Edvard Grieg’s Sonata no. 3, second movement: “Allegretto expression alla Romanza” - the title implies a song, with or without words.
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We oftentimes unnecessarily constrain ourselves when it comes to choice of bowings. Looking at the score, the beginning of this second movement contains few slurs, and when there are slurs, they often render our right hand movements physically uncomfortable / awkward. I’m trying to at this stage reconcile physical comfort with selective choice of bowings based on how I would speak and sing the phrases. Often enough, I find that certain parts call for a more speaking nature, and other parts more lyrical. I’ve come up with a temporary system of separating bows or using the parlando technique (drawing one full bow while making ever-so-slight “accents” along the way) when wishing to speak, and playing legato when wishing to sing.
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When speaking the music, one starts again realizing how connected poetry is with much of music. Groups of notes (pairs, triplets) resemble various metrical feet. So far, I’m resonating with many trochees, in different degrees.
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The parallel between poetry and music made me further think about how breathing impacts the body, which provides form to the music that we play. I often think that the right hand is in and of itself a living entity, thriving in inhales (up bows) and exhales (down bows). What can the body do to align itself with the right hand and therefore assist it?
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