Historical Performance and the Suzuki Repertoire

During my Book One teacher training, the minuets were introduced with the oft-repeated quote, “The student’s musical education begins with Bach.” Certainly, students are eager to learn the minuets by the great Johann Sebastian Bach, and they feel a great sense of accomplishment when they perform in recitals. These Baroque gems begin a musical journey, and they are just a few of many Baroque works featured throughout the Suzuki repertoire. In addition to studying and teaching these Baroque works through the Suzuki lens, I’ve added to my own education through workshops and festivals focused on historic performance. This is not required to enjoy, teach, or perform the repertoire, but it does help to give the music new life and relevance centuries later.

When thinking about the prevalence of Baroque works featured throughout the Suzuki repertoire, I’ve often considered questions of “Why.” Why are Baroque works so common in the repertoire? Why do we teach these pieces? Why are they good for young people? To answer these questions, I’ve focused on two goals: fostering joy in learning and performing, and promoting a sense of discovery through music. While these goals aren’t limited to Baroque repertoire, the frequent representation of Baroque music throughout the pedagogical repertoire compels us to consider why they continue to be staples in performance and education. I aim to use the Baroque repertoire in my studio to create a joyful approach to learning and promote discovery and growth through music. Baroque repertoire has been part of the string canon for generations, but in addition to its canonical importance, it allows for truly wonderful teaching moments to promote musical growth, understanding, and inspiration in students. With this in mind: we begin with Bach.

Folk Songs to Dances

Why does the student first encounter Bach after the series of folk songs that begin their studies? Bach’s musical genius is an easy answer, but there’s a more simple answer specific to the minuets: the minuet is a dance! Dance helps us bring our own character to music and to connect with written music through movement both felt and acted upon. The minuet itself is a difficult dance (at least it was for me at a workshop!) but the strong downbeat and dance feeling are easily perceived, which connects the students to the music and performance.

As an introductory exercise, it’s helpful to experience the *strong-weak-weak *pattern and try a made-up dance with students and their parents. This serves an educational purpose of course, but it’s also quite fun. We find that this pattern fits even when the melodic line deviates from the pattern. Dance is one of the oldest communal activities, and I use dance in group class to build community and to help identify form in music. It’s a great way to keep parents involved, too. Dance inherently leads to joy, an emotion students love to share through group and solo performances with their teacher, family, and peers.

Since they are dances, the rhythm in these pieces remains fairly consistent throughout. Even when we move to more advanced repertoire and outside repertoire, discovering and recognizing their consistent dance rhythms is essential to understanding a new piece. It’s no surprise that many editors include dances in their collections. I especially enjoy teaching some of these as duets, as they provide a great opportunity to share joy and musicality with students while encouraging them to find their musical voice. These unifying features lead to conversations about later repertoire in 3/4 or 3/8 or even dances in duple meter, from Brahms’s Waltz, Minuets by Boccherini and Beethoven, and eventually movements from Bach’s cello suites, and more. Finding the dance elements in these works not only develops students’ musicality, it provides a joyful way to learn and discover new music.

Baroque Music and Expressive Tone

While it is not required for Baroque music to be performed on period instruments, it is an insightful experience. Gut strings and historic bows function differently than modern high-tension instruments. The tone is less strident and produces a rich and resonant quality. There is a much more organic nature to the sound, which I think is why we find such a variety of emotions and expression in Baroque repertoire. Tone production is one of many important foundations we develop in Suzuki Book One and I never rush through it. Tone should be a focus not only in early repertoire but throughout the series as we should always seek to develop a more resonant, expressive, personal tone. I consider the Vivaldi Concerto in A minor to be one of the most important Baroque pieces for the advancing student to explore tone. It presents many opportunities to shape the music through sequential patterns, dramatic character/color changes, and virtuosic solos. It is one of the first chances to really demonstrate a variety in tone production, articulation, and expression. There is renewed energy when students find the contrast in voicing for sequences, surprise elements in wide leaps, and many of these ideas fit common musical interpretation, but may also be related to how historic instruments are played as well.

Similarly, I like to return to the Bach Suite No. 1 with bowings from a critical edition because Bach was writing for the instrument of his time. We can use the bowings to help determine the shape of gestures and phrasing throughout the movements. The first bowing we learn from the Suzuki edition is straightforward and consistent. Returning to the piece gives students an opportunity to compare and contrast, and to consider how these elements provide insight to the interpretation and performance of Bach’s music and other early repertoire.

Baroque Ornamentation

Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major is a gem of the viola repertoire. It embodies many of the similarities between solo instrumental and vocal writing, especially when considering ornamentation. Encouraging students to “sing” the first and third movements helps strengthen their musicality and expression. As review, advancing students will listen to several recordings of Telemann and will hear many interpretations for ornamentation that were not part of their initial experience with the concerto. This is a great chance to encourage students to explore their own ornamentation, taking cues from other performances as inspiration, and return to the Telemann concerto with their own ideas to ornament the slow movements. I find the first movement to be very useful with this goal.

Marais’s French Dances and La Folia are excellent examples of viola da gamba transcriptions that work well for viola and provide demonstrations of ornamentation and variations. We see more of this also in Caix d’Hervelois Suite in A. So much viola repertoire exists thanks to transcriptions that adapt music to fit the qualities of the viola, and Doris Preucil’s realization and transcription of this suite is an excellent example. Students may wish to explore repertoire they would like to transcribe for viola in the future and teachers will find inspiration to expand the repertoire for their students and themselves. I have a few Couperin movements that work well as viola transcriptions (also from viola da gamba) and as a bonus, they are dance movements!

I am grateful that my experience with historical performance has given me additional tools and examples to present a deeper interpretation and personalization of the Baroque repertoire in the Suzuki books for students. Creating a joyful learning experience for all and encouraging a sense of discovery is a studio practice I hope will stay with my students throughout their lives.

{media:51864:sm:l:Michael Hill}

Michael Hill is a violist and educator based in Louisville, KY. He performs both modern and historical viola in several ensembles. In performing and teaching Michael seeks to share music with others through education and efforts making classical music more accessible to the public. His experience includes work with students ranging from new beginners to college students and he maintains a private studio and group classes for just under 30 amazing violin and viola students.