My Biggest Lesson from Chamber Music Camp: Write in the Musical Cues

I was in my first rehearsal at chamber music camp playing the Dumka from Dvorak’s Op. 51, and while I thought I was prepared, I kept losing count during long rests and arriving either a beat too early or too late. Before arriving at camp, I had practiced, numbered the measures in my part, and even written in key cues to help me navigate the trickier entrances.

I find rhythm to be one of the most challenging aspects of playing music, and in a chamber music setting, when there are many things to keep track of, it becomes even more difficult. In a quartet, not only are you reading your own music, counting your own rhythm, but you are listening to three other musicians and working to keep track of the overall sound of the music at the same time. This is one of the reasons why annotating your part is so effective. It allows you to reduce the number of things you need to keep track of at a particular moment, and opens up the possibility of listening to the group as a whole.

When I bring chamber music I am working on to my lessons, my teacher always emphasizes the importance of writing in cues. While I do use cues to help me understand how my part fits in with the rest of the ensemble, there is always more context I could give myself, and as I discovered when arriving at my first rehearsal at camp, my first set annotations was incomplete. 

It wasn’t until playing the Dumka that I realized the importance of careful score study and annotation. After the first rehearsal, I went back to my room, pulled up the score on my iPad, and wrote what I thought were the most important rhythmic cues to help me with my entrances. Instead of writing “Vln. 1” above a particular rest in my part, I needed to write “Vln. 1” followed by the rhythmic notation that the other violinist is playing during this rest, or when I had a more complicated rhythm including a variety of note values, but the cello was playing quarter notes, I notated the cello’s rhythm above my part to keep me oriented. In the next few rehearsals, when I found further need to write cues into my part, the coach was always gracious enough to provide me with information I needed. 

When my group performed the piece in the final camp concert at the end of the week, I didn’t play perfectly, but I never felt lost. I was able to turn my attention to listening to the ensemble, blending with the sounds of the other instruments, instead of spending my time counting every beat. I know that this wouldn’t have been the case if I hadn’t taken the time to write detailed cues in my part like, who entered before me, what rhythm they were playing, and other key annotations to help ground me with the rest of the group. Because I worked with the score, asked my coach when I was missing a key cue, and rehearsed with cues written into my part, I was able to approach performing with a sense of calm, and able to listen better to the other members of my quartet as we played.

This experience changed how I prepare chamber music, and I know that it is a path to approaching more challenging ensemble music in the future. Not only before the first rehearsal, but also throughout the rehearsal process, I add more information that helps me understand how my part fits with the rest of the ensemble.

Cues help build familiarity with the music, encourage you to listen to the other parts while playing, and build ensemble awareness. If you are an amateur starting to play chamber music, working to improve your ensemble skills to have more fun playing with others, or heading to your first chamber music camp, here are practical ways to prepare your part before your first rehearsal.

Five Ways to Write Better Chamber Music Cues

Even if you think you know your part well and rehearsals go smoothly, performance and the accompanying occasional anxiety can cause unexpected memory lapses, mistakes, or even losing your place in the music. I am always surprised at what goes wrong in performance that was never a concern during rehearsal. With careful preparation of your part, you can help yourself play better in performance and encourage yourself to listen to the full ensemble rather than getting wrapped up in your own part.

Tip 1: Instrument entrances

Use shorthand to mark which instruments are entering when during a long rest to guide your own entrance. Instead of counting your own part (which is still important), you’ll be able to anticipate another player’s entrance to signal when you come in. It is important to notate the rhythm the instrument is playing before your entrance, not just the name of the instrument itself.

Vln.1, Vln.2, Vla, VC

Tip 1: Rhythmic cues 

It is important to notate the rhythm the other instruments are playing to guide your entrances or ground you in particularly tricky sections. For example, If you have a rhythmically complicated first violin part and the cello has quarter notes, write the cello’s rhythm above your part to encourage you to listen to this stable rhythm as you play. You can use other notable musical figures as guides as well such as pizzicato passages, or places in the music when you play in rhythmic unison with another player.

Tip 3: Circle difficult spots

As you rehearse with your group, mark your part with reminders to your self to help you know what to practice in your own time, important bowing choices, intonation reminders, or difficult passages. 

Pay attention to rests which can be notoriously tricky. If you miscount a particular rest, circle it and place slash marks above it to help you count. If there is a grand pause, notate GP Above the rest so that you know what everyone is doing during this time. 

Tip 4: Repeats

If a piece has key repeats that you know you might forget, for example in theme and variations movements with many repeated sections, highlight or emphasize the repeats. Make sure you know when your group is playing a repeat and if there are any second endings that you have decided to omit in performance. Cross out these repeats and endings you will not be playing. 

Tip 5: Mark your part throughout rehearsals

While it is important to study the score and write important information about the ensemble in your part before the first rehearsal, the process doesn’t end before you arrive at rehearsal. During each rehearsal, write notes to yourself, talk to the other players about how you want to communicate. Draw eyeglasses in your part followed by an instrument name when you need to specifically connect with another member of, or the whole, quartet.

Looking back at my experience this summer at chamber music camp, the most important thing I learned was how to prepare my part in a way that opens up more opportunities for listening to the ensemble, helps me see how my part fits in with the group, and ultimately leads to a more relaxed and more successful performance. Chamber music isn’t about playing one individual part in a group, but contributing that part to a greater ensemble sound. Careful preparation helps you, as a member of the ensemble, to listen to the group, and have a more successful performance.