PLAYING PIANO CHORAL SCORES WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT

Purpose : Preparation choirmasters and conductors of academic choirs to work on choral scores, sing from notes and independently work on a work and analyze it in all aspects. Methods: An integrated approach, including theoretical analysis and practical work on the choral score. Results: Acquisition of skills in reading choral scores without accompaniment on the piano. Novelty: Analysis and work on choral works without accompaniment by composers of Uzbekistan. Practical implementation: Practical implementation: The main provisions of this study can be used as auxiliary material for complex work on choral works without accompaniment in the educational process.


Introduction
Reading choral scores is one of the main subjects in the cycle of special disciplines in the professional training of undergraduate students in the conducting and choral departments.The main objective of the course is to educate the future choral conductor in the process of becoming familiar with a wide range of choral works of national and foreign classics, arrangements of folk songs and mastering the skills of performing them on the piano.At the same time, the student acquires special knowledge and practical skills in the field of working with a choir, as well as in accumulating a repertoire from the best examples of choral literature.

Main part
The program for the course on reading choral scores provides for the study of a cappella works in a four-line presentation.When reading such a recording, the success of the work will largely depend on how well the techniques of reading the scores of homogeneous choirs in two-line presentation were previously mastered.The challenge in reading four-line works is to learn to read the entire score at once, with the sopranos and altos on the top two lines, the tenor part in treble clef on the third line, and the bass voice at the bottom.
One of the first skills in performing a fourvoice harmonic choral score on the piano is to ensure that all four voices sound equally strong.To acquire this skill, you should use choral works in which the voices are identical in rhythmic pattern and form a single dynamic ensemble that does not require the isolation of any one voice.The student must learn to play the score so that each chord sounds full and even, so that the sound of all voices in the chords is uniform in sound strength.It is necessary to learn to maintain such a uniform dynamic fullness of playing chords on the piano with a general "crescendo" or "diminuendo", with a sharp change in dynamics (subito f, subito p), as well as in the different nature of the movement of the music (legato, non-legato).
It is very important for students to master cantilena, smooth sound engineering.It is impossible to achieve a cantilena sound without the correct selection of fingerings, ensuring maximum coherence of the game.Mastering pedaling skills should go in parallel with working on the character of the sound, strokes, and breathing, since all this is an interconnected process.
At the first stage of work, when the main task is to master the skills of coherent performance of all voices, it is recommended to perform the score without a pedal (finger legato), which allows the student to hear and eliminate the shortcomings of his performance as he plays.It is recommended to use the pedal only as an auxiliary technical device to facilitate the performance of difficult parts of the work (large leaps of the melodic voice in the middle of a word, choral chords, etc.).
When reading works for a mixed composition on the piano, the female voices are mostly played with the right hand, and the male choir parts with the left however, due to the wide distribution of voices, and also depending on the different type of presentation, there may be a different distribution of voices.Thus, in order to achieve a connection performance with a wide arrangement of voices, often the middle parts of the score (alto and tenor), depending on the voice guidance, can be performed by both the left and right hands.If the intervals between basses and tenors exceed an octave, then in such cases it is convenient to perform the tenor part with the right hand together with a female choir.
One of the necessary skills when playing works of a homophonic-harmonic nature is the ability to clearly highlight the main melody against the background of the general choral sound.This requires some technical skill and it is suggested that the pieces be played at a slow tempo.Work on mastering the expressive transmission of a melodic line on the piano should begin on the simplest fourvoice scores, with a clear harmonic structure, with a melody in the upper voice.
In choral works, the main melodic material is often presented in different parts of a mixed choir in order to create different sound colors.Significant difficulties arise when performing choral scores with a melody placed in one of the middle voices.When performing the work "Венецианская ночь" by M. Balakirev on the piano, it is most convenient to perform the bass part with the left hand, and the tenor, alto and soprano parts are performed with the right.In this case, the main melody in the tenor voice can be easily highlighted.
The execution and choice of fingering are more complex when the theme is performed in one of the middle voices of a mixed choir.In the first three bars of A. Nikolsky's "Звонили звоны", it is more convenient to perform the melody in a tenor voice with the right hand, and when the soprano part enters, it should be transferred to the left hand (the second basses from the sixth bar can be omitted).Isolating the main melody in the tenor here turns out to be somewhat more difficult, since it is also necessary to emphasize the parts of the sopranos and baritones, imitating the sound of a bell ringing.
Often in choral scores for mixed composition there is also a presentation in which the main melody is entrusted to the alto part.Sometimes one can observe examples of the simultaneous presentation of two melodic lines in different parts.In the next work by V. Kalinnikov "Лес", in order to most clearly highlight the melodic lines (in the bass and soprano parts), it is advisable to play only the bass with the left hand, and the tenor, alto and soprano parts with the right hand.In this case, it is more convenient to transfer the last beat of the first bar and the first beat of the second bar of the tenor part to the left hand (the same should be played in the third or fourth bar).This method of performance makes it possible, with a general dynamic in-crease, to clearly emphasize the melodic lines of the bass and soprano parts of the choir in the ascending sequence.
In some choral works, the main melody may run sequentially in all voices.When playing such scores on the piano, the main task is to emphasize the main thematic material when carried out in various parts of the choir.In the work "Уснуло всё" by Ts.Cui, the distribution of hands is: the male choir parts are played with the left, and the female choir with the right.At the moments of crossing voices in the third and fourth bars, the position of the hands remains the same, since the crossing parts (altos and sopranos) are played with one hand.When performing homophonic-harmonic choral scores on the piano, the bass voice should be slightly emphasized (weighted).This is necessary in order to hear the bass part as a stable basis of the choral chord in the timbre sound of all choral parts.
An important point in working on the works of Uzbek composers a cappella are their specific features associated with meter rhythm and variation.While working, students are faced with the following questions: -work on works written in the traditions of folk professional genres; -work on works based on the use of variant-variation techniques of intonation transformation (works of a homophonic-harmonic nature with elements of imitation) -work on works based on the use of various metro-rhythmic formulas; -work on works written for a cappella choir and soloist.
Many choral works by composers of Uzbekistan were written using the traditions of the folk song genre.The technique of antiphonal comparison (female and male voices), works in the form of a couplet, works close to the traditional maqom are reflected in many arrangements, transcriptions and original compositions composers of Uzbekistan.

Conclusions
Playing a coral score without accompaniment on the piano is the main skill of a choirmaster.