Musical Nightmares

With Halloween just a few days away, we are surrounded with images of the terrifying and frightening.  I tend to avoid focusing on the events of October 31 because the images have always frightened me.  To be honest, I am easily scared.  It would not be surprising to hear that there's a yellow streak running down my back.

As I think back over my years as a student, I realize that certain pieces have given me nightmares.  A few served as soundtracks to my own horrific nighttime dreams, but the normal source of my musical nightmares were pieces that were too difficult for me at the time.

The piece that immediately comes to mind is Chopin's F minor Fantasy.  I was first introduced to the piece as a college junior.  The Fantasy was to serve as the closing piece of my senior recital.  For various reasons, the piece continually got ignored during my lessons, but remained a major focus of my personal practice sessions.  This represented my first journey into the world of Chopin's larger works and I was extremely excited.

My excitement turned into panic when my professor discovered that I had practiced key passages of the piece incorrectly.  The resulting tension made it impossible to play the work in its entirety.  Rather than scraping the piece entirely, my teacher and I foolishly concurred that it was imperative to work on the piece since so much time had already been invested.

As the semester progressed, I was finally able to stumble through the entire work.  As I fretted over the technical demands, memorization became a new and seemingly insurmountable problem.  The recital hearing was a disaster and resulted in my first failing score as a piano student.

As you have probably assumed, the recital was completely restructured the following year.  Thankfully, the Chopin Fantasy was no longer part of the plan.  Since that horrible experience, I have attempted to revisit the piece on numerous occasions.  Sadly, the work is now firmly connected with feelings of apprehension and has yet to be successfully performed publicly.  I have come to accept the fact that this masterpiece may never have a place in my repertoire.

So that's the story of my musical nightmare and it continues to haunt me.  I don't think I'm the only one who has had one of these disasters, though.  I would love to hear your horrifying stories as well.  (What can I say?  Misery loves company!)

Understanding Classical Music - Chopin

Recently I was asked to write a brief article aimed at non-musicians who are interested in exploring the works of major composers. The hope is that it will ultimately develop into a series of articles covering a wide gamut of styles, periods, and composers. Here is my first installment in the series, focusing on the works of Chopin.

Frederick Chopin (1810-1849) was a Romantic composer of Polish nationality. Chopin began studying piano at an early age, showing signs of great promise from his earliest performances. Chopin deeply loved his homeland, but found himself relocating to Paris due to the Russian suppression of the November 1830 Polish uprising. Chopin would spend the rest of his life in France. While in Paris, Chopin would engage in several relationships with various women--most notably his affair with Aurore Dupin, better known by her pseudonym George Sand. Despite his passion for life and his native Poland, Chopin was frail and ill throughout much of his adult life. His death in 1849 was due to complications with tuberculosis.

As a composer, Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the solo piano. His writings demand total mastery of the instrument technically while exploring emotional depths through the various sounds of the piano. Composers living at the height of the Romantic era (1820-1900) were attempting to express themselves in ways that had not been heard before, and Chopin was no exception. To begin understanding the works of this giant of Romantic music, let us consider three basic characteristics: Chopin's Polish pride, his short compositions, and his legendary technical abilities at the keyboard.

Many composers of the 19th century were nationalistic. Their pride in their native land was expressed in their music by using folk melodies and dance tunes of the people. Chopin's nationalism can be seen in his Polonaises and Mazurkas. The Polonaise was a slow dance of the Polish people in 3/4 time. Because of its characteristic sharp rhythms, the dance is militaristic in sound. In contrast, the Mazurka is a fast Polish dance, also in 3/4 time. The difference here is that an accent (playing a note louder than the others around) is placed on either beat 2 or 3. This is unusual because we expect the accent to appear on beat 1. By basing his compositions on the dances of Poland, Chopin was introducing all of Europe to the charm of his beloved Poland. As you listen to the dances, you cannot help but feel a sense of pride emanating from the piano. Personally, I adore both of these dance forms, but have a special place in my heart for the Polonaises. For an introduction, listen to the Polonaise in C minor (Opus 40, No. 2) or the amazing Polonaise in Ab major (Op. 53). (Opus numbers--abbreviated Op.--are given to pieces to help catalogue a composer's works. Often the numbers are assigned in the order the compositions were originally published. Don't worry if you don't remember all of them or completely understand how they work; many professional musicians have trouble remembering them as well.)

Most of Chopin's compositions were written for piano solo and are in miniature forms. This is great news for the neophyte to classical music. These pieces are often shorter than 5 minutes in duration and are very satisfying without the complexity of a long sonata movement. As we have already seen, Chopin composes multiple works within a single musical genre (like the polonaises above). Another dance that is popular with Chopin-lovers is the waltz--also in 3/4 time. To get a feeling for the light, lilting quality of the waltzes, listen to the Minute Waltz (Op. 64, No. 1). As another example of Chopin's miniatures, the Nocturnes are beautiful short pieces that evoke images of nighttime; you'll want to make sure you listen to the most famous Nocturne in Eb major (Op. 9, No.2). Continue by exploring others in this genre as most of them are easily approachable without any prior knowledge of the music.

Chopin was a virtuoso of the piano and respected by his peers. A virtuoso is a performer who has incredible technical skills at the instrument. You might think of a virtuoso as "the best of the best!" This level of skill is not something with which a person is innately born; years of preparation and devoted practice are required. Chopin composed a series of etudes, or technical studies, to continue to develop his own pianistic skills as well as those of his students. While we normally do not get excited about listening to piano exercises, the etudes are much more than mere finger exercises and something not to be missed. I recommend listening to at least two of the Chopin etudes: the majestic Revolutionary etude (Op. 10, No. 12) and the Black Key etude (Op. 10, No. 5).

Most of Chopin's music for piano is easily accessible by any audience and is readily available in most record stores. Enjoy the adventure and begin the exploration!