Stephen,
Thank you for responding to my imbedded comment. In citing the
bourree from BWV 996, I believe you may have inadvertently chosen the
perfect example to illustrate the ambiguity surrounding arbitrary
performance standards.
Consider the proper tempo for the piece. Even the pros do not play
it at true bourree tempo or feel. If at the proper speed, the
difficulty drastically increases placing it on a difficulty level
comparable to the other movements of the suite. I wonder then how the
appropriate grade difficulty level is assessed. Do exam graders
evaluate students on their demonstrated applied knowledge of the tempi
and metric pulse patterns of baroque dance forms? Are they graded
according to the tempo tradition dictated by modern performers which
was arrived at arbitrarily? (This particular piece should have a fairly
quick 2/2 feel rather than the plodding 4/4 pulse which is has become
the norm solely through repetition; another example of, "My teacher
plays it that way. John Williams and Julian Bream recorded it that way.
I've heard it like that so often that anything else doesn't sound right
to me.") Are the exam graders even expected to be familiar or concerned
with these types of performance practice issues?
Chris
Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
www.christopherwilke.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Kenyon <[email protected]>
To: Christopher Wilke <[email protected]>
Cc: Dan Winheld <[email protected]>; Mark Seifert <[email protected]>;
gary <[email protected]>; lutelist <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2013 10:34 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: general public Lute awareness
Assignment to grades is certainly arbitrary and all the more so when
the reviewer is not actually responsible for setting syllabus
standards, so they should be saying "is roughly a grade 6 piece".
About half the readership of the UK based Classical Guitar magazine
is UK resident, and most will have some idea of grades so its helpful
to them to know roughly where a piece sits in grade terms.
For many years "the" Bach Bourree (Em) was a grade 6 piece, now
considered a bit too hard for 6.
I think so long as folks don't forget that grading is arbitrary and
only an outline or framework, it can be helpful, not least to avoid
disruptive leaps in standard when setting pieces for students.
Stephen
On 4 Aug 2013, at 15:09, Christopher Wilke wrote:
> .....
> [On a side note, I've been amused to follow the side topic that
> this
> thread has spawned regarding the qualifications for grade
> examiners in
> the UK. A couple of my compositions have been reviewed in British
> publications. They always say something like, "this is a Grade 6
> piece". As an American, I wonder what the heck that even means.
> Despite
> the thoroughness of the system, what I've learned has done
> nothing to
> dissuade me from believing that performance study is essentially
> arbitrary.]
>
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