Posted on May 17, 2008 by Abigail McHugh in - Creative Expression/Improvisation
Have students improvise or write and perform a cadenza for the fermata at the end of the 3rd line of Allegro (Suzuki Book 1).
I tried this in both my book 1-2 group class and my book 3-5 group class with great success. First I had the students listen to a bit of the beginning and end of the 1st movement of the Boccherini Concerto and tell me about what they heard. From this I elicited the terms concerto and cadenza, both of which they were able to come up with on their own. We talked a bit about the historical tradition of improvising cadenzas and also about what types of material would be appropriate to include in a cadenza. I suggested that they try including trills, scales, and something that used the same bow stroke as the beginning of Allegro, and I assured them that it was okay if their cadenza was a complete disaster, as this was their first-ever cadenza attempt. (In a previous book 1-2 class, we had experimented with adding a trill at this same spot in Allegro and also at similar moments in other pieces, such as Allegretto and Andantino.) We then played Allegro as a group and I demonstrated a cadenza during the fermata (improvised and nothing spectacular), after which the group joined me again to finish the piece. In the book 3-5 class, I made everyone give it a try and was absolutely shocked by how good their cadenzas were. I asked for volunteers in the book 1-2 class and got a few brave souls who were willing to give it a shot. Their cadenzas weren’t quite as good of course, but they certainly got a lot of applause for trying and seemed quite proud of themselves. For homework, I challenged them to write (not necessarily on paper) a cadenza to be performed the following week, and offered a small prize to anyone who did it.
Note 1: This same idea could also work well in other easy pieces, such as Lully Gavotte.
Note 2: This is also good for cueing practice, as the soloist must cue the “orchestra” to join him again at the end of the cadenza