Violin Master Class with Jennifer Koh at Colburn

January 15, 2024, 9:53 PM · "Every note is a decision."

This idea was a running theme throughout a master class with the Grammy-winning violinist Jennifer Koh in November at the Colburn School, held in cooperation with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. (Koh was in town to perform Nina Young's Violin Concerto 'Traces').

Jennifer Koh with students at her master class, Zi Yang Low and Angie Wang.

Koh talked a lot about musical decisions with with Karolina Protsenko, who began the master class with a poised and accurate performance of the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 with pianist Hsin-I Huang.

Koh's first questions for Karolina were: What is the loudest part of this movement? The quietest part? The most lyrical part?

"I want us to think about how we plan, from silence to loud," Koh said. If those peak moments are really going to stand out, one has to know exactly where they are and then create a plan to highlight them. That goes for the full movement, and it also goes for sections within the movement.

Jennifer Koh with Karolina Protsenko.

Starting with this overarching concept, Koh moved to the details. She started by working on the cadenza, a place where one can work all the way from silence.

These first three lines of the cadenzas are actually three statements - but which is the loudest? Which is the softest?

"You decide, but don't let me know - then play it that way," Koh said. The first time around, she made the second line loudest and the third line softest. Koh wasn't looking for a "right" answer, she was looking for Karolina to play it in a way where her intention was obvious and evident to the audience. Koh had her try it several different ways.

Once you decide where to place the top of the phrase, then how do you bring it out? You could make it the loudest, but also "sometimes being quiet is the most meaningful." And to bring out a phrase, you can use dynamics, but you can also use timing for emphasis.

Koh then proceeded to dive into the details, to show just how many possibilities there are.

If you play just the top notes, at the end of each line (circled in blue) - what is going on here? What are the top notes? She had Karolina play just those top notes, which, in order, are B, C, then E. What is going on? They ascend.

Now look at the beginning of each line: what is going on with the sextuplets? If you look at the first, accented note of each sextuplet (circled in red) - for each line they form a four-note phrase that goes up by thirds twice, then down a third. It's easy to just punch out the accents - but Koh suggested that instead of just accenting the first of each of sextuplet, shape them with dynamics. Also, instead of using a lot of rubato here, "try the triplets as they are written, as even notes, vibrating each note," Koh said. In fact, as an experiment, "try vibrating the top notes."

Also, more food for thought: if you look line-by-line, the beginning of each line starts lower - so there is a descent.

In sum, Koh showed Karolina many possibilities for phrasing, dynamics and timing in the cadenza, offering a lot of details to open her up to the score. In the end, it's important to experiment and expand the imagination in the practice room, she said, to explore each decision that you make.

Even at the very, very beginning of the piece, it's worth asking the question: "What is the softest note?"

Kind of a trick question, but they concluded that the softest note in the beginning of the solo part is actually the very first note.

With these ideas in mind, Koh challenged her to go through the movement, and find the loudest part, the most intense part, the softest part. Then make those decisions page-by-page, line-by-line, phrase-by-phrase. "Really look at the music and make sure you aren't doing anything just out of habit," Koh said. Practice musically, even when practicing slowly. Increase your dynamic range, "from the floor to the ceiling!"

Next Angie Wang and pianist Inyoung Huh performed the first movement from Mozart's Concerto No. 1 in Bb major, K207 - one of the more infrequently performed of Mozart's five violin concertos. Wang gave a clean performance with nice intonation and articulation.

Jennifer Koh with Angie Wang.

Koh zeroed in on bringing out the various characters in this music. She pointed out that sometimes Wang was anticipating character changes - "you start doing it a little before it happens," Koh said. It's important to close one phrase before starting the next, and also to vibrate from the beginning of notes. "We want even more distinction between different characters," Koh said.

Koh also pointed out that it can help to use vowel sounds for articulations. If you use a consonant sound (like "ck"), it puts an accidental accent at the beginning of the note, and that little burst can disrupt the phrase. They worked a lot on getting rid of consonant accents in the opening.

She also pointed out that, to hear syncopation, "You have to hear the strong beat."

She also said that when there are two voices, it's important to distinguish each voice with dynamics or color - "Let's have more contrast," she said. It's not enough to just have an accent at the beginning of each change of voice. "Sustain your characters even longer," she said. "We need the long lines to create the details."

The final performer was Zi Yang Low, who gave a forceful performance the third movement from Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D minor with pianist Inyoung Huh.

Koh wanted to hear more direction and planning ahead, and she also worked on expanding his dynamic range. In the beginning of the piece, she told him not to "worry too much about being loud."

Dynamics are relative, and they sound different under the ear than in the hall. So she worked on adjusting his dynamics to levels that would have more range, with a top volume stopping short of the point where the violin sound breaks.

Though the beginning of the movement is marked "poco forte," she had him try starting the piece quietly, "piano." Even so, "your piano still sounds forte to me," so then she had him start pianissimo - or at least what felt like pianissimo to him. This did take the edge off and still sounded loud enough. "I think starting pianissimo is the way to go," she said.

When there is a crescendo written in the part, "we want to use every tool at our disposal to make it grow," she said. For instance, in this passage:

...there is a crescendo that has to grow over quite a lot of activity. It's easy to accidentally jab the beginning of each quintuplet with a big accent, but she suggested instead thinking in terms "left-hand accents" - not to accent with the bow. That helps allow the bow to be used more to create a crescendo.

"This is going to be a pain technically, but it's worth it musically," she said.

This movement, with its asymmetrical rhythms and many rapid string crossings can get a little bumpy, but Koh pointed out a lot of places to vibrate and create more phrasing with the left hand so that it can sing.

If every note is a decision, Jennifer Koh gave these students plenty of ways to look anew at their music, as well as ideas to use as a basis for making those decisions. And she didn't make the decisions for them - she left it to them to take it from there.

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jean dubuisson

January 16, 2024 at 09:31 AM · and nice hair too :-)

Laurie Niles

January 16, 2024 at 05:46 PM · Go bold or go home! She looks very pretty with aqua hair. It's a statement, and also protective. She told me that she first dyed her hair because someone tried to attack her on a subway - they saw her hair and targeted her for being Asian. This was a much more poignant explanation than I expected. She also loves manga, and the idea of all of us being embraced for whatever colors we are or choose to be. So I for one will stand behind her hair and whatever color she wishes to make it.

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Violin Master Class with Jennifer Koh at Colburn

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