consonance) was already widespread, denoting mostly an instrumental work, then the word “invention” when applied to music was rare, and was usually used in the art of rhetoric, where it meant finding arguments that can be used to development of thought. The latest manuscript that is an indisputable autograph is dated 1723. In it, the plays are arranged in the order in which they are known from all editions; two-voice ones are called inventions, three-voice ones are called sinphonies. This manuscript undoubtedly represents the author's final version, as evidenced by the care with which it was prepared and the fact that it is equipped with a title page, the title of which sets out in detail the pedagogical objectives of this collection. In these pieces, Bach combines learning to play an instrument (playing polyphony, developing melodious sound production) with teaching composition 20 (natural development, not bound by generally accepted patterns, interesting searches for new forms). But the inventions, despite their utilitarian and pedagogical purpose, are distinguished by their rich figurative content - these are true masterpieces of musical art. Not only a student, but also a mature musician, returning to the inventions, will find something new for himself every time. Some numbers (especially 2-voice inventions, for the perception of which the work of inner hearing and imagination is so important, supplementing the really missing middle voices) require such internal concentration that they can only be truly understood by adults. Having created such a wonderful pedagogical collection, Bach limited himself to recording notes and decorations, details as an indication, leaving such important dynamics, tempo, phrasing, fingerings, and decoding of decorations not recorded. All this information was communicated to students in class. It is known from the words of Bach’s students what importance the composer attached to the live performance and play of the teacher. It is noteworthy that Bach did not even indicate what instrument these works were intended for, because the clavier is a generic concept and in Bach’s time included two completely different strings keyboard instrument - harpsichord and clavichord. Bach's oral "performing tradition" has long ceased to exist, so one of the important tasks is the pedagogical edition of the text, recreating the author's intentions with a certain degree of reliability. Unfortunately, one of the most common editions in pedagogical practice, even of our time, is the first edition of Karl Czerny in 1840. K. Czerny, a student of Beethoven, a brilliant piano teacher (one of his students was F. Liszt) created a kind of edition of the works of Bach (1791-1857). Its advantages were thoughtful fingering, convenient distribution of voices between hands. 21 But Czerny often “corrects” Bach: smoothes out harmonic “roughness”, softens sudden modulations, changes decorations. In this edition there is no lively, characteristic phrasing - continuous legato dominates, frequent changes of cresc and dim predominate. The tempos are exaggeratedly fast, there are a lot of slowdowns of the tempo. Czerny claimed that in his editions of Bach's works he reproduced from memory the features of Beethoven's performance of these works. Czerny's editors gave pianists a completely distorted, false portrait of the great composer. The problem of interpreting Bach's works occupied one of the central places in the work of Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) - a multi-talented person, one of the greatest pianists of his time, composer, piano teacher, expert in many languages, and a musical writer on aesthetics. Busoni provides his editions not only with performance instructions (phrasing, dynamics, fingering, decoding of decorations), but also with extensive notes. In the notes to the inventions, much space is devoted to the analysis of form. Sometimes we advise you to mentally discard some section or, conversely, continue development in order to clearly imagine the symmetry or violation of it in the play. Busoni himself writes in the preface to the inventions: “The moment of composition is very important, which is usually passed over when teaching; at the same time, this moment - like no other means - is called upon to develop the purely musical side of the student’s talent and increase his critical sense.” Let us remember that Bach himself, when teaching, strove to ensure that all elements of the work were understood by students. “What you don’t understand, you can never do correctly,” he often told his students. The notes to the inventions contain many comments that give specific advice: which voice should be emphasized, which one should be put into the background, how important it is to withstand all the drawn-out sounds so that polyphony is heard all the time. In the NB to the three-voice invention, to No. 9 in f minor, Busoni talks in detail about how 22 when performing a polyphonic work, all voices can be made clearly audible. Execution should help identify the equality of each of the 3 topics. But in an attempt to highlight all the voices at the same time, one might hear that one voice is only senselessly drowning out the other. Therefore, less attention should be paid to highlighting the soprano; on the other hand, the theme indicated by the number III (even if it occurs in the tenor or bass), due to its clear rhythmic outlines, will always be clearly perceived. Thus, when performing, you need to attach special importance only to the third voice; in the other 2 voices, only characteristic moments require stronger emphasis. Theme III appears in the upper voice only twice in the entire piece, and thus the performer is faced with the task of coping with the opposition of the two lower voices with one left hand; The most important point for this is to accurately apply the appropriate fingerings and learn to play two voices with one hand with varying degrees of strength. The form of invention is closely related to the form of fugue and appears as a tripartite. The first part is “exposition”, themes I and II appear in all voices in a modulation sequence: tonic – dominant – tonic. The second part opens with a modulating interlude - an intermediate episode that prepares and connects various developments of the theme, leading to As-dur. Three themes run in this key and then in its dominant. The following three-bar interlude finally leads to the key of C minor. The third part repeats the second in