The purpose of Marcel Moyse’s Tone and Development
The purpose of Marcel Moyse’s Tone and Development book is to increase flexibility of tone color, feeling, and character. Since I started regularly working out of this book, my sense of artistry has drastically improved. Instead of solely looking at notes, lines, and phrases, I focus on many more elements of the music not written on the page. Although learning basic technical aspects of the excerpts is important, I believe that artistry is the ultimate goal of any musician. By utilizing proper vibrato, phrasing, and Solfedge of these excerpts, I have been able to capture those lessons and apply them to a vast array of music.
Rather than relying on fate for a performance, we must practice exactly what we wish to convey. We sometimes get so caught up in how we are to physically play something, that the musical message is not clearly expressed. In general, Moyse’s book has taught me to take better care of the proper styles that are required. I have been able to utilize those lessons in musical applications in order to play precisely what the composer is asking. Along with the artistry Tone and Development has taught me, it has also made me more aware of how to bring out subtle nuances in music. By honing in on a specific musical element that an excerpt demands, it helps to facilitate attentiveness in a particular aspect.
The most important message conveyed from Tone and Development is that every single note of every single excerpt is important and inimitable. While working on these excerpts, my approach is to first sit down at the piano and sing the pitches on Solfedge syllables, checking the pitches once in a while. If it is written in a key outside of my natural voice, I transpose it into a comfortable key. It is imperative to get a grasp on how the intervals feel and sound in one’s own voice. While taking the instrument away for a while, it helps to develop the artistic meaning behind a piece. In turn, these excerpts shed light to quality of note rather than quantity of note. By discovering exactly what each excerpt needs, Tone and Development has broadened the horizons of my artistic endeavors.