Clavichord for Beginners

Contents

vii Contents Preface and acknowledgMents xi 1 — Clavichord for All Keyboardists 1 What Is a Clavichord? 1 Clavichord for Keyboard Beginners 2 For Harpsichordists 2 For Players of Early Pianos 3 For Modern Pianists 4 For Organists 5 For Singing Clavichordists 6 A Personal Note for Aspiring Clavichordists 7 2 — PreParing to Play 8 Ways of Relaxing 8 Touch Awareness 8 Finger Awareness, Seated 9 Finger Interaction, Seated 9 Exercise for Finger Independence 10 Exercise for Flexible Wrists 10 Getting to Know Your Clavichord 11 Position at the Keyboard 12 Control of Tone and Pitch 12 3 — Clavichord Lessons, Series I 13 Lesson One: Lowering a Key Soundlessly 13 Lesson Two: Making a Sound 14 Lesson Three: Playing Two Notes in a Row 16 Lesson Four: Including a Raised Key 17 Lesson Five: Bach’s Cantabile Touch 18 viii Contents Lesson Six: Producing a Cantabile (Singing) Sound 20 Lesson Seven: Cantabile with Fingers 4 and 5 21 Lesson Eight: Cantabile with the Thumb 22 Lesson Nine: Cantabile on Two Successive Notes 24 Lesson Ten: Playing Five Cantabile Tones in a Row 27 Lesson Eleven: Timing 28 Lesson Twelve: Timing for Five-Finger Patterns, Both Hands 30 4 — Clavichord Lessons, Series II 31 Lesson One: Degrees of Softness 31 Lesson Two: Degrees of Loudness 33 Lesson Three: Crescendo and Diminuendo on Five Notes 35 Lesson Four: Contrast in Dynamics, Two Hands 36 Lesson Five: Articulation on Single Notes with One Finger 37 Lesson Six: Articulation on Two Notes 39 Lesson Seven: Leaping with One Finger 41 Lesson Eight: Playing Intervals with One Hand 43 Lesson Nine: Passagework with a Flexible Thumb 45 5 — PreParing for Pieces 47 The Trill 49 The Mordent 51 The Turn 52 The Appoggiatura 53 The Bebung 54 Tragen der Töne (Portato) 56 Ornaments in General 57 6 — Eleven Easy Pieces 58 Daniel Gottlob Türk (1750–1813) 58 Johann Wilhelm Hässler (1747–1822) 61 Christian Petzold (1677–1733) 62 Wolfgang Mozart (1756–1791) 64 Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732–1817) 65 ix Contents 7 — ExPloring the Past: Fifteenth through Seventeenth Centuries 68 Burgundian Lands 68 The Habsburg Dynasty 70 Spain 73 Italy 77 England 77 France 78 Germanic Countries 80 8 — ExPloring Eighteenth-Century GerMany 83 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) 83 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) 88 Daniel Gottlob Türk (1750–1813) 96 9 — ExPloring the Present and Future 103 Improvisation 103 Ensemble 104 Recordings 104 Composition for Clavichord and Electronics 105 aPPendix: biograPhical details 107 About the Author 107 Sample of Joan Benson’s Concert Venues 108 Reviews 109 notes 111 selected bibliograPhy 115 extended bibliograPhy 121 cd and dvd contents lists 125 This page intentionally left blank ...