the tonal relationship of the dominant. In order to finally consolidate the main tonality, the piece ends with a three-bar coda. 23 In terms of content, this play, probably the most significant section of the collection, reveals in its interpretation of the triple counterpoint clarity of form, depth of feelings - genuine music of “passions”. The most intelligible and frequently performed inventions in the middle classes of children's music schools are 2-voice inventions. The most common are invention No. 1 C-dur, No. 8 F-dur, No. 14 B-dur, etc. The C-dur invention can be classified as a tripartite one. The semi-beat theme is the basis of the entire composition. The theme runs four times alternately in the upper and lower voices. Then carry out its inversion four times in a descending move to the key of the dominant. Almost completely symmetrical to the first is the second movement, ending in a parallel key in which both voices exchange roles. The third and fourth measures are a free imitation of the previous two. The doubling of the first two bars in the second part becomes more organic in the third, where the theme in the main form and its counter-composition alternate bar by bar. This piece is characterized by the highest degree of cheerful and rhythmic performance. Invention No. 8 F-dur is also tripartite. The canon, which at the beginning goes strictly to the octave, jumps to the lower nona in order to then be interrupted and indicate the beginning of development. In the 2nd movement, a more animated modulation movement is noticeable. The third part becomes an exact copy of the entire first part transported to its subdominant. This piece is fast and easy, and also requires absolute precision and clarity in performance. Invention No. 14 B-dur - the theme of the piece is composed of two motifs clinging to each other, starting from the beat and moving along the sounds of the triad. The second part of the development, where only the first of them develops, should be considered as a variant of syncopation, thanks to which the rhythmic stress required here is easily achieved. After the interlude - the intermediate episode - the initial construction is carried out in the 24th key of the dominant (similar to the answer). The conclusion of the first movement is a sixteen-bar period. A single presentation of a theme, expanded through a final cadence, cannot be an independent part. The eight final bars here should be considered to belong to the second movement or as an “addition” included only to satisfy the need for symmetry. So, having examined several inventions, I would like to note some main points that should serve as a guide to a correct understanding of Bach's style. This style is distinguished, above all, by masculinity, energy, breadth and grandeur. Soft nuances, use of the pedal, tempo rubato, even excessive smooth legato playing and too much piano in general should be avoided - as contrary to the Bach character. Reproduction of text that does not allow different interpretations, this concerns the accuracy of the execution of decorations and the distribution of the middle voice between the two hands in three-voice formations. Choosing appropriate fingering, avoiding changing fingers on a sustained sound. I would like to say a few words about the “Great Organist”... The fact is indisputable. Bach was, obviously, an equally great keyboard player. In any case, he had no equal among his German contemporaries, with the exception of Handel, who, however, left Germany and settled in London. Bach dreamed of meeting him, but the meeting did not take place. Bach spent many years at the organ, loved the “king of instruments”, knew its acoustic, timbre, and performing capabilities like no one else - that’s why Bach was so often called to inspect new organs in many cities, even remote from his place of residence (for example, from Leipzig to Kassel). 25 In his practical activities, Bach came into contact with many people, communicated with them and gained honor and respect from many, even arousing feelings of admiration. The circle of close acquaintances is wide, but homogeneous. On the one hand, these are pastors and theologians. On the other hand – and this is the main thing – musicians. He longed to meet them, and without exaggeration it can be said that he was personally acquainted with the best German composers that time. Bach longed for these meetings, because he was interested in everything that was happening in music, he sought to absorb it more into himself, to be aware of everything new - what he had not yet had the opportunity to know. Bach discovered his thirst for learning the “secrets” of the composer’s craft in his childhood, when he copied the works of other authors for himself. During the life of I.S. Bach - he was then on the eve of his 50th birthday - a genealogy of his paternal family was compiled, revealing 53 relatives who were fond of music, for whom (with the exception of only a few) it was the main profession. The handwritten list, entitled “The Origin of the Musical-Bach Family,” lists seven generations. Johann Sebastian, a representative of the fifth generation, the recognized head of the “family”, was proud of this list, often returned to it, making additions regarding the places of service and the writings of his relatives. Bach died in 1750 at the age of 65. The date of death falls at the heart of the century called the Age of Enlightenment. The time that he lived was marked by enormous shifts in public consciousness, in socio-political and cultural life. The Viennese music school was formed under the influence of educational ideology. Albert Schweitzer in his monograph stated: “...Bach is the completion! Nothing comes from him, but everything leads to him.” In contrast to such a categorically formulated position, some researchers of the 20th century, also polemically sharpening, see in Bach not the end, but the beginning of a new era - that era, the pinnacle of which is the Viennese classical school, crowned with the names of Haydn - Mozart - Beethoven. In everything related to music, Bach shows rare awareness. He was versatile. And as a universal genius, he is unique. List of references: 1. N. Kalinina “Keyboard music by I.S. Bach in piano class" 2. I. Braudo "On the study of keyboard works by J.S. Bach in a music school" 3. ru.wikipedia,org Invention - Wikipedia 4. obraz.ruweb.net J.S.Bach. Two-voice inventions. Toolkit. 5. Orpheus music.ru J.S.Bach. Keyboard music. Inventions. 27

