Santa’s Naughty Musicianship

Listening to the Christmas station on Pandora while driving certainly helps to mitigate my stress and allow the holiday spirit to overcome the awful traffic and rude drivers. Most of the renditions are time honored favorites- who doesn’t love Anderson’s Sleigh ride played by the Boston Pops? There are witty arrangements in the mix as well, including Ravel’s Bolero with the Carol of the Drums as the melody- LOL!

Yet, some carol performances make my cortisol levels rise to 11. In fact, I find it excruciating to be in a closed car while they are playing. Disike! đź‘Ž You’ve probably heard these piano solo arrangements. Either the artist, sound engineer, or producer decides that turning the volume up and down in waves without regard for the natural phrasing or poetry of the carol is a good idea.

Ok, let me say this straight out- It’s not! Just because you can turn a knob, or a slider, or a virtual slider up and down doesn’t mean you should. The constant surging wah-wah is, well… irritating.

Some time ago, during our Last Chance Lessons before juries, I noticed the trouble as one of my students played through her Chopin Nocturne. I brought it to her attention and told her about the aforementioned carols by way of illustration. She said, “Oh yes, I have to watch that when I sing as well. I do tend to surge.”

I wonder if this surging thing is a natural instinct or if it is learned. Examples of surging are everywhere in the audio world. While waiting for a flat tire repair, I heard more examples being streamed in the store. Elevator music is the worst. I recommend getting in last so you can escape quickly when the doors open.

My students and I have compared and contrasted surging and surge-free performances many times. The thing always amazes and terrifies me though. Some of them hands-down prefer the surging.

Santa’s Nice Musicianship

I think piano students can learn more from Frank Sinatra about phrasing and rubato than from most classical instrumentalists.

— Stephen Hough (@houghhough)

OK, I admit it, I was streaming Christmas music again this week. Alright, alright—it’s been going since before Thanksgiving.

Lots of mid-century renditions of classic holiday songs are in the mix. You know the ones—Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Here Comes Santa Claus, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Let it Snow, to name a few. You know the artists too—Mel Torme, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Harry Connick Jr., Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, et al.

Hokey? You betcha! When I was younger, I was embarrassed by all this hokiness. It was of another generation and I needed my own musical identity. In music school it was classical all the way and we were rigidly kept on the straight and narrow. For that matter, my generation’s rock and roll kept the beat rigidly too. Some irony there…

Now though, I realize how much listening to these mid-century musicians helped shape me as a musician. I am entranced anew by the way phrases were spun within the meter yet flexible and free of it. I owe these artists for my own concept of rubato—of spacing the notes ahead or behind the beat.

What I didn’t know when I went to music school was when it was appropriate to use rubato (also I had never heard the word rubato, but that’s another blog post). To me it was simply the way music was.

I had an unexpected chance to try out my musical insight while on vacation one year. Every Sunday afternoon there is an outdoor organ concert in the Spreckles Pavilion at Balboa Park. The program we attended was holiday themed and included a sing-along. It also included 30+ dachshunds Waltzing in a Wiener Wonderland. What more could you want?

I delighted in singing the phrases any way I wanted with that mighty organ and, best of all, nobody could hear little old me as an individual. Of course, this makes me some kind of rubato geek. But the point is, I could do what the crooners did. And, it felt completely natural on a musical level. It is exactly what I do in classical music where rubato is appropriate.

How is it that no one ever tapped into that experience of mine to help me know what I was doing? I surely don’t know, but the insight, affirmation, or whatever you want to call it is an unexpected and very much appreciated holiday gift.

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