There is a terrific new article in American String Teacher (produced by the American String Teachers Association) called “The Case for Rehearsing at Performance Tempo.” In it, author and teacher Paul Trapkus discusses a common solution applied by many conductors to improving difficult technical passages, that of working under tempo.

In my visits to school orchestra programs across the US, I see this technique used frequently. The logic seems generally to make sense and in some passages, it can be an effective tool.

However, I agree with Trapkus that it is used too frequently and often ineffectually. He takes readers through the literature to show how slowing music down for string players is often not just a difference of speed but a fundamental difference of kind. That is, playing fast music slowly often requires a fundamentally different approach to the instrument in a way that makes it ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst.

Trapkus points out that it can sometimes be effective, and I agree here too. In my own experience, there are certain types of rhythmic passages that benefit from the time and space of under-tempo work. This has shown up for me with everyone from middle school students to seasoned professionals. I have observed Marin Alsop frequently use this tool with top professional orchestras in very specific passages. She will ask them to “play it a little under” and the musicians will generally not have a problem. Being a violinist herself, she knows these limitations, and I have observed her use this rehearsal process in places with fast détaché 16ths and with complicated rhythmic passages in which the other techniques of the bow are generally conserved under tempo. As usual, it’s a great tool to keep on the belt. But it’s no panacea, as Alsop would be quick to say and as Trapkus details in this well-researched paper.

Trapkus does an excellent job briefly sketching the history of the under tempo rehearsal method, then discusses its shortcomings in more detail, before providing alternative methods, organized in a useful chart.

These include what he calls a “group loop,” as well as others like the “group chain" and the “independent chain.”

Of particular interest to me was the “task breakdown.” An example would be seperating right and left hand and focussing on spiccato on one open string at the correct performance tempo, ignoring the left hand for the time being.

I like the term “task” because it breaks down the final musical execution into all of the constituent parts. When I teach rehearsal technique to undergraduate music students, I am more prone to use the term “isolation,” as in a case when you momentarily isolate your bow from the challenges of fingering, or the challenges of even string crossing. You could say that a “Task” is the object which is being isolated.

This concept is important for non-string players like myself to internalize. Each instrument and instrument family operates according to their respective relevant physical principles, and that leads to cases where certain techniques of rehearsal may be more or less transferrable to different sections of the orchestra. In this case, it is perhaps unsurprising that I first heard this perspective in a less formalized way from my undergraduate violin instructor, a terrific musician named Mark Miller.

Further, different levels of musical development may also limit the effectiveness of certain techniques. I believe that it is almost more dangerous to overuse under tempo rehearsal with younger students than with collegiate musicians, say. More dangerous because they may not have the skills or experience to understand how to contextualize and compartmentalize that technique as merely a technique, and may develop bad habits formed from trying to apply an incorrect technique (from the slow repetitions) to an incompatible (fast) tempo.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, excessive under-tempo rehearsal can cause inexperienced musicians to internalize the faulty logic of the slow tempo, and fundamentally mangle the intent of the music. I love the first movement of Beethoven 5, but I never want to hear an under-tempo rendition of this music played by students who are playing it under tempo. I don’t want a student to be forced to play something poorly when they could be playing another piece of music that is equally rewarding but more appropriate to their ability level. I’d rather hear Dragon Hunter played with verve than Dvořák played badly! Our students deserve a chance to play whatever they play well.

Feel free to use this link below to access the article for free, though I hope readers might consider becoming members!

Citation

Trapkus, P. (2023). The Case for Rehearsing at Performance Tempo. American String Teacher, 73(2), 13–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031313231166022