Working on polyphony

“You can become a pianist without the skill
hear, understand and perform
polyphonic works, but
It’s impossible to become a musician.”
S.E. Feinberg

Methodological development

« Work on polyphony in junior piano classes"

piano teacher

highest qualification category
MBUDO "DSHI v. Ivanteevka"

Saratov region.

Introduction.

Relevance of the topic: Working on polyphony is one of the most difficult areas in the education and training of students. The study of polyphonic music not only activates one of the most important aspects of the perception of musical fabric - its versatility, but also successfully influences the general musical development of the student, because the student comes into contact with the elements of polyphony in many works of a homophonic-harmonic nature. “Polyphony” is a mandatory attribute of curriculum in the specialty “piano” at all levels of education: from children’s music school to university. Therefore, today, the topic is relevant in matters of the formation of a modern musician-performer.

The purpose of my work– show the basic methods of working on polyphonic works in junior classes of children's music schools and children's art schools using examples of works.

Tasks– help the performer determine the melodic lines of the voices, the meaning of each, hear their relationship and find means of performance that create differentiation of voices and diversity of their sound.

When considering the topic of polyphony, we should not forget about other areas of its existence. In polyphonic literature, a large role is given to two-voice works of large form. In plays of small forms, especially of a cantilena nature, the three-plane texture is more fully used, combining melody and harmony. More serious attention is paid to ensemble playing and sight reading. In the process of musical, auditory and technical development of a student in grades 3-4, new qualities especially appear that are associated with the enrichment of previously acquired knowledge and the tasks that arise during this period of training. Compared to grades 1-2, the genre and stylistic boundaries of the program repertoire are noticeably expanding. Great importance is attached to performing skills associated with mastery of intonation, tempo-rhythm, mode-harmonic and articulatory expressiveness. The use of dynamic nuances and pedaling is significantly expanding. New, more complex techniques of fine technique and elements of chord-interval presentation appear in the piano texture of the works. By the end of this period of training, differences in the level of development of students’ musical-auditory and piano-motor abilities become noticeable. This allows us to predict the possibilities of their further general musical, professional and performance training. The student’s artistic and pedagogical repertoire includes piano music from different eras and styles. Compared to the two initial years of study, in grades 3-4, the specifics of developing musical thinking and performance skills when studying different types of piano literature are clearly revealed.

