Playing Good Music - the String Quartet (1955)

[Music] he [Music] you listening to the Fine Arts quartet play a Schubert skaro incidentally a skaro actually means a playful movement or musical joke the four musicians in this quartet play well together they are a good team let's see what it takes to Be an Effective member of this kind of a team these are the main points to watch for for first the techniques used in playing the individual instruments second some of the ways the composer combines the voices of the four instruments to express his musical ideas and third how each member of this quartet team while playing his own part is constantly aware of the other three parts this film will not only demonstrate techniques but will help you enjoy music more let's take a look at the individual instruments and how each is played each is played with a bow let's see what happens when a bow is drawn across a string the player determines the pitch by varying the length of the string which vibrates he does this by pressing the string against the fingerboard with his finger only the portion between his finger and the bridge will [Music] vibrate the shorter he makes the string the higher the [Music] note let us leave the cello a moment and take a look at the violin ordinarily one string is played at a [Music] time however two strings can be played melodically at the same time this is known as double stopping see how the player uses two fingers in various combinations with a more vigorous stroke three and even four strings can be played at once this is known as playing [Music] chords with all four instruments playing two three or four notes in various combinations it is possible to have as many as 16 notes being played simultaneously thus producing both greater volume and richer [Music] sound one of the characteristics of a string tone which makes it pleasing is the effect known as vibrat vibr is achieved by rocking the fingertip back and forth on the string in an even manner this is the way a tone sounds without any vibr at [Music] all now here is a very slow V here is the normal way of producing fto let's hear the entire quartet play a phrase without [Music] V and now let's hear it with VTO [Music] notice how much richer and warmer the tone sound as the music becomes more intricate greater speed and facility is required in fingering and Bo [Music] playing a stringed instrument demands much of the same kind of mental and muscular coordination that is required of an athlete the eyes the arms and both hands are used in coordination by the players [Music] except for minor variations because of the size of the instruments fingering and Boeing are the same for the violins and the [Music] viola because of its size the cello can't very well be held under the chin since this is so the large part of the box is away from the player near the floor instead of being toward him you'll notice the position of the fingerboard in relation to the player is therefore reversed to play louder the player bows closer to the bridge and uses more pressure to produce a softer sound he bows closer to the fingerboard and uses less pressure one must be careful in playing loudly that the bow is moving fast enough to give an even pressure otherwise you get a tone that breaks by playing notes of varying length and rapidity the player produces varying rhythmic [Music] patterns in picato the strings are plucked instead of [Music] bowed through the use of a mute which dampens the vibrations of the instrument at the bridge a change in tonal color can be [Music] achieved we have observed some of the basic techniques for playing a stringed instrument now let's look at a typical quartet score here is a portion of the score of Wolf's Italian serenade the parts played by each instrument are shown see if you can follow the parts as they are [Music] played [Music] the four voices can play the same notes in unison to emphasize a single idea any of the instruments can play a solo accompanied by one or more of the others the theme like a ball can be tossed from one player to another [Music] in orchestras there is a conductor all of the players in the orchestra follow the conductor in the quartet while the first violin usually gives the signal to start each of the other three players can assume leadership when his part so demands the other players then take their cues from him [Music] now as we see the Fine Arts quartet in the concert hall let's observe how each one of the players uses his instrument watch for the various ways in which the composer uses the four instruments notice too the give and take both in leadership and in the carrying of musical ideas between the members of the quartet as they play a portion of the finale movement of Mozart's quartet in G [Music] major [Music] a [Music]