Just Play Naturally
by Vivien Mackie (with Joe Armstrong). Duende Editions (PO Box 441963,
Somerville, MA 02144), 2002. 165 pps., $17.75, ISBN 0-9717-0040-0.
Vivian Mackie's Just
Play Naturally is exactly what its subtitle suggests, "An account
of her cello studies with Pablo Casals in the 1950s and her discovery
of the resonance between his teaching and the principles of the Alexander
Technique." Scottish-born Mackie spent three formative years in Prades
studying with Casals. Her reminiscences of those lessons form the core
of the book. Many years after that career-defining period, Mackie studied
and then trained to become a teacher of the Alexander Technique, developed
by 19th-century orator Frederick Matthias Alexander who had successfully
retrained himself to give speeches after suffering severe laryngitis.
Based on his own experiences, Alexander's technique helps people in
all professions become more aware of how their bodies tighten and contract
in times of stress, and also shows them how to counteract those impulses
with an awareness of how to "lengthen and widen."
Joe Armstrong, who also
teaches the Alexander Technique, is a flutist who studied cello with
Mackie as well. It is obvious from the informal tone of the writing
that the two are great friends with the utmost respect for each other.
The book is set up as a series of loose conversations between them.
Personally, I think that Just Play Naturally would have been
more effective had it omitted the many interjections of "Yes! Yes!"
or "Ha ha!" and been tightened up editorially. However, the insights
into Casals' teaching style and Mackie's deepening understanding of
music as art are thought-provoking and fascinating. At her first lesson,
Mackie played only two measures of the Haydn D major concerto, but she
learned so much more than a few seconds of music. "In the Haydn . .
. I learned in the first bar or two that every note . . . is either
coming towards you, or going away. It has a direction. It's never just
there; and it mustn't go along just plain. The ear demands to be intrigued
and fascinated. If you present the ear with a steady, unchanging sound,
it quickly loses interest and ceases to pay attention."
The role of body-awareness
as related to cello playing is also intriguing. At the close of the
book, Mackie includes an excellent introductory article to the Alexander
Technique. If you have studied the technique, as I had many years ago,
this book may be a welcome reminder about its pertinence to playing
and performing music. If not, the book may pique your interest in the
technique. Well worth reading for every cellist—really, for any
musician.
The Viol: History
of an Instrument by Annette Otterstedt (translated by Hans Reiners).
BŠrenreiter-Verlag, 2002. 294 pps., $31 ISBN 3-7618-1151-9
"There is another Musical
Instrument, which is more frequent in this Nation than any other; I
mean your Bass-Viol, which grumbles in the Bottom of the Consort, and
with a surly Masculine Sound, strengthens the Harmony, and tempers the
Sweetness of the several Instruments that play along with it," states
Joseph Addison in 1710 of this often overlooked stringed instrument.
The Viol is an unusual
text. It poses as an encyclopedic-style presentation of information,
an historic catalog, a primer to viol construction, but in fact, itÕs
also an engaging read, with strong storytelling from and about the most-famous
players.
A wealth of information
streams from Otterstedt's pages, but the translationÑby ReinersÑis rather
rough and undefined. I get the distinct sense that more than just a
handful of words may have been misinterpreted. However, the content
overshadows this sometimes difficult-to-follow text. The book reads
more like a novel than nonfiction, written in a personal and interested
tone. Otterstedt weaves tidbits of history with threads of stories and
folklore, building a colorful tale.
—Heather K. Scott
Latin Violin
by Sam Bardfeld. Gerard & Sarzin Publishing Co. (146 Bergen St., Brooklyn,
NY 11217), 2002. 112 pps., $24.95, ISBN 0-9628-4677-5.
Finally there's an authoritative
book about the place of the violin in Afro-Cuban music (commonly known
in the U.S. as "salsa"), this one penned by Sam Barnfeld. I wrote an
article for Strings about salsa violin some years back (see "Hot
Sauce," November/December 1992), but the published material available
on this vibrant style for violinists has been very limited. Afro-Cuban
[salsa] music usually refers to indigenous dances such as mambos, cha-chas,
rhumbas, and son montunos. Charanga refers to a salsa band with a flute
and violin front line, as opposed to the brass led conjunto. Bardfeld
is a working salsa violinist with many of the New York charanga orchestras
and this is reflected positively in the practical approach of Latin
Violin.
Bardfeld begins with a fine,
concise history of Cuban music and the violin's place in it. Next he
spends several pages explaining how to create "montunos," the critical
rhythmic function of the violin and the montuno's relation to the clave,
the rhythmic basis of the music. Without this ability, you can hardly
be considered a salsa violinist.
But the meat of the book
is the transcription section that takes up 44 of its 105 pages. Bardfeld
has managed to include several of the original recordings of these solos
on the accompanying CD, a neat coup, and one that is key to making this
a successful teaching text. The rhythmic sense of the solos is extremely
sophisticated. A student of salsa must understand how the improvisations
of the great players fit into the dense rhythmic texture of the accompaniment.
Now you can see and hear what the great creators of the style, like
Jose "Chombo" Silva, Miguel Barbon, and Alfredo de la Fe were and are
doing. There also are several "play-along" tracks of typical salsa rhythms
and chord progressions on which you can practice montunos and soloing
to the accompaniment of piano, bass, timbales, conga and violin.
—Stacy
Phillips
Old-Time Kentucky
Fiddle Tunes by Jeff Todd Titon. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington,
KY), 2001. 245 pps., $45. ISBN 0-8131-2200-7.
The styles and repertoire
of Kentucky fiddlers have become a focus of attention for Southern old-time
fiddling enthusiasts in the past decade or so. And now Jeff Todd Titon,
a professor of ethnomusicology at Brown University, has written one
of the few hardcover books about traditional American fiddling. The
bulk consists of transcriptions and detailed discographies of 170 tunes
(many with multiple versions) as played by Kentucky fiddlers. Since
most of the material has never been commercially available, the enclosed
CD is a critical asset. In fact, it's one of the best recent fiddle
CDs I've heard.
Fiddlers covered range from
those commercially recorded in the 1920s, to those collected for the
Library of Congress in the 1930s (like Luther Strong and William Stepp),
to the obscure, sought out by Titon with an eye toward discovering rare,
local pieces.
There are about 30 pages
of text dealing with the social settings and technical aspects of Southern
fiddling in general (explained in terms you'll understand even if you're
not acquainted with the fiddlers' ways) and the Kentucky repertoire
in particular. There are thumbnail biographies of all the fiddlers whose
settings are included.
I do wish that Titon had
included some bowings. Though bowing is often varied with each repetition
of a tune, at least one version of the bowing would eliminate much of
the guesswork. Even with that qualification, I highly recommend this
book. I hope it's a signal of greater academic interest in one of America's
lesser-known native arts.
—S.P.