Work on polyphonic arrangements of folk songs (N. Myaskovsky, S. Maikapar, Yu. Shchurovsky). The musical development of a child involves developing the ability to hear and perceive as separate elements of the piano tissue, i.e. horizontal and a single whole – vertical. In this sense, great educational importance is attached to polyphonic music. The student becomes familiar with the elements of subvocal, contrastive and imitative polyphony from the first grade of school. These types of polyphonic music in the repertoire of grades 3-4 do not always appear in an independent form. We often find in children's literature combinations of contrasting vocalization with subvocal or imitative vocalization. A special role belongs to the study of cantilena polyphony. The school program includes: polyphonic arrangements for piano of folk lyrical songs, simple cantilena works by I. Bach and Soviet composers(N. Myaskovsky, S. Maykapar, Yu. Shchurovsky). They contribute to the student’s better listening to voice performance and evoke a strong emotional reaction to music. Let's analyze individual samples of polyphonic processing of Russian musical folklore, noting their importance in the musical and pianistic education of a child. Let's take for example the following plays: “Podblyudnaya” by A. Lyadov, “Kuma” by An. Aleksandrova, “You are a garden” by Slonim. All of them are written in verse-variation form. When repeated, melodious melodies “overgrow” with echoes, “choral” chord accompaniment, plucked folk instrumental background, and colorful shifts into different registers. Important role Arrangements of folk songs are played in the polyphonic education of the student. An excellent example of a light adaptation of a Russian folk song is “Kuma” by An. Alexandrova. The play has 3 sections, like 3 verses of a song. In each of them, one of the voices carries out a constant song tune. Other voices have the character of echoes; they enrich the melody and reveal new features in it. When starting to work on a piece, you must first introduce the student to the song itself, performing it on the instrument. A figurative representation of the content helps to understand the musical development of the play and the expressive meaning of polyphony in each of the three “verses.” The first “verse” seems to reproduce the image of Kuma, sedately starting a conversation with Kum. Subvoices in the lower register are distinguished by smoothness, regularity and even a certain “decency” of movement. They must be performed slowly, with a soft, deep sound, achieving maximum legato. When working on the first “verse”, it is useful to draw the student’s attention to the characteristic modal variability, emphasizing the folk-national basis of the play. The second “verse” differs significantly from the first. The theme moves into the lower voice and takes on a masculine tone; she is echoed by a cheerful and ringing upper voice. The rhythmic movement becomes more animated, the mode becomes major. In this cheerful “duet of Kuma and Kuma” it is necessary to achieve the relief sound of the extreme voices. Great benefit can come from their simultaneous performance by the student and the teacher - one plays for “Kuma” and the other for “Kuma”. The final “verse” is the most cheerful and lively. The movement of eighths now becomes continuous. The lower voice plays a particularly important expressive role in changing the character of the music. It is written in the spirit of typical folk instrumental accompaniments, widespread in Russian musical literature. The playful and playful nature of the music is emphasized by the imitations of voices skillfully woven into the fabric of the piece. The final “verse” is the most difficult to perform polyphonically. In addition to the combination in the part of one hand of two voices, different in rhythmic terms, which took place in the previous “verses”, it is especially difficult here to achieve a contrast between the parts of the two hands: a melodious legato in the right hand and a light staccato in the left hand. Usually the student does not immediately master the forced performing roll calls of voices. Study of "Kuma" by An. Alexandrova is useful in many ways. In addition to developing polyphonic thinking and skills in performing various combinations of contrasting voices, the play provides an opportunity to work on a melodious song melody and get acquainted with some of the stylistic features of Russian folk music. Below we give examples of plays in which the student acquires the skills of cantilena polyphonic playing, mastery of episodic two-voices in the part separate hand, contrasting strokes, hearing and feeling the holistic development of the entire form. We find a combination of subglottic tissue with imitations in the Ukrainian compositions arranged for piano by I. Berkovich folk songs, processed by N. Lysenko, N. Leontovich. His plays have become established in the school repertoire: “Ta nema girsh nikomu”, “Oh for the fire of Kam’yanoi”, “Plive Choven”, “The Lischino made a noise”, in which the verse structure is enriched not only with imitations, but also with a denser chordal-choral texture. The student comes into contact with contrasting voice leading mainly when studying the polyphonic works of J. S. Bach. First of all, these are pieces from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach.

