Reflections on the Marcin Dylla Master Class

What is the first thing you think of when someone says fugue?

Challenging?

Beautiful?

Counterpoint?

Polyphony?

All of the above!  Marcin Dylla posed that question at Monday nights master class where 9 students performed, with over 30 people in attendance.

So how do we achieve a performance in a Bach fugue where polyphony is defined as:

“The style of simultaneously combining a number of individual parts that harmonize with each other?”

Well…. we  practice each part separately, following the contour of the line giving it definition, flow and the spirit as it is being sung.  With that achieved we begin to hear each line as a melody in of itself.  Now let’s put it all together.  Oops… I am sounding like I am playing vertically again, playing the notes as if they were piled on top of each other.

But my friend that is the beauty and difficulty of Bach’s polyphony and what makes him a genius centuries later!  (And we have Justin Beiber:)

Marcin Dylla’s master class was three and a half hour marathon of teaching just like above.  It was intense, precise, passionate and with his incredibly artistic approach he was able to guide the performers to really think about every single note they were playing.

I couldn’t help but think his approach towards preciseness was from such a high artistic level that all of us in the room had difficulty comprehending it.  He demonstrated this in the concert the following night.  His notes seem to be held for more than full value.  He has this tone and sustain that are so smooth, thick and articulate, everything is projected to sound so simple.

Marcin joked at the master class that many people have complemented him on his distinct and clear articulation and reasoned it must be the guitar.  But he clearly explained that yes he has a nice guitar, but his preciseness is from his disciplined approach to sound production, projection and different techniques in strokes.  In other words he doesn’t like to hear guitar players who practice exercises over and over to sound like a machine gun or computer like.  Instead, he takes the first few lines and achieves his tone, and interpretation of the song and from there that gives him a clear perspective for the rest of the piece.

I want to say a big thank you to all who played and audited, to Jan Narveson for allowing us to have the space in The Music Room and to David Marshall of Marshall Developments for financially sponsoring the event.

Stephen Zurakowsky

Artistic Director