UNIT STUDY on Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F created by Rachel Yoder General Information: Gustav Holst was born in Chettenham, England in 1874, and died in London in 1934. Until 1904, Holst made a living as a professional trombonist. During the last thirty years of his life, however, he focused on composing and teaching. He held teaching positions at St. Paul's Girls School in London, Morley College, the Royal College of Music, and even at Harvard University. He wrote many works including operas, symphonies, ballets, chamber music, solo songs, choral works, and several works for wind band. Second Suite in F was one of the first twentieth-century works composed specifically for wind band. It was composed in 1911, and first performed in 1922. This piece is a good example of the popular trend of nationalism in music in the years between the two World Wars. Holst was also influenced by Eastern philosophy, causing a desire for clarity of expression that is very evident in his Second Suite in F. Holst based this four-movement piece entirely on English folk songs and morris dances. The melodies usted in the piece are, in order, “Morris Dance”, “Swansea Town”, “Claudy Banks’, ‘I'll Love My Love”, “Song of the Blacksmith”, “Dargason”, and “Greensleeves”. The Harvard Dictionary of Music describes a morris dance as an English dance which originated from the moresca, a pantomimic dance of the 15" and 16" centuries. The moresca was performed by dancers with blackened faces and bells attached to their legs. In the Renaissance, this dance was popularly performed in ballets as either a solo dance or a dance of two groups, representing a sword fight between Christians and Moslems. In the 20" century in England, the morris dance was performed as a part of the May games. It included six male dancers and certain solo characters, like the “Mayde Marian,” represented by a boy disguised as a girl![Rhythmic Elements; Movement | is a march. All staccato figures should be played very precisely, while the contrasting legato figures should be smooth but still in rhythm. ° a5 Mvt!, Measure 1: Tuba, Euphonium, low saxes 2: Soprano sax, high woodwinds 3: Solo trumpet 6 ——= ; Ee o : eo 4 8 =f + Pr . “—_ Mvt |, at B: High woodwinds Movement Ill, is the “Song of the Blacksmith”; therefore, rhythm is especially important here. This movement is made up mostly of an ostinato and a melodic line. The rhythms will need to be rehearsed first by counting, then by clapping, playing on a single pitch, and finally playing the real pitches. It is important to practice and get comfortable with the meter changes. 8 Stace. SS aa Mvt Ill, Ostinato beg. > A: Brass, percussion, low saxes B: Bassoons, bass clarinets Mvt Ill, melody, before A: Clarinets, oboes, saxes C: Piccolo, horns, cornet 2In Movement IV, the main melody (in 6/8) is juxtaposed at C with the Greensleeves melody (in 3/4). | will be conducting only one beat per measure, so it is important to subdivide, listen, and understand how your part fits in with the rest of the ensemble.Melodic Elements:] Movement | contains three different folk melodies: “Morris Dance”, “Swansea Town”, and “Claudy Banks”. Although the movement should keep the pulse and feel of a march throughout, the melodies should be played in an expressive, singing style. “Swansea Town’” in particular has a melody that requires concentration on phrasing. This melody is played first at E by the solo euphonium and later at G by nearly the entire band (with some instruments playing harmony instead of the melody). The 6/8 “Claudy Banks” (Mvt I) and “Dargason’” (Mvt IV) melodies are similar, and should be played in a light style, as if whistling. The quarter notes should be vibrant, tenuto, and long, while the eighths are very light and easy. @ = “Claudy Banks”The beautiful song of Movement Il, “I'll Love My Love”, is about a woman driven to insanity by her grief over the loss of her lover. This melody should be very expressive, using rubato and varied dynamics to convey the mournful sentiment of the song. Hang on to the dissonances, like the one at four measures before A with the clarinets and horns, before resolving. Also, the eighth notes at the end of the movement need to be passed on seamlessly from the clarinet to the saxes and finally to the euphonium and tubas. e * * | cite ances [Harmonic Elements Movement | is mostly F major with some Bb Dorian, and Db pentatonic scale patterns for the woodwinds towards the end. Movement Il is based on the F Dorian scale. The homophonic texture of this piece will call for work on balance and tuning. Movement Ill uses the D and G aeolian (natural minor) scales, ending with a Picardy third. Movement IV's Dargason theme is in F major, while the Greensleeves melody is in G minor. It is interesting to note how these two keys relate to each other (G minor is the ii chord of F major). [Form & Texturel Movement | is in ABA form, with the A section consisting of two contrasting parts (Morris Dance followed by Swansea Town). The B section (Claudy Banks) is in 6/8, and ends with a Da Capo al Fine, or D.C. This takes us back to the beginning to repeat the A section, ending at the fine at H.Movement II begins with a short introduction, followed by a statement of the theme by the solo oboe. The theme is then restated by the high woodwinds while the rest of the band has flowing eighth-note lines. The closing of the movement passes the eighth-note line from the clarinet to the