Morning Activities and Choices
9 AM to Noon Master Class with Marion Verbruggen. This class is organized as a series of lessons given in front of auditors. Marion speaks to style, interpretation, breath technique, fingering and tuning issues. An accompanist will be present. Participants who wish to perform in this class may audition on Sunday evening, June 15, after dinner. Auditors are welcome to sit in on the class.
10:30 AM to Noon Baroque Performance Class with Frances Blaker – In a supportive atmosphere, participants prepare for playing in a Baroque ensemble. This class is open to all levels and includes ensemble and individual playing and instruction on performance practice.
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Baroque Dance for Musicians: articipants who wish to take part in this class may leave the masterclasses early.
Afternoon Activities
1:30 to 2:45 PM Baroque Recorder Ensemble We all know the Handel repertoire, but there’s more! Frances Blaker leads the ensemble in exploring music of the High Baroque with transcriptions from Handel concerti, oratorios and operas, and the latest hits from the Pleasure Gardens (that is, if you had lived in London in 1760. A piece will be prepared for the final workshop concert.
Opposite the coached ensembles, Frances Blaker and Phebe Craig will offer 2 classes to increase your knowledge and abilities in technique and in some of the finer facets of Baroque ensemble playing:
3:00 to 4:00 PM Frances Blaker’s Technique Warm Up & Recorder Class. This class begins with a 30 minute technique session open to all recorder players. This is an opportunity to acquire new technical strength and develop a thorough warm-up routine for yourself. The second 30 minutes may be devoted to rotating individual lessons for class participants and with auditors observing, or to working together on aspects of Baroque performance practice and topics of special interest to recorder players. This segment consists of both discussion and playing music.
4:00 to 5:00 PM During the second ensemble period, Phebe Craig will offer a class for all musicians, entitled The Importance of Being Dissonant, an exploration into one of the most highly-effective musical devices of the Baroque period. Each day we will play and sing stunning, painful, and fear-inspiring examples of these most indispensable tonal occurrences in 17th- and 18th-century music. You will learn how to treat them and how to recognize them approaching as you play. (Dare we mention it: the key is in the figures!)