II. Detailed analysis work on J. S. Bach “Little Preludes and Fugues”. J. S. Bach “Little Prelude” A minor (first notebook). In general, the proposed interpretation of the theme sounds like this: the further development of the polyphonic fabric is characterized by the repeated implementation of the theme in the lower and upper voices in the dominant key. The prelude is written in the character of a two-part fuguetta. In the two-bar theme that opens it, two emotional images are felt. The main, longer part (ending with the A sound of the first octave) consists of a continuous “rotational” movement of three-tone melodic units, each of which is built on a gradual expansion of the volume of intervallic “steps”. This development of the melodic line necessitates expressive intonation of ever-increasing tension from smaller to larger intervals while maintaining an exclusively melodious legato. In a short conclusion to the theme, starting with sixteenth notes. It is necessary to note intonationally the tritone turn (A-D #) followed by a decline in sound. Carrying out a response (lower voice) requires more dynamic saturation (mf). The counterposition, rhythmically similar to the theme, is shaded by different dynamics (mp) and a new touch (meno legato). After a four-bar interlude, the theme reappears in the main key, sounding especially full when intonating the major turn towards C-sharp. The three-beat coda consists of recitatively pronounced single-voice lines in sixteenth notes, ending in a final cadence. The Prelude is an excellent example of Bach's imitative polyphony. Mastering the structural and expressive features of her voice preparation prepares the young pianist for further study of the more developed polyphonic fabric in inventions and fugues.

I.S. Bach "Little Prelude" in C minor (first notebook). The performance of this prelude by students is usually characterized by a desire for speed and toccatism; its rhythmically similar texture often sounds monotonous due to children’s unclear ideas about the form, logic and beauty of harmonic and mode-tonal connections. This often interferes with the rapid memorization of music. A detailed analysis of the prelude allows you to hear three clearly emerging parts in it: 16 + 16 + 11 bars. Each of them reveals its own characteristics of harmonious development, predicting the principles of interpretation of the whole and parts. In the first part they appear first in the form of a harmonic community of both voices in two measures (bars 1-2, 3-4,5-6). Further (bars 7-10), the functional stability of the upper voice is combined with the identification of the molar beats of the gradually descending line of the bass voice (sounds C, B flat, A flat, G). Towards the end of the movement there is a purer change of harmonies. With the relative stability of the harmonic fabric, everything is performed on the piano, with only an occasional shading of the line of the bass voice towards the end of the movement. In the middle part, the climax is achieved by means of harmony. Here, with almost complete preservation of the sounds of the bass (organ) “D” part of the right hand, continuous bar-by-bar changes of function occur. In conditions of general emotional tension, the figurations themselves sound melodically rich. At the same time, the upper sounds are heard in them, reminiscent of the line of an independent voice (F sharp, G, A becar, B flat, C, B flat, A becar, G, F sharp, E becar, E flat, D). According to the identification of the hidden voice in the right hand part, a wave-like melodic movement is felt in the right notes of the upbeat figures of the lower voice. In the final part of the prelude, the harmonic tension subsides and the melodic figuration leads to a final bright G major chord. Having revealed the figurative content of the prelude, we will try to analyze the techniques of its execution. The starting quarter note of each measure is played in the left hand by driving it deep into the keyboard. The figure in the right hand, entering after a pause, is performed by lightly touching the keyboard with the first finger, followed by the support of the third or second on the initial sounds of the second quarter bars. At the same time, accurately removing the left hand during a pause makes it possible to hear it clearly. The alternation of hands in figurations of sixteenth notes on the third quarter bars occurs when they barely noticeably fall on the keys in a non legato manner. The recommended pianistic techniques will undoubtedly help in achieving rhythmic accuracy and evenness of sound. In the most dynamically rich middle part of the prelude, a short pedal marks out bass sounds, especially in places where the hand parts are written in a wide register arrangement. Once again I would like to emphasize the need for students to understand the logic of harmonic development when perceiving the musical fabric of the prelude.

