Western Early Keyboard Association

Workshop Report by Carol lei Breckenridge

An enthusiastic group of 12 piano students, along with their OMTA teachers and/or parents, and other interested audience members, were the fortunate recipients of Dr. Barbara Baird’s September 26 workshop on “The Harpsichord and Baroque Style.” Each student played at least part of a prepared Baroque piece, which Baird used to bring out many different aspects of Baroque style. This report will summarize the main stylistic features that emerged.

Music Rehearsal Room PAB 320 at Reed College was set up with Reed’s French harpsichord (voiced and tuned by Paul Irvin, Curator of Reed’s Early Keyboard Collection) and a modern grand piano, keyboards side-by-side, with students sitting behind, facing the keyboards. The students took turns playing their pieces on harpsichord, with commentary by Dr. Baird, who also occasionally demonstrated how a passage might be played on piano.

Dr. Baird began by noting that the harpsichord is a more subtle keyboard than the modern piano, with a smaller dynamic range, but greater clarity. She also emphasized that the goal of music is to be “expressive,” meaning communicating feeling or emotion. In Baroque music, the character of a piece or passage is the determining factor in deciding most elements, such as articulation, dynamics, and tempo.

Specific points that emerged:

Composers of the time generally did not notate aspects of articulation, dynamics, or tempo, but instead expected the performer to be familiar with current (Baroque) style. Modern players, therefore, must carefully examine each piece, looking for clues as to the intended expression, or as Baird exclaimed at one point, “What’s going on?” Aspects such as meter (3/8 implies a pulse and style very different from 2/4, for example), tonality (major or minor, for instance, or C Major vs. C-# Major), harmony (being aware of chords within a tonality that feel more at rest, such as the tonic, and those having greater tension, such as the dominant, or any chord not within the scale of the existing tonality, such as a Neapolitan), texture (much Baroque music is written in a contrapuntal texture, with quality of voices, though occasionally one finds a true aria with accompaniment Within a contrapuntal texture, before playing all voices together, it is helpful to practice each voice separately, observing articulation and flow. When joined, the specific articulation for each voice must be maintained, which can be quite challenging, though in the end, rewarding.

Since the harpsichord, unlike the piano, cannot produce small differences of dynamics by touch, other techniques are typically used to create the impression of louder or softer tones. For instance, to create the effect of a louder note, one can add a space before it, or hold it longer. Ornaments were also apparently notated to produce the impression of a louder tone.

The harpsichord reveals that articulation (the amount of space between tones) is extremely important, with infinite spacing options, ranging from miniscule to more space (of varied degrees), to legato or overholding tones. For a nicer effect, notated blocked chords are generally rolled (arpeggiated), which can be done rapidly or more slowly, depending on the character of a passage.

Subtle rhythmic flexibility (rubato) within a consistent pulse was expected, in order to produce a more natural flow of the music, such as by holding one tone a bit longer, or delaying it. Singing a passage usually reveals which notes one would naturally stretch or delay. This was compared to jazz singers, who incorporate rhythmic freedom from the written score. Although Baird did not have time to discuss it, her handout of composers of the time (Baroque and Classical) made this expectation clear, such as with these examples:

• Giovanni Tosi (1736): “The singer should endeavor to sing before the beat or after the beat and never with the beat.”

• C.P.E. Bach (1753): “Play from the Soul, not like a trained bird.” “Endeavor to avoid everything mechanical and slavish.” “…certain notes and rests should be extended beyond their written length for affective reasons.” (according to the character/emotion of the passage)

• Leopold Mozart (1756): regarding two-note slurs, “The first of two notes coming together in one [bow] stroke is accented more strongly and held slightly longer…”

• W. A. Mozart (1777): “… in tempo rubato, in an adagio, the left hand should go on playing in strict time.” (while the right hand’s melody will employ rhythmic flexibility)

• J.A.P. Schulz (1774): “A work of grand and sad expression must be executed … by marking and holding onto each note [in a more legato manner] …. Works of a pleasing [more lively] expression, however, are played in a lighter fashion, that is, every note is more lightly stated and not held so long [more separated].”

As so effectively brought out in this workshop by Dr. Baird, the harpsichord reveals – through its natural characteristics of subtlety and clarity of tone – that Baroque music is highly nuanced and expressive. The specific harpsichord techniques discussed in this workshop reveal much about Baroque style. Baird encouraged students to experiment with these techniques in playing Baroque music on the modern piano, to enhance style and expression.

Throughout, Baird maintained a positive and encouraging manner, which put the students at ease. Most of – if not all – the students had never before played a harpsichord, but approached the instrument with interest and respect, incorporating Baird’s suggestions quite admirably.