140: Wim Winters (Whole Beat Metronome Principle)

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Aug 1, 2023

Guest Wim Winters, a Clavichord researcher and YouTube channel host, discusses topics such as the history and touch of the Clavichord, reconstructing jazz without sound recordings, the Whole Beat Metronome Principle, controversies surrounding Beethoven's metronome, pressure in classical music, and upcoming projects

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ANECDOTE

Wim's YouTube Journey Begins

Wim Winters started his Authentic Sound YouTube channel by recording clavichord performances at home.
He was surprised by the audience engagement despite initially poor recording quality.

INSIGHT

Clavichord's Unique Role

The clavichord was not just a practice instrument but an independent expressive instrument in the 18th century.
Composers like Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven used it for its sensitive touch and expressiveness.

ADVICE

Clavichord Enhances Keyboard Touch

Playing the clavichord dramatically improves the organist's touch and control.
Every keyboard player should experience the clavichord to develop nuanced technique.

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0:00 Intro

0:36 Start

1:26 When did you start your YouTube channel, and when did you shift from recording performances to research into Whole Beat?

6:22 Which composers used the clavichord?

9:01 Did playing the Clavichord change the way you played Organ?

11:06 What is the Clavichord's touch like?

12:55 Piano vs Clavichord

18:21 What if we had to reconstruct jazz without having access to any sound recordings but rely only on written transcriptions

30:21 Weren't there musical mechanical clocks during Haydn's time that captured authentic 18th-century musical performance practice?

34:22 What is the Whole Beat Metronome Principle (WBMP)?

36:45 Wim responds to people playing Czerny at single beat tempo

47:18 If Whole Beat is true, why do students and eye-witnesses of the great composers play so fast?

54:31 Was Beethoven's metronome broken?

57:56 Don't the flyers and concert bills that advertise the concerts of these composers invalidate Whole Beat because the concerts would be too long as opposed to their actual advertised length?

1:03:11 What has been the general response to your research overall?

1:08:57 Injuries: The unspoken dark side of performance careers in Classical music

1:14:55 Beethoven recording gets canned because the musicians' careers got threatened

1:15:48 The most powerful classical music agent Ronald Wilford wouldn't allow Cyprien Katsaris to record/perform piano transcriptions if under contract

1:16:22 What does Wim think of partimento and classical improvisation?

1:20:46 Wim's favorite composers

1:23:13 Great compositions sound great slowed down, maybe even better than how they are typically played fast today

1:30:46 Whole Beat can't work because vocal music is impossible if singers have to hold notes that long

1:38:42 Carl Czerny: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:38:46 Beethoven: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:38:50 Mozart: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:39:04 Franz Liszt: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:39:14 Did Paris Conservatory graduates historically think in terms of Whole Beat?

1:39:28 Alkan: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:39:39 Tchaikovsky: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:39:49 Rachmaninoff: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:40:54 Debussy and Ravel: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:43:50 Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky: Whole Beat or Single Beat?

1:44:13 What tempo should people play Bach?

1:45:23 Wrapping Up

1:47:10 Outro