For native French speakers, I need help with music terms

[steltz]

We have several native French speakers here, so I thought I would see if I could get help with some terms that have been bewildering me for a few years. For the moment, I have two of them.

1) Jeanjean's clarinet etudes frequently have the instruction 'sans decomposez'. I have always taken this to mean 'don't slow down'. It frequently (but not always) is given over slow introductions, so my educated guess seemed to make sense.

Then I came across a couple of etudes with the instruction 'decomposez'. This is next to the tempo marking at the beginning of the piece, so it isn't an instruction for rubato in a small section. In this context, it doesn't seem likely that it means 'slow down', but if it doesn't mean 'slow down', then 'sans decomposez' probably doesn't mean 'don't slow down'. So now I am at square one again.

I haven't seen this term in any other composer except Jeanjean, and I have asked people who learned French as a 2nd language, and possibly aren't as fluent as they would need to be to decipher this. They didn't know how to translate it.

2) One of Jeanjean's Etudes Modernes has a term 'scanez' or 'scandez' (I don't have the music in front of me right now, so I'm not sure of the spelling). A Google search came up with 4 possibilities: 'declamatory', 'accented', 'chant' (as in a verse or slogan), and then 'scan; poesie', which I don't understand. However, I feel the passage could be played poetically, so the declamatory, accented definitions don't seem to fit.

Any ideas on either of these?

[coulonnus]

We have several native French speakers here, so I thought I would see if I could get help with some terms that have been bewildering me for a few years. For the moment, I have two of them.

The spelling is 'sans décomposer'. In a 6/8 time signature 'décomposer' means counting 1-2-3-4-5-6 in each measure while you play. 'Sans décomposer' means counting 1-2 in
each measure, 3 times slower of course, so it does not mean another tempo. I welcome the right English term.

2) One of Jeanjean's Etudes Modernes has a term 'scanez' or 'scandez' (I don't have the music in front of me right now, so I'm not sure of the spelling). A Google search came up with 4 possibilities: 'declamatory', 'accented', 'chant' (as in a verse or slogan), and then 'scan; poesie', which I don't understand. However, I feel the passage could be played poetically, so the declamatory, accented definitions don't seem to fit.

Any ideas on either of these?

'scander' - infinitive - or 'scandez' - imperative ar correct. When you see a group of workers
in strike yelling OUR-BOSS-IS-UNFAIR you will have a - maybe exagerated- idea of the
interpretation required.

[allegroamabile]

Please take no offense before reading. I don't want to start a fight, I just want to voice my opinion.

I personally feel the Jean-Jean is a waste of time, especially the Vade Macum. Instructors try to put a strong emphasis on methods but it is really not necessary. Music is like learning a foreign language. You develop your good habits early (good grammar for language) and go from there. It is necessary though to have a thorough backround of scales and arpeggios, and I feel something like the Klose (for less advanced students) and the Carl Baermann (for more advanced students) is all you need. These are like the language books you get from a bookstore that helps you learn sentence structure and pronunciation of the foreign language. Practicing the repotoire (things people actually want to hear) is more fufilling than this and his Etudes are just disgusting to hear.

Regards

[steltz]

Thank you, Coulonnus!!! Long-time mystery solved.

As to whether Jeanjean is disgusting or not, this is a matter of personal taste. I use Jeanjean along with Baermann and Klose, and I especially like the fact that Jeanjean's style is very impressionistic. Clarinettists don't have quite as much in that style as flutists do, so I enjoy the change of style.

I get bored listening to just Klosé and Baermann (along with Rose, who is also mid-19th C.), although with my students who are at a more elementary level, they have to do more of these, because they can't handle the more advanced Jeanjean.

No. 1 of Jeanjean's Etudes Progressives is usually the first one I give students for working on interpreting the impressionistic style, and my 3rd- and 4th-year performance students have to do at least one of the Etudes Modernes because, in addition to the Impressionistic interpretation elements, there are also advanced rhythmic issues to tackle. BTW, Jettel also gets into these more modern rhythmic elements.

And here's a contentious issue -- very few of the clarinet etudes would be played in concerts, unlike some of the pianists' etudes, e.g. Chopin.

There are a couple of Jeanjean's Etudes I might consider doing as an unaccompanied work in a concert -- haven't done it yet, but I keep toying with the idea . . .

Wouldn't ever do that with Klosé or Baermann, though . . . . they sound too much like etudes. And I just received about 8 of the Klosé Solos that were used in the Paris Conservatoire Concours. They are useful, and I might assign a few, but they are very formulaic, and possibly cheesy. We'll see as we work through them.

(On my next recital is Jeanjean's Andante and Scherzo brillante. The Andante is especially atmospheric and wonderful!)

[allegroamabile]

Ok

Well, I was talking about the methods when it came to the Klose and Baermann, not the etudes. My instructor at the school loves Rose etudes, and I have become familiar with them from her. You remind me of her and you should do some research on her. Her name is Deborah Chodacki and she studied with Robert Marcellus.

What level are the students you teach?

One more thing, what else are you going to perform at your recital?

to Coulonnus: I visited Nice, San Troppe, San Raphael, and Cannes and it is a beautiful area. It is also Milhaud's homeland.

[steltz]

I teach everything from a few excellent primary and high school students (these are part-time and outside my uni job), and then undergraduate up to Masters at the University.

So I need a fairly wide range of repertoire . . . . (but then, I like researching repertoire!)

The rest of the recital will be: Sciroli's Sonata to start with. This is a relatively recent find (pub.1990), and at the moment, the earliest sonata known for clarinet. Although probably written around 1770, it's kind of hybrid Classical/Baroque, because the Italians seemed to let go of their beloved Baroque traditions later than in a lot of other countries. So it has some reminiscences of impetuous Vivaldi.

Then I will do a larger Germanic-Romantic type of sonata, possibly Brahms f minor (my accompanist wants that one). I have also looked at Stanford, Bowen, and a couple of others, but I will probably end up with Brahms.

Second half starts with the Jeanjean, and then to end, Muczynski's Time Pieces. Very dynamic, rhythmic, great stuff!

(Sorry, this has gotten off topic . . . . but as long as the subject was etudes, allegroamabile, have a look at the Stark Virtuosity Etudes . . . WICKED!!!!!!)