Notes from Wissam Boustany Masterclasses

Notes from Wissam Boustany Masterclasses
UNC Chapel Hill, Person Hall
March 15-17, 2012

1.
Bozza Image
• “Face the thing that scares you.” For this student it is opening eyes and looking at the audience members while playing from memory.
• “Your most beautiful playing makes the world a better place.”
• “We are just an attitude away for the best or the worst of us.”
• “Be an alchemist. Turn the music into something you did not even know it could be.”
• In speaking, some words flow, others are slow. Then there is the silence.
• When we speak and there is silence, it is important because it lets the listeners think. Without silences, we speak noise, not words.
• “Learn to love the phrase more than the sound”
• In speaking—every single word; in music—every single interval.

2.
Bach Partita, Sarabande
• It is important to be authentic in our playing. It’s about our intent, not about doing the instruction we’ve been given.
• The dynamic we choose to play in is a personal thing.
• However we practice, we are building habits in our playing.
• Don’t allow embouchure to be too open for low notes. Makes it difficult to go up in tune.
• Don’t allow physical movements to interrupt phrases; count in larger rhythmic units.
• “The aim of breathing is to restore energy. For ‘breathe’ substitute ‘recover’.”
• “Let the silence speak. It’s called ‘thinking’.”
• “The musical significance of a breath can be lost if it always fits into the texture of the piano.”
• “I’ve got time—I’ll fit it in somehow…”

3.
Reinecke, mvt 1
• “What is learning: memory +discovery.”
• “Not looking at the pianist is a lost opportunity.”
• “I am violently against metronomes because they don’t have ears.”
• How do your reveal what the rhythm conveys?: with character. Example: Short pickup notes might be played very late and close to the beat showing where they are headed.

4.
Mozart G Major
• “You don’t need to know a lot to know a lot.” Instincts count.
• Student played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by ear. Please do it slow enough to think, as if you are trying to communicate with a baby. Be aware of the intervals when playing. Learn to hear the note and instinctively go to it.
• “Delayed gratification is useful—if you get it right away, there is nowhere to go but down.”
• “Overcome your fears. If we don’t push ourselves to that point and resolve it, it will haunt us.”
• Practice types:
1. Details
2. Run throughs to prepare emotionally, find weak spots. When rehearsing with piano you learn what to focus on in a run through.
• Make a practice plan and stick to it!
• Wake up when you practice and identify the one note you are missing in a passage.
• Build confidence slowly by really WANTING the note.
• Wissam recently performed with 85 year old jazz pianist Claude Bolling who seemed feeble, physically and mentally, but when he got into his groove at the piano it was if 20 years had been removed from his age. His body became agile and fluid.

5.
Hindemith Acht Stucke
• “Controlling the transitions between the notes is what is important.”
• It is good to warmup with improvisation. Then we “taste” creativity and get a feeling for what it is like to be a composer.
• Try not to get the fingers ahead of the brain. Stretch the silences in imagination.
• The longer you wait, the more the audience comes to you.
• Improv is a gateway to approach____________ with an open mind.
• “Poetry is not in the words we use, it is in how we look at life.”
• Moyse improvised and then he wrote it down. Improvising creates a connection between hearing and opening____It trains the inner ear in relationship to the music.

6.
Gaubert Sonata
• Re. piano lid on short stick: “ It is like inviting a guest to dinner and telling them to shut up!” When lid is on short stick, detail is lost, as if the piano ahs a mute on. Often pianist ends up actually playing louder and working harder to make a sound.
• “It’s not the words (music, dynamics) that are important, it is the feeling behind them (it).”

7.
Widor-Mvt 1
• When we [flutists] practice alone 95% of the music is missing.
• “Until we make a change, nothing is going to change.”
• Try to avoid modifying descriptors in your descriptions like “kind of”, a’ little.” It sounds wishy-washy.
• “Avoid pouring air into the flute.” Example: like filling a drinking glass with a water hose. Way too much force to fill the glass.
• “Practice off the piano bass line. It’s like weeding the garden. It’s like the tune is living within the bass.”
• “Crystalized ideas help us economize on air.”
• Wissam laid on the floor and compared an octave slur to birthing a baby—a long process employing all the overtones.

• “Most of the time we fall short of what we aim. Sometimes we exceed our aim. We hardly ever achieve exactly what we want. AIM HIGHER—ESPECIALLY IN PRACTICE!”
• “Push yourself to the limit—the place of DISCOVERY.”
• “Walk through your fear.”

8.
Doppler
• “How fast does a family of ducks walk? As fast as the slowest duck.” He is playing to his strengths, making his weaknesses more vulnerable.
• 1.He sets up headjoint for the louder sections and sags in the soft sections.
• 2. He practices too long, too strongly. Pay attention to the amount of time you spend practicing in the zone of whatever you want to improve.
• Wissam suggests improvising.
• When driving in rain and you skid, the worst thing is to brake.
• Develop flexibility of lips. Overuse of neck muscles to adjust pitch not a good idea.
• If playing soft, adjust lips, play even softer. Lift head as last resort.
• “Quite a lot of time, the music is in the links between the ideas.”

9.
Chant de Linos
• Chant de Linos is a difficult piece to shape. Difficult to create the inevitable conclusion (ugly, violent, dramatic).
• p. 2, 1st 2 sections have too quick a change. Use the accelerando. Be completely with the piano.
• Easy to lose the sound in the low register. Don’t go for the kill too soon. This passage foreshadows the 7/8 danse.
• Come WAY DOWN on the flutter.
• “Create color by finding the space.”
• “Drive, don’t be driven.”
• Keep your body fluid and active. If you are playing in the same position for a long time, you will become stiff. Keep small movement going so you are always adjusting, keeping active.
• The way we practice helps us in our rehearsals.
• “Your tempo sounded a touch defensive. Don’t sacrifice the flow of the movement in order to nail all the passages.”

10.
Godard Idylle
On pitch and hearing correct pitch:
• Habits are formed by repetition. If you are too relaxed in low register when practicing, it creates a false sense of security.
• Do not disassociate pitch from the quality of the tone. Learn to make the sound you want at the correct pitch.
• Play the right pitch; then play the right sound to go with the context.
• When tuning, HEAR the note first. Play in tune when tuning, then adjust note.
• Focus more on the sound of your partner than on the sound of your flute.

11.
Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasilieras with bassoon
• Practice standing up. Helps with breathing and in using whole body to play.
• When practicing orchestral excepts, practice both standing and sitting. Standing when preparing for an audition. Sitting when preparing for a concert.
• Some string quartets now perform standing, surrounding the seated cello.
• Set up so the sound goes out to the audience and you also have good sight lines to your partner.
• Don’t play metronomically when your partner holds long notes.
• “Metronomes do not have ears. They no not adapt.”
• If you depend on the metronome when practicing, you will not develop your own sense of rhythm.
• “Take responsibility for the rhythm. Metronomes abdicate responsibility”
• Practice improvising as a duo. To cross both zones of leading and listening is fantastic.