saxophone, and finally to the euphonium and tuba. Movement III has an introduction consisting of only the ostinato accompaniment. The Blacksmith tune is then stated three times in different combinations of instruments, and the movement ends on a D major chord. Movement IV is in ABABA form. The Dargason melody continues throughout the piece, but in the A sections it is performed alone and in the B sections it is juxtaposed with the Greensleeves melody. The movement closes with a tuba/piccolo duet using fragments of the Dargason melody, and one final F major chord played by the entire ensemble. TERMS TO KNOW AND DEFINE: morris dance D.C. al Fine allegro tacet andante ad lib. moderato a tempo diminuendo tutti crescendo soli senza crescendo maestoso staccato Applied Warm-ups| 1. Each day, choose one or two of the scales used in the piece (F major, G minor, Bb and F dorian, D and G aeolian, Db pentatonic). Play through the scale in unison whole notes; then use it along with the following: 2. Practice dynamic expression by assigning a different dynamic to each note of the scale. A good one would be F-ppp, G-pp, A-p, Bb-mp, C-mf, D-f, E-ff, F-fff (increasing intensity as the scale ascends). Then make sure to do the reverse, to practice playing high and soft, low and loud.3. Choose some of the rhythmic excerpts and have the band play the rhythm on each note of the scale. 4. Using just one pitch, have one half of the band play the ostinato rhythm from Mvt. III while the other half plays the rhythm of the melody, to explore how they fit together. Then switch parts. 5. Have one half of the band play the rhythm of the Dargason melody while the other half plays the rhythm of Greensleeves; then switch. These exercises will help students warm up, and practicing rhythmic and harmonic aspects of the piece out of context will help them concentrate on just one thing at a time. Activities] 1. Discuss the modes and the pentatonic scale (probably over several class periods—t is a lot of information to get all at once). Introduce the modes in relation to the note they start on in C major: C is lonian, D is Dorian, E is Phrygian, etc. Emphasize the lonian (major), Dorian, and Aeolian (natural minor) modes, as they are all used in the piece. Then go over the pentatonic scale, showing how to derive it from a major scale (leave out the fourth and seventh). Play the scales on the piano, and then play recordings of songs that use these scales so students can get an aural idea of the scale. Have students take notes on staff paper, taking down examples of each scale. Be sure to point out in detail portions of the piece that utilize these different scales. Homework: Students write down an A major (lonian) scale, C dorian scale, D natural minor (Aeolian), and F pentatonic for the next class meeting, to assess their understanding of the concepts. 2. Have the entire band play through each excerpt in this booklet in unison. This will require parts to be created for transposing instruments. The rhythmic excerpts should first be considered in terms of counting (1 e + a2 +, etc.). Students should count aloud, then clap, then count and clap at the same time. The excerpts from the third movement will prove especially difficult. Finally, students can play the rhythm on a single pitch on their instrument. After learning the rhythm on one pitch, they should try the rhythm using the actual notes. For the melodic excerpts, the band should again play in unison even if each student does not actually playthat part in the piece. Every band member should be learning and applying the concepts of the piece. The melodic excerpts concentrate on phrasing, so the phrasing diagram should be explained and the students should practice aiming for the peak of the phrase and shaping the rest. . After rehearsing the piece for a while, play a good recording of it so the students know what a good band should sound like. Have them take notes about what they notice while listening to the piece. Then, have a discussion with lots of student input based on these questions: “What did you like/dislike about the recording?” “What could our band and individual sections improve on to sound more like the recording?” Discuss suggestions, emphasize the most important points, then immediately rehearse the piece while the sound of the professional band is still in their minds. . Homework: Have students write a 2-page essay on this topic: “How is Gustav Holst's aspiration for clarity of expression evident in his Second Suite in F?” Students should cite specific examples from the piece to support their thesis. (Hopefully students will have already learned how to write an essay; if not, the assignment will take some explaining.) . Playing Tests: About two weeks before the performance, playing tests should be administered as a form of assessment. Playing tests will include: « difficult excerpts from the piece depending on the section, « F major, F Dorian, and Db pentatonic scales from memory, « counting of sixteenth- and eighth-note rhythms. The tests will count towards the final grade of the class, and will be scored according to a rubric created with the help of the students. . Written Test: A short written test will be given at the end of the unit. The test will include: ¢ writing in the counting of difficult rhythms from Mvt. Ili, e matching terms to definitions, ¢ marking in phrasing & dynamics for a melody from the piece, ° short-answer questions about the form of the movements.