Barbara Arens in Conversation
Barbara Arens
Barbara Arens visits the-piano-studio.com to launch our new Conversations series, in which we sit down with various piano luminaries and chat about what interests them, what they’ve learned, what they’ve taught to others, and their areas of expertise.
In Conversation with Barbara Arens
Barbara Arens is a composer, piano teacher and performer, currently residing near Würzburg, Germany. She began her studies at age 13 at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and studied Harpsichord, Organ and Baroque performance practice. She has enjoyed a concert career as a soloist on harpsichord and organ, and has also played in many chamber music ensembles. She is an enthusiastic and lovely lady, and we are so glad she decided to turn her attention back to the piano! Barbara Arens is a dedicated piano teacher and composer of contemporary piano music.
As soon as I asked Barbara what she would be interested in chatting about, she immediately exclaimed, “Limitations!” We were quite delighted to ‘meet’ through e-mail and Facebook and discuss “limitations” and what they mean to the composer. Here’s our conversation on the topic. Enjoy!
Barbara Arens on how limitations are her favourite way to compose…
1) In what way do limitations (self-imposed or otherwise) help you when you are composing? How do they limit and/or free you?
Barbara Arens: I really like working within limitations – I impose them on myself by deciding to write a collection of piano pieces for one hand only; or for small hands only with no octaves or big chords; or as easy as possible with no thumb-under runs. Very possibly I have “big” ideas in the style of Rachmaninoff or Schumann – BUT: who wants third rate Schumann or Rachmaninoff? I have great fun in simplifying these ideas, cutting them to the quick, minimising and distilling every element, until the whole is as simple as possible, but yet has a certain sophistication resulting from unexpected harmonies, tonal effects with pedals, and interesting rhythms.
2) How do you get inspired to choose the limitations you’ve mentioned? Can you describe some of the limitations you especially like to work with and why you like to work with them?
Barbara Arens: In addition to the above limitations, another very fruitful limit to work with is writing “tailor-made” pieces. For example, a brother and sister will be needing modern pieces for a competition. The brother, 7, is very advanced on the violin for his age. The sister, 9, can´t reach an octave yet and has only played piano for two years. I had a marvelous time writing pieces that fit their musical and technical abilities to the utmost – but my first priority was writing pieces they would ENJOY. I’m pleased to say that “La Danza” & “A Conversation between a Macaca Ape & a Two-Toed Sloth” were their absolute favourite pieces! AND they won first prize!
3) How has playing harpsichord and organ allowed you to more fully explore the characteristics of the piano in your playing and/or composing?
Barbara Arens: Having specialised on the harpsichord and organ, where the dynamics can only be changed mechanically by adding/changing stops – and then returning to the piano, I relish the dynamic possibilities! The full tonal effects you can only get on the harpsichord by “Überlegato” (= “sticky fingers”) & on the organ by the echoes of a cathedral, are to be had so easily on the piano with the sustain pedal! I love it! Its probably the reason why I emphasise dynamics so much and start my students on the pedal sooner than many teachers do – I want even beginners to make as beautiful a tone as possible – not dry & tinkly! That, in turn, influences how I write.
4) Do you have specific characteristics of the piano (or performer) that you like to highlight in your compositions?
Barbara Arens: I´m passionate about getting even not very advanced, not very talented learners to play as beautifully and expressively as possible. That’s why, in my compositions, I like to appeal to the player’s imagination, to get their “cinema in their heads” (the Germans have the excellent expression: Kino im Kopf) activated. It’s like writing film music; evoking atmosphere, playing with colours.
5) Do you have any composing rituals that you wouldn’t mind sharing?
Barbara Arens: I wait until everybody else in the house has gone to bed (very important – I really DON´T want to be disturbed!), sharpen a couple of pencils, put a few sheets of 8 staff paper on the music rack of my ancient Steinway, and usually start by finding the right notes for a rhythmic idea that’s been bouncing around in my head. When the piece is maybe two-thirds sketched in, I transfer it to the Finale programme on my laptop, print it out, and carry on from there, adding dynamics, articulation & fingering at the end. Very often I have no idea what the title will be.
6) Would you walk me through your composition process, maybe by giving us an inside look at the thought process behind one of your compositions?
Barbara Arens: I’ll describe how I wrote one of my latest pieces: Koi Pond. I was at Glasgow University last December for the Masters ceremony of my eldest son. Afterwards, he and I and his girlfriend Lorna walked through the Botanic Gardens. In a Victorian glass house, surrounded by palms and other tropical flora, was a pond with Koi fish. Lorna asked which was our favourite fish. I hadn’t really thought of them as individuals, but looking closer, I realized they were extremely different and varied. So we ended up with 3 favourites: an orange-gold, a silvery-white with feathery fins, and a black one which emerged occasionally from the depths.
Arriving back home in Germany, I found I simply HAD to put this into music. I wanted to get a slightly Japanese tonality, hinting at the Japanese origin of the fish, the calmness, and three individual themes representing the 3 fish, one of which had to emerge out of the depths. I immediately had a rhythmic pattern for the opening – it took two attempts seated at the piano, before I had just the right notes for the rhythmic patterns. I always think up rhythms away from the piano – but I MUST get the notes AT the piano – actually playing them, making sure they lie easy on the hand, so to speak, it is vital. Because I had no limits on this piece – I was writing it for myself – it made the writing much harder! It took weeks before all the motives were in place & harmonising with each other!
7) Who would you list as some of your inspirations for composing or performing and why do they inspire you?
Barbara Arens: The works of Pam Wedgwood, Manfred Schmitz, Daniel Hellbach and Christopher Norton were very important in showing me how piano music can be written as SIMPLY as possible, be totally enjoyable to play, yet full of expression, jazzy feeling, or whatever. Having taught piano (and harpsichord) for almost 40 years now (!!) I´ve seen pupils struggling with incredibly simple sounding pieces, for example the B flat Allegro of Mozart (KV3). Much work, much frustration, end result: a baby piece of Mozart’s. But the same student could play Pam Wedgwood’s “5th Avenue” – easy, comfortable for the hands, sophisticated sounding, and expressive.
If you would like to keep up to date with Barbara Arens, visit her on her facebook page. If you are interested in purchasing her compositions, they are available at breitkopf.com and elenacobb.com.
February 24, 2016
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