Holberg Suite, Prelude

The clinician, Mrs. May, began with the first movement of the Holberg Suite, Prelude, composed by Edvard Grieg. In the beginning of the piece, there is a segment consisting of a rhythm with an eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes. Mrs. May decided to have the orchestra play the G major scale with the same rhythm. She wanted to focus on improving the group’s tempo, rhythm, and markings for the piece. After playing the scale in the ideal tempo, the orchestra was able to successfully incorporate that tempo to the piece. Additionally, our intonation improved considering the piece’s key signature is in G major. The problem is, after playing the scale, the orchestra did the subito piano for every eighth note and two sixteenth notes instead
Additionally, it would be be helpful if the orchestra practices more with the ideal tempo to become familiarized. Mrs. May also discussed the ideal contact point we should have between the bow and the string. She believed it was better to play in the mezzo area out of the three sections. After a few tries, we successfully improved our tone for that rhythm segment. To improve more in the future, attention should be put on that area of the string when playing it. A memorable quote spoken by Mrs. May was, “Each person has his or her own fine motor and gross motor skills.” This particularly stood out to me because it is important for everyone to know that we’re different and have our own strengths and weaknesses. What is essential are the steps that one will take to improve his or her
For the first violins, there are specific fingerings and bowings that she wanted to enforce for us to improve the intonation and tone. In measure 12, Mrs. May recommended to use first finger for the F-sharp and fourth finger for the C-natural. In measures 8-9, she emphasized the importance of the two A notes sounding identical when played as a harmonic and a regular third finger. The clinician advised the first violins to play the harmonic A with a faster bow speed and play the regular A note with a slower bow speed. There was a slight improvement but because of the crunched time, we couldn’t improve further. For the future, it is important for the first violins to play these two measures repeatedly. During practice, it would also be useful if we record the playing to hear if the two notes are the same. When rehearsing this piece, Mrs. May said, “the audience should hear the same tone and intonation of the same notes even if they are played differently.” What she said is memorable because even though it is such a small detail, it is essential for the overall effect the orchestra can have on a