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Introduction and Dance
J. Edouard Barat/ed. Glenn Smith
Publisher: Southern Music
Range: E2-G4 or C2-G4 (optional 8vb sections)
Program Notes
J. Edouard Barat (1882-1963) studied music in Paris with Paul Vidal and Emile Pessard. His love of wind music was partially influenced through his work as a bandmaster with the French Army. The Introduction and Dance is a staple of the repertoire, especially for study of the French style. Introduction and Dance is available in two versions, one for euphonium or trombone and the other for tuba. The two versions are essentially identical, but their registers have been changed to accommodate the instrumentation.
From Pat Stuckemeyer
Introduction and Dance is a great work for teaching style and rhythm. The range is E2-G4 with an optional section in the Introduction that would extend it down to C2, but never goes any higher than G4. This makes the piece accessible to a talented high-school musician, or definitely by a young collegiate student. Complex rhythmic passages are included in both sections of the entire piece, but tend to be written in the middle-range, therefore making it easier for the student to focus on them.
HEADLINES FOR THE TEACHER
Performance practice is an area where many brass musicians suffer, simply because the time was not taken to research what they were playing. As teachers we are there to enrich the lives of our students, but there has to be a certain degree of research done on our part to accurately relay knowledge to the student. We, as educators, should not expect younger students to do exhaustive research into performance practice, but should expect this from ourselves to further our knowledge of the pieces that we are teaching.
A working knowledge of the piece and composer is a good start, but having some idea about the time period, cultural significances, and perhaps other art forms in addition would give us ideas on the various stylistic attributes of the entire piece. For example, it is much easier to understand the music of Arnold Schoenberg when you understand the expressionist movement in both German poetry and art. Without this knowledge it would be much more difficult to digest the work as a whole. Studying various styles of music like Baroque, Modern, or nationalistic styles are great for any musician. Introduction and Dance is a great primer piece for study in the French style because it is short and not technically demanding of the performer. A younger musician can pull many stylistic traits out of the music without feeling overwhelmed because of the difficulty of the music. The French style aesthetically involves delicacy, clarity, and objectivity in their art forms in the beginning of the 20th century. This is quantified especially in French literature, Impressionistic painting of Monet, and the influence in major works of Faure and Debussy.
I always say that, “if you can sing it, you can play it” and I believe this to be true. When preparing this work with a student I will often have them sing various passages. The human voice is a great training tool not only for ear training, but also to conceptualize the phrase and structure of a piece. Basically what we do as musicians is trying to emulate the singing voice, so why not use this as a basis for our pedagogical learning? Singing the phrases will not only give them the confidence to trust their musicality, but it will give them another avenue to explore their musicality without the actual playing of the instrument getting in the way.
MUSICAL GAINS THROUGH PERFORMANCE
The Introduction explores a few extended techniques for a younger player like tempo changes, a short cadenza, and an extreme variety of dynamics. The Dance section is based off of two different tempos with a short codetta at the end. Rhythmic stability will be the toughest hurtle to overcome with the student. Practicing these complex rhythms away from the instrument will be paramount to their success.
Style and complex rhythms are at the heart of Barat’s Introduction and Dance. It’s a piece that nearly everyone reading this article either had some growing pains on, or has taught it to their students. It is a staple of our repertoire and should be treasured and played with the proper preparation. We use it because of the rhythmic complexities, the essential stylistic elements, and because it’s simply a great piece. The Introduction and Dance might be a hurtle, but should not be insurmountable by even the youngest of pupils. If the teacher takes proper preparation in their methodology of teaching this piece, the fog will lift quickly for young musicians.
GUIDED PRACTICE
I. Introduction
The musical roadmap of this work can be a difficult challenge to discern. Sometimes too much information is given, while other times more would be helpful. While this can be frustrating to the student, it is a great opportunity for the student to begin to develop musical ideas of his or her own to employ in the work. From the beginning, the pianist begins with a four-measure introduction, and the soloist begins in m. 5. The edition is notated in this manner:
There is quite a bit of information, but the extra-musical ideas aren’t present on the page. Here is how I teach this opening line to be performed:
Anyone who has performed this piece, or taught this piece, knows that getting the appropriate length of note out of the student can be difficult. I would first go ahead and mark in the tenuto markings over m. 7 and 8 to aid them to remember this. Also, I would make sure that they weren’t tapering the half notes, and draw and arrow through the rest of the measure to ensure that they hold the notes for full value. The dashed phrase marking would let them know that these two measures work together, as well as the second set.