III. Work on imitative polyphony - inventions, fuguettes, small fugues. In contrast to contrasting two-voices, here each of the two polyphonic lines often has a stable melodic-intonation imagery. Even when working on the lightest examples of such music, auditory analysis is aimed at revealing both the structural and expressive aspects of the thematic material. After the teacher has performed the work, it is necessary to move on to a painstaking analysis of the polyphonic material. Having divided the play into large segments (most often based on a three-part structure), one should begin to explain the musical and semantic syntactic essence themes and contrasts in each section, as well as interludes. First, the student must determine the layout of the topic and feel its character. Then his task is to expressively intonate it using means of articulatory dynamic coloring at the found basic tempo. The same applies to opposition if it is of a restrained nature. Already in two-voice small preludes, fuguettes, inventions, the expressive features of the strokes should be considered horizontally (i.e. in the melodic line) and vertically (i.e. with the simultaneous movement of a number of voices). The most characteristic horizons in articulation may be the following: smaller intervals tend to merge, larger intervals tend to separate; moving metrics (for example, sixteenth and eighth notes) also tend to merge, and calmer ones (for example, quarter, half, whole notes - towards dismemberment).

Yu. Shchurovsky “Invention” C-dur. In Yu. Shchurovsky’s “Invention”, all sixteenth notes, set out in smooth, often scale-like progressions, are performed legato, longer sounds with their wide intervallic “steps” are dissected into short leagues, staccato sounds or tenuto. If the theme is based on chord sounds, it is useful for the student to play its harmonic skeleton with chords, directing his auditory attention to the natural change of harmonies as he moves to a new section. To more actively listen to the student’s two-voice fabric, his attention should be drawn to the technique of the opposite movement of voices, for example in the “invention” of A. Gedicke.A. Goedicke “Invention” F-dur.N. Myaskovsky “Two-voice fugue” d-moll.N. Myaskovsky "Hunting Call".
Conclusion. The student almost directly assimilates the melodic pattern of each voice with their contrastingly directed pitch movement. When performing imitation, especially in the works of J. Bach, a significant role is given to dynamics. Unfortunately, we still see today the unjustified use of wave-like dynamics in short sections of Bach's music. When thinking about the dynamics of three-voice cantilena small preludes, the student’s auditory control should be directed to episodes of two-voice in the part of a single hand, set out in drawn-out notes. Due to the rapid decay of the piano sound, there is a need for more fullness in the sound of long notes, as well as (which is very important) listening to intervallic connections between the long note and the shorter sounds passing against its background. Such dynamic features can be seen in small preludes No. 6, 7, 10. (first notebook of J.S. Bach). As we can see, the study of polyphonic works is an excellent school for the student’s auditory and sound preparation for performance piano works any genres.

Bibliography:

1. Alekseev A.D. Methods of learning to play the piano. Edition 3 – M.: Muzyka, 1978.

2. Milich B. Education of a pianist student in grades 3-4 at children's music schools. – K.: Music. Ukraine, 1982.

3. Nathanson V. Issues of piano pedagogy, issue I. - M., 1963.

4. Feinberg S. E. The skill of a pianist. – M.: Muzyka, 1978.