The use of extreme dynamics are evident in all aspects of impressionistic music, and the Introduction of this work is no exception. As teachers, we know that what we hear as the player is not the same as what the audience will hear. Often I use a percentage rule with my students. If you think you are doing 100% of the expression that is needed, make it 150%. Often this will get the desired result without being over-the-top. Measures 9-12 incorporate this into practice. A great exercise for getting dynamic differences would be the following:
This short exercise will get the full range of the student’s dynamic capability. You can also stretch both the soft and loud dynamics with this exercise. Shorten the exercise once they become comfortable with it:
The next step is to get the student to reach these dynamics without crescendos or decrescendos, as in the following exercise. You can use the same notes, or a descending scalar pattern like this:
Keep shortening the resting interval time until the student can give you two entirely different dynamics while still staying relaxed and open with their sound.
A little bit of rhythmic practice with varying patterns will aid the student in their preparation for the mixed complex rhythms encountered in the Introduction. Using the rhythms from m.15-16, devise a simple exercise on the Bb-concert:
With a little preparation this complex rhythm is broken down into it’s components, and more importantly, the difficult cross-rhythms in the measure. If the student can read the different conversions they can play the entire measure as written. Using a one-note version on these more complex rhythms is a great way to get the student more comfortable with these passages by narrowing their focus.
The ending cadenza of the Introduction is where the student can be encouraged to experiment to decide what they want to bring to the music. While pianists and string players write their own cadenzas for classical and modern works, this tradition doesn’t usually extend to brass performers. I’m not sure why this is, but if you have a student with a flair for composition, let them experiment with writing something! If the student is a bit more reserved, let them stay “inside of the box” for a while. Have them learn the cadenza five different ways, so they always have a fresh approach to the musical line. Here is the cadenza in m.29-30 as written:
Assuming that all of the dynamics and articulations are from the editor, Glenn Smith, why not use the same harmonic structure and give it your own personal touch? Here is one example:
II. Dance
The second section is a spirited dance marked Allegro with an indicated tempo of quarter-note = 116-120. While this is probably an editorial marking, the piece feels better at around quarter-note = 100-104. The dotted eighth-note rhythms seem to have more buoyancy at the latter speed, and can be played with more separation akin to a doubly dotted French Overture style of performance.
The challenge is mainly rhythmic in this movement. First, the teacher should have the student study dotted rhythms as an educational primer. Complex rhythms are used by educators to work through problems, but do they really have to be so difficult? A simple exercise that streamlines both dotted rhythms and breath/tone production looks like this:
Issues with dotted rhythms are not just limited to the counting involved, but also the tongue speed. Young students tend to over-tongue passages and will tire and slow down. Use the above exercise to reinforce the idea that the tongue simply floats on top of the air and when technical passages are present in the music, make sure that the air remains relaxed and open.
The opening measures of the Dance section should be exciting and spirited. Take caution on the wider leaps especially evident in m.12 and m. 14. It is very easy to play the wrong partials in this section, and half-speed practice would be a great investment for the student.
Sometimes seeing the divisions of beats in a form that they, the students, are comfortable in is all that they need to succeed. Beginning at the meno mosso section of the Dance, I have used the following with my students as an intentional rewrite of a few sections:
When the student can see clear divisions of the beat at the quarter-note level, it is much easier for them to grasp this concept. Viewing the original marking, subdivide at the eighth-note level to see the beat division. To accurately play the sextuplet in the right time, the student must have division at the sixteenth-note. This is not to say that a young student cannot accomplish this, but it is quicker to have them play the second example twice as fast until they can internalize the subdivided rhythms.
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